Verizon Blocking Access to Mail Servers outside the United States

Question

I spent almost two hours with Verizon representatives yesterday after having spent 10 days in Canada without ever being able to access the pop.verizon.net email server.  Although the information does not seem to be well known throughout Verizon, several officials confirmed that as of September 14, Verizon has made the decision to block all IP addresses outside the United States trying to communicate with Verizon's email servers.  
Parenthetically, Verizon Wireless was also unaware of this change in policy but was most interested to learn about it given the impact it would have.  It would also help explain why there were many customers who suddenly found their smartphones to be significantly less useful when traveling internationally.
I asked repeatedly whether the Verizon community had been made aware of this change in policy and several individuals within Verizon confirmed that no such corporate communication was ever made, despite the fact that this change has a dramatic impact on those who travel outside the United States.  They conceded that this should have been done, but of course no one seems to know where the decision within the corporation was made about this policy and who might be "empowered" to actually consider the impact on the Verizon user community and communicate with it in a transparent manner.
I find this behavior on Verizon's part to be appalling.  Even if security concerns drove this decision, I can't but help feel that it is Verizon's arrogance that led them to believe that this change in policy should not be communicated to the Verizon community.  
I have made my view known to some individuals--would suggest that others do so as well--although I am skeptical that anyone within the Verizon heirarchy cares.  Hopefully I'm wrong.
{edited for privacy}

Answer 1

pfekete wrote:
The response highlights the problems of dealing with Verizon.  It's totally non-responsive to the issue.
In point of fact, I am not locked out of my individual account, nor do I have any difficulty in downloading emails from the pop.verizon.net email server when I am accessing it from a US-based IP address.  The problem is that IP addresses outside the US are being rejected.  Thus while traveling internationally and trying to access my account from a hotel, coffee shop, etc. the server is now programmed by Verizon not to respond.
Thank you.
{edited for privacy}
We have asked them to clarify the message and they finally have, but not necessarily what you want to hear.
"Additionally, we have implemented measures to prevent future unauthorized access attempts which may affect your ability to access your Verizon.net email from locations outside the U.S. If you experience difficulty reaching your Verizon.net email account, you can always access it online at mail.verizon.com or through the Verizon My FiOS app for mobile devices. For further information see the Verizon Webmail FAQs. "
I think they are also still accepting whitelist requests for Foreign ISP's.