GMail IMAP + Apple Mail / iPhone - “Account exceeded bandwidth limits. (Failure)”

Question

Started seeing this this morning in Apple Mail. I have one of those exclamation point error indicators next to "Inbox", with this error message when I click on it:

There may be a problem with the mail server or network. Verify the settings for account “IMAP Account” or try again.

The server returned the error: Account exceeded bandwidth limits. (Failure).

This is in Snow Leopard. I'm using GMail IMAP, and I am way below the size quota - I've never heard of there even being a bandwidth quota.

I'm also not getting mail from the same account to the mail app on my iPhone.

EDIT - a month later I'm seeing this, and I'm thinking of just switching Mobile Me.

EDIT AGAIN - Making community wiki. I stopped seeing the problem once I updated Snow Leopard to the latest version, but since others continue to see it...

Answer 1

This page could possibly answer that question

Especially the comment from Rob Ardill saying:

If you are attempting to sync large attachments via IMAP and it continually timesout/retries, this can cause you account to rack up significant usage and subsequently lock you out of IMAP/POP3 for 24 hours.

Answer 2

Fixed in 10.6.2 http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3874

Answer 3

My guess right now is that it's these bandwidth limits in concert with a Mail bug.

Yesterday my Apple Mail client was "locked out" all day due to this issue. I was having no problems on the iPhone. So, I restarted Mail, and I started receiving messages again.

Answer 4

This question is definitely not answered. I am running 10.6.2.

I foolishly tried to send a couple of large email attachments last week (FAIL) and found many copies in my newly created Recovered Messages (Gmail) folder [ON MY MAC]. This issue used up close to 30 GB of space on my drive.

Last night I cleared that folder out and just let my machine sit overnight to try to resync with gmail.

This morning, I have my 30 GB back. I still have the caution triangles in mail.app with the message: "The server returned the error: Account exceeded bandwidth limits. (Failure)"

Anyone have an idea of how long this will take to "fix" itself?

Answer 5

This is not a permanent solution, but it will solve the problem momentarily:

1. Fill out this unlock captcha form.
2. Try again accessing your email through IMAP.
3. If you have the problem again, go back to #1 ;).