mail snaffu -- what smtp port to use?

[LinLin]

Hi, again,
All continues to go very well, but I've found that in going back to Mail on my mac, I cannot _send_ messages. Emails come in fine (incoming port is 110), but outgoing emails don't send. I've checked the SMTP server and that's fine, and the outgoing port is 25.

Any ideas from the brains here? I'm running Tiger 10.4, mac osx.

Thanks,

Linlin

[madasahatter]

Hey LinLin

Not familiar with macs I'm afraid, but do you get any error messages when you try sending, or does it just sit in the outbox without doing anything?

[LinLin]

It reads

Cannot send message using server smtp.idnet.com

[Ted]

hi LinLin
have you got the correct username applied? The out going username is the same as the incoming username.

[Simon]

Also, I don't think you need SMTP authentication enabled, when using smtp.idnet.com through IDNet, so try turning it off, LinLin, and see if that helps. 

[madasahatter]

Sorry - ignore this post - was thinking of PC not mac 

[LinLin]

Yes -- the default is actually no authentication.
When I turn authentication on, it asks for a user name. I've tried putting my idnet username @ password in, my idnet email @ password, but none of it seems to work.

[LinLin]

Thought I saw someone suggested "telnet", but now I don't see the post... what is telnet?

Going to sign off for tonight and try again in the morning.

Thanks,

LinLin

[Ted]

just to clarify, your incoming username should be something like jbloggs@idnet.com and outgoing should be the same, yes?

i edited the address, suddenly thought i might have got your real one
Don't want that being picked up, do we!

[madasahatter]

Sorry LinLin - that was me - fogot you are on a mac, and not sure how you do it (or even if you can) on a mac  

Edit: Yes you can:

Macintosh OS X

Telnet (and SSH) capability is included within OS X. You can access it via the Terminal application. Look in the Utilities subfolder of your Applications folder. At the prompt, type "telnet server", where server is the name of the computer to which you would like to establish a connection.

you may need to add 25 at the end to specify the port. This is just to check that you can connect to smtp.idnet.com on that port. Basically, if you can't then it would suggest that something (usually your firewall or router) is blocking that traffic.

[Najarak]

Hi, again,
All continues to go very well, but I've found that in going back to Mail on my mac, I cannot _send_ messages. Emails come in fine (incoming port is 110), but outgoing emails don't send. I've checked the SMTP server and that's fine, and the outgoing port is 25.

Any ideas from the brains here? I'm running Tiger 10.4, mac osx.

Thanks,

Linlin

I use OSX 10.5, Leopard. Outgoing settings in Mail Preferences are "smtp.idnet.com" for outgoing mail, no authentication and Server port 25. Tiger was no different. Never had a problem at all with sending idnet.com email. It appears that your settings are correct on your Mac.

Could your router be blocking anything ?

[Sebby]

I really can't think what the problem could be, LinLin. I assume you're receiving mail okay, in which case you must have the username and password in correctly. You could try switching on authentication, just to make sure that it's not IDNet's outgoing mail server thinking you're not connected through IDNet. The username and password required for outgoing authentication are the same as for the incoming server.

[Dangerjunkie]

Hi there,

Sounds like you're doing the right thing.  Just one thing does come to mind. Have you changed the SSID (name) of your wireless and have you checked to make sure your Airport has connected to the right one. I use a Mac sometimes and I've found they have a habit of connecting to unsecured wireless points. If you've accidentally connected to your neighbour's wireless and he's not with IDNet then it wouldn't work.

Have you also checked your DNS settings are correct? You could be having problems resolving the name of the server.

Cheers,
Paul.

[Rik]

Wouldn't a DNS problem also affect the incoming mail, though, Paul?

[Dangerjunkie]

Probably but I have seen companies where some sites are only available in the internal DNS servers. Since SMTP is only available on the network I thought that might be the case. Doesn't appear to be though. I just got an address of 212.69.36.211 for it on my VM connection.

As a thought. If LinLin tries entering 212.69.36.211 instead of smtp.idnet.com as the SMTP server name that should eliminate the DNS from the equation.

The next thing I would try is to download Thunderbird email and try that instead of what you're using  ( http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/ ) That way you know it's not a problem with the email program you're using.

Cheers,
Paul.

[Rik]

Thanks, Paul.  

Another thing to try, LinLin, is to login to the webmail interface. That will, effectively, verify the username/password for you.

[LinLin]

I must say there are times that I just don't understand computers.

The connection works just fine this morning. The settings that were not working yesterday are working fine now. The only difference is that yesterday I was away from home and accessing the internet through my mobile phone as a modem. All settings are as they were (port 25 for outgoing).

Baffled but happy to be able to send emails again.

As always, I continue to be very appreciative of the knowledge and support on this forum. I'm recommending IDnet wherever I can. Between excellent speeds, excellent support, and this excellent forum, there's just no comparison with either of the providers I've used previously.

[Rik]

Hi LinLin

Your mobile phone isn't connected to the IDNet network, so the smtp server would have failed to connect.

In that case, you need to use authenticated SMTP on port 587, no SSL.

HTH.

As always, I continue to be very appreciative of the knowledge and support on this forum. I'm recommending IDnet wherever I can. Between excellent speeds, excellent support, and this excellent forum, there's just no comparison with either of the providers I've used previously.

[LinLin]

Your mobile phone isn't connected to the IDNet network, so the smtp server would have failed to connect.

Not quite understanding why the incoming mail was fine but the outgoing mail wasn't. If it connected to pop3.idnet.com, why would it not connect to smtp.idnet.com? Could it be some kind of blocking by the mobile phone? (I did actually try port 587 for the outgoing server, but had no luck with that either.)

[Sebby]

Just to add, I use authentication on the default port 25 with no problems.

[Rik]

Not quite understanding why the incoming mail was fine but the outgoing mail wasn't. If it connected to pop3.idnet.com, why would it not connect to smtp.idnet.com? Could it be some kind of blocking by the mobile phone? (I did actually try port 587 for the outgoing server, but had no luck with that either.)

You can access POP servers from any network, LinLin. However, to prevent spam, ISPs limit access to their SMTP servers to people connecting through the network. The authenticated SMTP service is provided as an alternative, for when people are using 'foreign' networks. The alternative is to send from the webmail interface, both techniques put in place additional authentication which is normally 'assumed' because of the direct connection (ie normally authentication is handled by the radius servers when you log in to your connection).

[LinLin]

Ah -- now it makes sense.



Fiat lux.

[Rik]

Fiat lux.

I don't mind you driving an Italian car, honest.

[Simon]

I use my mobile network's own SMTP server to send IDNet emails from my mobile.  Is there any difference in doing that, to using authentication and port 587?

[Sebby]

I use my mobile network's own SMTP server to send IDNet emails from my mobile.  Is there any difference in doing that, to using authentication and port 587?

Ultimately, it doesn't really matter if you use your mobile provider's or IDNet's outgoing mail server, as they both achieve the same thing.

It's not actually necessary to use port 587, incidentally.

[Simon]

Ultimately, it doesn't really matter if you use your mobile provider's or IDNet's outgoing mail server, as they both achieve the same thing.

Except for one thing.  Emails from my phone, to one particular person, always get caught by his spam trap, but emails from the same address, using IDNet's SMTP server, don't, so it seems that somehow, some spam filters pick up on the O2 SMTP.   

[Sebby]

That's true. Try IDNet's - it does work with authentication!