Unable to send E-mail suddenly

[StarGold]

I use non-O2 email as I have my own domain hosted. I have been with O2 for 3 months and 1 week.

My original email account was set with incoming and outgoing server as:

mail.mydomain.co.uk

Everything worked OK for about a week and then I could not send mail and that was fixed by changing outgoing port to 26. Interestingly, O2 tech support said they were not blocking any ports including 25.

This arrangement worked for 3 months (free period). Then last week I had the same problem. Could not send mail. O2 tech support suggested I used relay.o2broadband.co.uk and untick server authentication or smtp.o2.co.uk with authentication.

I decided to use smtp.o2.co.uk. Tail end of last week I was told I could use this and had to use relay.o2broadband.co.uk.

This is working now but each time I send a message I get mail saying message to recipient mail address has been relayed.

I complained to O2 tech support and was told that this is not from O2 it is a setting in Outlook and I will have to pay to get it sorted out. What a load of rubbish.

These messages are sent from various addresses - some as follows:

Mail Delivery Service [postmaster@april.london.02.net]
Mail Delivery Service [postmaster@mail.o2.co.uk]
Mail Delivery Service [postmaster@woodbine.london.02.net]
Mail Delivery Service [postmaster@honeysuckle.london.02.net]

I have pointed this out to O2 Tech support but they claim it has nothing to do with them.

I work for myself. So, send 10 to 15 messages every day and this is a nuisance.

My question are:

1. Why did it work OK for 3 months with my host servers?
2. How can I stop these relay notifications?
3. How can I use my hosting servers? I would prefer this because my messges are being marked as spam when they are not.

Thanks in advance.

[muffymeister]

hiya StarGold

ive got the same setup as you, id start with checking your hosting company, as ive never had a problem with O2 on this matter

a few members of my family share the same domain name as myself, so they can usually tell me if its down

incoming mail server : mail.yourdomain.com
outgoing mail server : smtp.o2.co.uk (this requires authenication using your o2 username/password)

this should work for you

[Saturday]

Originally Posted by StarGold

My question are:

1. Why did it work OK for 3 months with my host servers?
2. How can I stop these relay notifications?
3. How can I use my hosting servers? I would prefer this because my messges are being marked as spam when they are not.

1. You'll have to ask them - seems more likely to me that it's an issue with your host rather than O2
2. Stop using the relay server, It's pretty good that O2 offer a non authenticating relay server (considering the potential abuse) but there's a downside
3. Buy an email service from your host/elsewhere or run your own smtp server. You're expecting rather a lot to pay O2 just a few pounds a month and expect a fully functional non O2 email service on top of a great internet connection (though as muffymeister says, it often works fine (as long as you've set it up properly)

[StarGold]

Hi Saturday, Thanks for the quick response. Sorry I have not been back on the forum – lost password and other oddities.
I did speak to my host but they claimed it was not them but as the messages come from O2 servers I would need to take it up with O2.
On matter of pricing, I don’t think it has any bearing on the offering. I have been with a number of ISPs from Demon to NTL and all shades in between – they had their problems and it was early days of BB. Since it became a commodity, I have been with BT and Sky.
With BT I paid between £18 and £24 for 8Mb/10Gb service that delivered 756Kb at best.
With Sky I paid £5 for 8Mb/40Gb service and got 1.7Mb download speed and then Sky reduced the service to 8Mb/10Gb and I moved to O2. I get ~3.5Mb unlimited but O2 does have its oddities and problems.

• Not allowing 3rd party e-mail servers ... was never a problem with BT of Sky and with O2 for the first 3 months
• blocking of port 25
• resetting of modem willy-nilly and without even an auto-message to say it’s been done. Default settings are not secure and it makes a mockery of customers’ security settings
• dropped connections when using Wireless and O2 will not even admit to it

I have setup wired with O2 modem and wireless with Belkin. One day I will replace O2 with Sky that I am left with. I am not complaining. O2 are providing a service. It is not perfect ... it is what they can get away with like all other players.

No one is doing any one any favours but I live in hope.

[Tony1044]

• Not allowing 3rd party e-mail servers ... was never a problem with BT of Sky and with O2 for the first 3 months
• blocking of port 25
• resetting of modem willy-nilly and without even an auto-message to say it’s been done. Default settings are not secure and it makes a mockery of customers’ security settings
• dropped connections when using Wireless and O2 will not even admit to it

Blocking port 25 is becoming the norm for non-business broadband. But why not ask O2 if you can move to their business tariff? I get mine for around 17 quid a month that includes a static IP and no port blocking, next working day engineer if a fault call is logged before 4.00pm and a business router.

I'm not sure that it's O2 resetting your modem willy-nilly, either - considering you are experiencing dropped connections on the wireless too, it would suggest a modem problem - perhaps overheating? I had the same issue until I moved the router slightly to improve its ventilation.

I'm curious about which default settings are not secure?

Personally, if you're using email for your business why not run a server? I've posted before what you need to do in order to set it up and would be happy to assist if you wanted to PM me.

[Undecided adrian]

O2 will block port 25 unless it's from their own authenticated mail servers no matter what package your on.

Does your paid for mail service offer an alternative port as I use 1and1.co.uk and they have port 587 on their SMTP servers as an alternative in case 25 is blocked.

You need to get back to whoever is hosting your mail server and find out if they use an alternative port.

I have been using my own paid for mail service with O2 for over a year now and it's still working fine with my paid for supplier.

[StarGold]

Thanks everyone. I have been busy so only just had the chance to log - slack day. Well, here is the update.

If I use Wireless mode on O2 router it resets every so often and at least once a day - reproducible but O2 tech won't admit to anything. Now using O2 with wireless turned off and using wireless mode on Belkin. Been running for 6 weeks and no resets.

[Tony1044]

Originally Posted by Undecided adrian

O2 will block port 25 unless it's from their own authenticated mail servers no matter what package your on.

Does your paid for mail service offer an alternative port as I use 1and1.co.uk and they have port 587 on their SMTP servers as an alternative in case 25 is blocked.

You need to get back to whoever is hosting your mail server and find out if they use an alternative port.

I have been using my own paid for mail service with O2 for over a year now and it's still working fine with my paid for supplier.

Just seen this - been away from the forums for a while. O2 do not block port 25 on business tariffs with static IP addresses*. That would be suicidal for any DSL aimed at businesses!

All that said - I will caveat that I've had their broadband for just over a year, so happy to concede that things may have changed.

*Not sure if this has any bearing on them unblocking 25 - I suspect not and it's simply open on all business tariffs.