Does Mac Mail Transmit Password in Plain Text When Mail Connects to Server During New

Does Mac Mail Transmit Password in Plain Text When Mail Connects to Server During New Account Setup?

It appears that whenever you set up a new mail account on Mac Mail, that as soon as you enter the server and the account password, Mac Mail tries to connect to the mail server. However this connection occurs before you can set the SSL option. So it looks like the initial connection transmits the mail account password as plain text.

It looks like all Apple devices (i.e. iPhones, iPads, Mac Computers) use basically the same process, and appear to make an initial connection to the mail server without using SSL.

This seems like a very insecure configuration. If this is what is happening it would mean that users of Mac Mail applications could easily have their passwords read by their ISPs or anyone else who had access to the connection during that set up phase.

Can anyone confirm whether this is indeed the case?