BT Internet / SMTP

Hi all,

Does anyone know if BT Internet and / or BT broadband prevents their
dialled-in users from accessing a thrid party SMTP server such as might be
provided with a web hosting account?

I've set up web hosting for a guy who's currently on BT dialup, but he can't
send mail via the web host's SMTP server. The settings look right in his
Outlook Expres, and, indeed, OE claims to have connected to the server, but
then sits there doing nothing (not even username / password) until the
connection times out. Initially, I put it down to temporary server problems,
but, while I'm able to send mail through it from my machine (on NTL), he
still can't get any further after 3 days of trying.

I know that Freeserve / Wanadoo insist that outgoing mail must go through
their SMTP server and wondered if BT had gone the same foolish way? If so,
does it also affect BT Broadband (can't see how it would, given that they
didn't provide any POP / SMTP of their own last time I checked, but hey,
this is BT we're taling about). I know the guy's going to move over to
broadband, and it would help to know in advance whether he can talk to his
SMTP server throught it!

TIA,

Rob.

On 24 Apr 2006, "Viking Mail" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I've set up web hosting for a guy who's currently on BT dialup, but he can't
>send mail via the web host's SMTP server.

How about getting him to use telnet <server> 25 so he can report back what
it gets from the server. If it is blocked then "nothing" will be the answer
as that too will timeout...

>I know that Freeserve / Wanadoo insist that outgoing mail must go through
>their SMTP server and wondered if BT had gone the same foolish way?

Freeserve used to respond with one of their own servers, so it appeared on
was sending out via the intended "foreign" server, but it still wend out
via theirs. Not a big problem until it was down (they had greater numbers
of servers and better support for their primary mail cluster, this thing was
a 'cludge' to catch any extraneous mail, or so it seemed).

>If so, does it also affect BT Broadband (can't see how it would, given that
>they didn't provide any POP / SMTP of their own last time I checked,

That all changed with the BT Yahoo! link... They used to have Claranet and
Plus.Net as a couple of the mail + news services they suggested to users.


--
UK ADSL <http://tinyurl.com/5jpa4> - Happy to save cash!!

"poster" <us-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 24 Apr 2006, "Viking Mail" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> How about getting him to use telnet <server> 25 so he can report back
> what
> it gets from the server. If it is blocked then "nothing" will be the
> answer
> as that too will timeout...

Thanks for that, I'll give it a go and post back - probably have to go out
to the machine myself, as I don't fancy talking him through telnet on the
phone :-)

Rob.

On 24 Apr 2006 "Viking Mail" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I don't fancy talking him through telnet on the phone :-)

start / run / telnet

open mail.something.tld 25

(answer prompt for firewall blocking connection)

"what do you see ?"

Seems short enough for a phone call to me...

"poster" <us-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 24 Apr 2006 "Viking Mail" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

For most other users, yes. For this chap, it will be quicker and less
stressful if I go myself

> "what do you see ?"
>
> Seems short enough for a phone call to me...

Viking Mail wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Does anyone know if BT Internet and / or BT broadband prevents their
> dialled-in users from accessing a thrid party SMTP server such as might be
> provided with a web hosting account?
>
> I've set up web hosting for a guy who's currently on BT dialup, but he can't
> send mail via the web host's SMTP server. The settings look right in his
> Outlook Expres, and, indeed, OE claims to have connected to the server, but
> then sits there doing nothing (not even username / password) until the
> connection times out. Initially, I put it down to temporary server problems,
> but, while I'm able to send mail through it from my machine (on NTL), he
> still can't get any further after 3 days of trying.
>
> I know that Freeserve / Wanadoo insist that outgoing mail must go through
> their SMTP server and wondered if BT had gone the same foolish way? If so,
> does it also affect BT Broadband (can't see how it would, given that they
> didn't provide any POP / SMTP of their own last time I checked, but hey,
> this is BT we're taling about). I know the guy's going to move over to
> broadband, and it would help to know in advance whether he can talk to his
> SMTP server throught it!
>
> TIA,
>
> Rob.

I'm using BT Broadband, sending all my rubbish through a third-party
server and have no troubles although I am using Thunderbird but the
differences should be minimal as compared to OE.

Settings;
Server:mail.thirdpartyservename.com
UserName:(E-Mail Removed)
[Use name and password ticked]

It might be worth looking at some of these;

<http://btyahoo.com/smtpnonbt>
<http://www.btopenworld.com/mail/helpandsupport>
<http://www.tecknaonline.com/support.htm>

HTH!

Richard.




--
Two updates tools for 3D Studio Max
<http://www.kdbanglia.com/maxtools.html>

In message <S%U2g.48697$(E-Mail Removed)>, Viking Mail
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes

>Does anyone know if BT Internet and / or BT broadband prevents their
>dialled-in users from accessing a thrid party SMTP server such as might be
>provided with a web hosting account?

Not to my knowledge. Currently using BTYahoo broadband and happily using
third party mail facilities.
--
Ian Cummings

"Viking Mail" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:S%U2g.48697$(E-Mail Removed):

> Hi all,
>
> Does anyone know if BT Internet and / or BT broadband prevents
> their dialled-in users from accessing a thrid party SMTP server
> such as might be provided with a web hosting account?
>
> I've set up web hosting for a guy who's currently on BT dialup,
> but he can't send mail via the web host's SMTP server. The
> settings look right in his Outlook Expres, and, indeed, OE
> claims to have connected to the server, but then sits there
> doing nothing (not even username / password) until the
> connection times out. Initially, I put it down to temporary
> server problems, but, while I'm able to send mail through it
> from my machine (on NTL), he still can't get any further after 3
> days of trying.
>
> I know that Freeserve / Wanadoo insist that outgoing mail must
> go through their SMTP server and wondered if BT had gone the
> same foolish way? If so, does it also affect BT Broadband (can't
> see how it would, given that they didn't provide any POP / SMTP
> of their own last time I checked, but hey, this is BT we're
> taling about). I know the guy's going to move over to broadband,
> and it would help to know in advance whether he can talk to his
> SMTP server throught it!
>
> TIA,
>
> Rob.
>
>

AIUI the issue is the other way round: an SMTP server will block
email sending attempts if you are not authenticated on the same
network as the server. e.g. If I am using a BrandX connection to
the Internet and try to send email via BrandY's SMTP server, the
latter disallows the send.

On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 01:31:46 +0000, Viking Mail wrote:

> I know that Freeserve / Wanadoo insist that outgoing mail must go through
> their SMTP server and wondered if BT had gone the same foolish way?

It's not foolish, and they aren't trying to force mail through their
servers. The are trying to prevent "direct-to-MX" spam from compromised
PCs.

Any halfway decent third-party mail service will accept mail on ports
other than 25, even if it's only the SMTPS port.