If you think your account has had the evil Port 25 block applied and your external SMTP server does not seem to be there anymore then this little test will tell you what is what:

1) Open a command prompt. If you can't find the little sucker in Windows just hit "start", click on "run" and type cmd. If you are running Linux or a derivative, we'll just assume you already know how to run Telnet on a port other than 23.

2) In that command prompt "DOS box", type telnet mail.dslreports.com 25 which will result in one of two results:

a) NOT blocked:
The screen will clear and then you will see
220 mail.dslr.net ESMTP Postfix.
Type quit which will get you
221 Bye
Connection to host lost.

b) BLOCKED:
Connecting To mail.dslreports.com...Could not open connection to the host, on port 25: Connect failed

If you get "a)", then your mail server or client has issues other than a port block by SBCIS. If you get "b)" and need to use servers other than what SBC provides, see »AT&T Midwest/Ameritech FAQ »Here's what to do if port 25 is blocked for you.

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by RadioDoc edited by lev
last modified: 2005-03-08 11:57:55