SMTP Connect() failed. Message was not sent.Mailer

Question

Am trying to send mail to a gmail address but it keeps on getting this error "SMTP -> ERROR: Failed to connect to server: Connection timed out (110)SMTP Connect() failed. Message was not sent.Mailer error: SMTP Connect() failed." What could be the problem?

        require 'class.phpmailer.php'; // path to the PHPMailer class
        require 'class.smtp.php';

            $mail = new PHPMailer();


            $mail->IsSMTP();  // telling the class to use SMTP
            $mail->SMTPDebug = 2;
            $mail->Mailer = "smtp";
            $mail->Host = "ssl://smtp.gmail.com";
            $mail->Port = 587;
            $mail->SMTPAuth = true; // turn on SMTP authentication
            $mail->Username = "[e-mail]"; // SMTP username
            $mail->Password = "mypasswword"; // SMTP password 
            $Mail->Priority = 1;

            $mail->AddAddress("[e-mail]","Name");
            $mail->SetFrom($visitor_email, $name);
            $mail->AddReplyTo($visitor_email,$name);

            $mail->Subject  = "Message from  Contact form";
            $mail->Body     = $user_message;
            $mail->WordWrap = 50;  

            if(!$mail->Send()) {
            echo 'Message was not sent.';
            echo 'Mailer error: ' . $mail->ErrorInfo;
            } else {
            echo 'Message has been sent.';
            }

Answer 1

the solution is configure the gmail preferences, access to no secure application

Answer 2

I know its been a while since this question but I had the exact problem and solved it by disabling SMTP_BLOCK on csf.conf (we use CSF for a firewall).

To disable just edit csf.conf and disable SMTP_BLOCK like so:

###############################################################################
# SECTION:SMTP Settings
###############################################################################
# Block outgoing SMTP except for root, exim and mailman (forces scripts/users
# to use the exim/sendmail binary instead of sockets access). This replaces the
# protection as WHM > Tweak Settings > SMTP Tweaks
#
# This option uses the iptables ipt_owner/xt_owner module and must be loaded
# for it to work. It may not be available on some VPS platforms
#
# Note: Run /etc/csf/csftest.pl to check whether this option will function on
# this server
# SMTP_BLOCK = "1" --> this will cause phpmailer Connection timed out (110)
SMTP_BLOCK = "0"

Answer 3

You are doing all well. Just you have to check different SMTP ports like 465 and others that works on your system. Another thing to keep in mind to allow access to the less secure apps by google account otherwise it throws the same error.
I have gone through it for a whole day and the only thing I am doing wrong is the port no., I just changed the port no. and it works.