Any way to diagnose wifi ISP source

On the road and have lucked out by entering a wifi hot zone with my laptop.
Can receive but cannot send out e-mail though.

Is there a mini-utility that will sniff out the ISP so that I can set up an
appropriate smtp logon for outgoing e-mail?

Thanks!

In article <IGn7b.4635$(E-Mail Removed) et>,
Carygee <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>On the road and have lucked out by entering a wifi hot zone with my laptop.
>Can receive but cannot send out e-mail though.
(snip)

Maybe you could use a 'traceroute' utility to probe your link out to
the Internet and see which ISP your packets hit first.

-- Mark

"Carygee" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:IGn7b.4635$(E-Mail Removed) nk.net:

> On the road and have lucked out by entering a wifi hot zone with my
> laptop. Can receive but cannot send out e-mail though.
>
> Is there a mini-utility that will sniff out the ISP so that I can set
> up an appropriate smtp logon for outgoing e-mail?
>
> Thanks!
>
If your email account has a web interface use that.

"Mark Carroll" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:ECz*(E-Mail Removed)
>
> Maybe you could use a 'traceroute' utility to probe your link out to
> the Internet and see which ISP your packets hit first.

Even then you'd very likely need a valid logon in the ISP's domain to send
mail using their SMTP server. Very few reputable ISP's have open SMTP
servers.

Similarly, the likely cause of your inability to send mail using your own
SMTP server is that your ISP has (correctly) configured their SMTP server to
recognize only the ISP's range of IP addresses.

Your best bet for sending outbound email is to:
a) find an open SMTP server (quite unlikely considering the aversion to
spam)
b) get your ISP to recognize your roaming IP address (quite unlikely)
c) set up your own SMTP server
d) use a free email account for outbound email while roaming (Hotmail,
Yahoo, etc.)

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/tknoFlyer
__________

In article <(E-Mail Removed) om>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> "Mark Carroll" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:ECz*(E-Mail Removed)
> >
> > Maybe you could use a 'traceroute' utility to probe your link out to
> > the Internet and see which ISP your packets hit first.
>
> Even then you'd very likely need a valid logon in the ISP's domain to send
> mail using their SMTP server. Very few reputable ISP's have open SMTP
> servers.
>
> Similarly, the likely cause of your inability to send mail using your own
> SMTP server is that your ISP has (correctly) configured their SMTP server to
> recognize only the ISP's range of IP addresses.

You're half-right. The OP can't send because his mail client is
configured to use his own ISP's mail server, which is configured to
reject connections from outside of that ISP's IP space.

If he can find the SMTP server of the WISP he's using, he probably CAN
send mail, regardless of any authentication, because the WISP's ISP is
configured the same way. So when the OP is connected via Wi-Fi his
connections to the WISP's SMTP server will be accepted as they originate
from within the WISP's address space.

In article <IGn7b.4635$(E-Mail Removed) et>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> On the road and have lucked out by entering a wifi hot zone with my laptop.
> Can receive but cannot send out e-mail though.
>
> Is there a mini-utility that will sniff out the ISP so that I can set up an
> appropriate smtp logon for outgoing e-mail?
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>

You could use a port scanning tool to try and sniff out available SMTP
servers in your subnet, but I would call this a last resort. It may
trigger unfortunate consequences.

Use your own ISP's web-mail interface, if at all possible, or...

Poke around the DNS records for the network you're on. You should be
able to find an MX entry that points to a mail server you can use.

> Use your own ISP's web-mail interface, if at all possible...

In my case, this would be Earthlink's web-mail interface. (And, I assume,
this means that I would have to reply to the e-mail message outside the
Outlook Express realm).

"Neb Revod" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) .net...
> In article <IGn7b.4635$(E-Mail Removed) et>,
> (E-Mail Removed) says...
> > On the road and have lucked out by entering a wifi hot zone with my
laptop.
> > Can receive but cannot send out e-mail though.
> >
> > Is there a mini-utility that will sniff out the ISP so that I can set up
an
> > appropriate smtp logon for outgoing e-mail?
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> >
> >
>
> You could use a port scanning tool to try and sniff out available SMTP
> servers in your subnet, but I would call this a last resort. It may
> trigger unfortunate consequences.
>
> Use your own ISP's web-mail interface, if at all possible, or...
>
> Poke around the DNS records for the network you're on. You should be
> able to find an MX entry that points to a mail server you can use.

"Carygee" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:9ru7b.5732$(E-Mail Removed) nk.net:

>> Use your own ISP's web-mail interface, if at all possible...
>
> In my case, this would be Earthlink's web-mail interface. (And, I
> assume, this means that I would have to reply to the e-mail message
> outside the Outlook Express realm).
>
You reply through the web interface. You can send a copy to yourself if you
want to keep a copy. When you get back on earthlinks network just download
all your mail including the ones you copied to yourself. BTW, you can leave
your messages on the server when you use the web interface. This allows you
to redownload all emails when you get back on outlook express.

I was pleasantly surprised that my ISP (Comcast) would let me use their SMTP
server for outbound mail when I was outside of the Comcast network,
connected to the net via another ISP. I just needed to configure Outlook
Express to use authentication for the outbound server (same user name &
password that I use for my Comcast inbound mail server).

I thought that most ISPs blocked their outbound mail servers from anyone
outside of their network. I was very surprised that this was not the case
with Comcast, which makes it much easier for me when I am on the road. You
might want to double check with your home ISP to see if you too have access
to your outbound mail server if you use authentication while roaming.

Mike Schumann

"Carygee" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:IGn7b.4635$(E-Mail Removed) nk.net...
> On the road and have lucked out by entering a wifi hot zone with my
laptop.
> Can receive but cannot send out e-mail though.
>
> Is there a mini-utility that will sniff out the ISP so that I can set up
an
> appropriate smtp logon for outgoing e-mail?
>
> Thanks!
>
>

"Mike Schumann" <mike-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:3f5e92f1$0$1095$(E-Mail Removed):

> I was pleasantly surprised that my ISP (Comcast) would let me use
> their SMTP server for outbound mail when I was outside of the Comcast
> network, connected to the net via another ISP. I just needed to
> configure Outlook Express to use authentication for the outbound
> server (same user name & password that I use for my Comcast inbound
> mail server).
>
> I thought that most ISPs blocked their outbound mail servers from
> anyone outside of their network. I was very surprised that this was
> not the case with Comcast, which makes it much easier for me when I am
> on the road. You might want to double check with your home ISP to see
> if you too have access to your outbound mail server if you use
> authentication while roaming.
>
> Mike Schumann
>
Are you using SMTP Auth or Pop before SMTP, or what? Mine won't work and
I just checked the Comcast site and found this question and response.
They are saying we must use the web mail interface.

This from the Comcast Site today.

Can I check my E-mail with Outlook Express when I'm not connected with my
Comcast cable modem?

Comcast does not currently offer SSL (single socket layer) connections
for subscribers wishing to access POP mail outside of the Comcast
network. Notice will be posted on http://www.comcast.net if this
situation changes. Comcast encourages all subscribers to utilize Comcast
Mail for e-mail delivery when not connected to the Comcast High-Speed
Internet network. To access Comcast Mail, log in to the Comcast High-
Speed Internet home page at http://www.comcast.net and click on the My E-
mail link in the left navigation.