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Re: [LUG] email

 

On Wed, 1 Jul 2009, Simon Robert wrote:

> Has anyone else run into the problem of an ISP refusing to send out mail
> which does not use their own domain? I signed up with thepostoffice, a
> very stupid thing to do, and their systems refused to handle anything
> not using ***@mypostoffice.com (probably fair enough really), but they
> also refused anything I sent using the SMTP server setup by my domain
> name host.

BT are good at that. AOL does (did?) it too. I think Orange (or whatever 
they are called) do the same.

It would not surprise me if others move to the same thing eventually. They 
claim it's to stop SPAM being sent, but who knows..

Basically they intercept outgoing port 25 connections and force them to 
their own servers regardless of the destination.

If you have your own (remote) SMTP server, then the usual way round it is 
to use the submission port (Which arguably you should be using anyway), so 
set your MUA to use port 587 rather than port 25 when connecting to the 
remote service.

Although I'm sure that one BT, etc. get wind of this, they'll block that 
too.

> I tried to get out of the contract by claiming it was not fit for
> purpose, but they said their T&C's ruled out business use and own domain
> name = business use.
>
> After much much argument and several shifts up the chain of command I
> got a manager who told me, on sort of semi confidential basis, that he
> could let me have a mail server address that "would make it look as if
> the mail had come from my own address". He then gave me an IP address,
> which works fine. It turns out to belong to BT (thepostoffice is
> rebadged BT) and its' "role" (as in a whois request) is MANAGED
> BROADBAND OPERATIONAL SUPPORT. So is this a server used for testing by
> BT engineers or something...?

Who knows, but BT do have a mechanism whereby you can register your own 
additional email addresses to use for outgoing email - maybe they don't 
extend that to their resellers. Odd that the port office went to BT retail 
for this thing. I remember a press release from BT at the time saying that 
the post office should stick to what it does best, and leave Internet to 
BT ...

Oh the irony...

Gordon

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