 | Comcast cut off outgoing SMTP server I have a client that began sending out large amounts of email today using a email program and Comcast SMTP server. They were using a return email from their earthlink accounts. (This is not spam, they just have a large email list from a couple non-profit groups they help manage.)
After awhile Comcast shut off their outgoing email server. When they called customer support Comcast claimed that they no longer offer an outgoing email server for non Comcast email and that this new policy had been in effect for many months.
Obviously this isn't the case as I use several POP email accounts at home and don't have any troubles using Comcast outgoing servers. And my client had been using Comcast as their outgoing server on their Earthlink accounts until today. But Comcast says this is system wide to cut down on spam.
Several years ago I had Comcast shut off my outgoing server when I tired to send out a lot of email for a bike club. I had to write Comcast and explain this wasn't spam, why I was sending out so many emails, and they reinstated the outgoing server the next day.
Has anyone heard of a similar experience of Comacast saying they don't offer an outgoing server for non Comcast email?
(Needless to say they've learned a lesson about using Comcast to send mass emails and will use a service in the future.) |
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 NormanSPremium,MVM join:2001-02-14 San Jose, CA kudos:4 Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| All ISPs are having spam problems; to wit, spammers are hijacking user's computers to send their bulk email. Different ISPs are taking different approaches. Rate limiting of outbound email, port 25 blocking, and so on.
In the end, ISP mail services are geared to an average user mail load for the home user. If you have to send regular bulk email to large lists, you really should get your own domain ($2 to $8 per year, on average), and third party mail hosting ($5 per month, and up, on average). -- Norman ~Oh Lord, why have you come ~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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 madylarianThe curmudgeonlyPremium join:2002-01-03 Parkville, MD | reply to englund said by englund:After awhile Comcast shut off their outgoing email server. When they called customer support Comcast claimed that they no longer offer an outgoing email server for non Comcast email and that this new policy had been in effect for many months. Was you client connected via Comcast or Earthlink? Though I have not heard of it, this does not seem all that outrageous for those with non-Comcast connections, even if they had legitimate access to the Comcast servers. On the other hand, I have been using Comcast to send email from my non-Comcast, personal domain return email address since @Home days and never had a problem. While I do not send much at a time, it is the account I use the most, by far.
mady -- Honi soit qui mal y pense |
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 NormanSPremium,MVM join:2001-02-14 San Jose, CA kudos:4 Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| said by madylarian:Was you client connected via Comcast or Earthlink? Though I have not heard of it, this does not seem all that outrageous for those with non-Comcast connections, even if they had legitimate access to the Comcast servers. I can't prove that is still works this way. Back when my niece was having a spam problem, I ran her email through my mail server (my MTA executed a POP fetch from the Comcast POP3 server, she executed a POP fetch from my POP3 server; my MTA filtered her email), I tested the Comcast SMTP server a couple of times. This was one result:
Return-path: <%User_ID%@comcast.com> Received: from rwcrmhc12.comcast.net (216.148.227.154) by aosake.net (Mercury/32 v4.01b) with ESMTP ID MG000008; 23 Jan 2006 02:41:22 -0800 Received: from megumi (adsl-71-132-7-97.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net[71.132.7.97]) by comcast.net (rwcrmhc14) with SMTP id <200601231041250140051snke>; Mon, 23 Jan 2006 10:41:25 +0000 Message-ID: <000901c62009$8c194a60$6466a8c0@aosake.net> From: "Just Me" <%User_ID%@comcast.com> To: <%User_ID%@aosake.net> Subject: Just checking. Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 02:41:12 -0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0005_01C61FC6.79051640" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1478 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1478 X-CC-Diagnostic: pacbell.net (2), comcast.net (2) Ah...I finally found the other tests; the ones without the Comcast email address. Here is another example:
Return-path: <%User_ID%@netscape.net> Received: from rwcrmhc14.comcast.net (216.148.227.89) by aosake.net (Mercury/32 v4.01b) with ESMTP ID MG000006; 2 May 2005 17:09:46 -0700 Received: from megumi (adsl-67-116-50-149.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net[67.116.50.149]) by comcast.net (rwcrmhc14) with SMTP id <2005050300094001400gr4ike>; Tue, 3 May 2005 00:09:40 +0000 Message-ID: <001501c54f74$65c2e800$6466a8c0@aosake.net> Reply-To: "NormanS" <silly.kid@playhouse.invalid> From: "NormanS" <%User_ID%@netscape.net> To: <%User_ID%@aosake.net> Subject: Comcast relay. Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 17:09:19 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0011_01C54F39.ADA30780" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1478 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1478 X-CC-Diagnostic: pacbell.net (2) Older than the first. Niece has since closed her account. Too much spam; my filtering was just a test of concept. At the time I was running the test, the SBC AUP/TOS was closer to the Comcast AUP/TOS about running servers. SBC lightened up some time after I finished the test.
A question for englund : Did Comcast give you a hint about the volume of email they were seeing? I can't imagine them getting antsy over 100-200 RCPTs on just one day in any given month. They would probably be concerned with 500, or more, on a single day in any given month, or upwards of 150 per day. As I said, residential Internet services were not intended for large mailings. Of course, the numbers could be fuzzy, given the allowance for multiple users in a given household.
-- Norman ~Oh Lord, why have you come ~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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 1 edit | I think their list contained several thousand emails. But the strange part was when the client called Comcast they were simple told that Comcast did not allow ANYONE to use the outgoing server unless they used their Comcast email.
I was actually on the a conference call with Comcast and even talked to a supervisor. At that point I didn't even know the client had used a mass emailer. And Comcast never mentioned they've done ANYTHING to their account - all they kept telling me was that it was a new policy that had been in effect for several months. When I pointed out that this was ridiculous that I was using Comcast's outgoing servers (in a different city) with several POP email accounts and the clients email had worked up until today, the supervisor said he could not speak to why it had worked before as he didn't know how my email client was configured but it was Comcast policy that you could only use the outgoing server with Comcast email
I was beside myself trying to explain that this was totally crazy. It wasn't until after I got off the phone with Comcast that the client told me about the mass mailing and then it was obvious what had happened. Comcast simply shut down access to the outgoing server, but made no mention of this to the client who had called customer support multiple times through out the day (along with multiple calls to Earthlink trying to figure out why their email had stopped working).
I understand that the client shouldn't be using Comcast for this type of mailing (unfortunately the client did not). The bummer is that Comcast doesn't appear willing to allow access to the outgoing sever on this account and now several of their POP accounts (that don't have a mail server) no longer can sent mail.
As I mentioned earlier this happened to me several years ago, but it was a simple matter to explain to Comcast (I forgot the name of the department) the situation and the problem was fixed. I'm thinking instead of looking at each case Comcast is simply saying it's our policy not to allow anyone access to the outgoing server (even though that's total untrue). |
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 | reply to madylarian The client was connected using Comcast - but their site is hosted on Earthlink and so use the Earthlink email address. (They didn't like using the outgoing Earthlink server as it tended to be slow at times when sending large files.) |
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 NormanSPremium,MVM join:2001-02-14 San Jose, CA kudos:4 Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| reply to englund said by englund:I understand that the client shouldn't be using Comcast for this type of mailing (unfortunately the client did not). The bummer is that Comcast doesn't appear willing to allow access to the outgoing sever on this account and now several of their POP accounts (that don't have a mail server) no longer can sent mail. I would suspect that the client has had a port 25 block imposed on them. Comcast will impose a port 25 block on outbound connections when they perceive that the subscriber is being abusive. The last word that I got was that the block will remain indefinitely.
Have the subscriber reconfigure their client to use port 465 with SSL. It that works, fine. If not, well; they were using the service improperly. There are many options. I got tired of the spam to my ISP account and set up my own domain.
Also:
AOL Mail (SMTP/IMAP, free) AIM Mail (SMTP/IMAP, free) GMail (SMTP/POP3, free) Lycos Mail (SMTP/POP3,$19.99 per year) MSN Hotmail (HTTPMail, $19.95 per year) Yahoo! Mail (SMTP/POP3, $19.99 per year) -- Norman ~Oh Lord, why have you come ~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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 jbobReach Out and Touch SomeonePremium join:2004-04-26 Little Rock, AR | reply to englund Another issue here that I haven't seen mentioned is that I believe Comcast also has an email recipient limit in place. I think it is like 200. If you are emailing using Lists and the list contain over 200 recipients Comcast will flag that for abuse as well. I seem to remember reading you have to break up the Lists into smaller chunks or choose another smtp server. I think that is the way I remember reading it anyway.
One of the Spam complaints against Comcast is that they still allow non Comcast subscribers to use their smtp servers to send email while most other major ISPs have put on port 25 blocks to disallow this. This of course causes Comcast smtp servers to be used by zombie machines to send a buttload of Spam. Comcast has set up monitoring to watch for suspected traffic and then try and stop the offending machines but the results have been questionable at best. |
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 NormanSPremium,MVM join:2001-02-14 San Jose, CA kudos:4 Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| said by jbob:One of the Spam complaints against Comcast is that they still allow non Comcast subscribers to use their smtp servers to send email while most other major ISPs have put on port 25 blocks to disallow this. They do not allow non Comcast customers to access their SMTP message submission servers. No major U.S. ISP has allowed that for at least the last five years. Example:
The message could not be sent because the server rejected the sender's e-mail address. The sender's e-mail address was '%User_TEST%@aosake.net'. Subject '[TEST] Comcast relay.', Account: 'None', Server: 'smtp.comcast.net', Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: '530 Authentication required', Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 530, Error Number: 0x800CCC78 The only way that server would work for me would be to have a Comcast account, so I could use the account login credentials to use that server.
This of course causes Comcast smtp servers to be used by zombie machines to send a buttload of Spam. All Comcast zombie machines that try to deliver spam to my domain make the attempt directly to my MX server. I have never seen spam delivered through the Comcast message submission servers.
Comcast has set up monitoring to watch for suspected traffic and then try and stop the offending machines but the results have been questionable at best. That is true.
-- Norman ~Oh Lord, why have you come ~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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 jbobReach Out and Touch SomeonePremium join:2004-04-26 Little Rock, AR 1 edit | Jeesh I never get it right! Guess I didn't sleep late enough today! Let me read some more.
Edit. Ok darnit I was thinking about Comcast subs using outside smtp servers not visa versa. |
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 Big_DPremium join:2003-06-02 Augusta, GA | One thing close to what you were saying is Comcast (like a lot of ISP's) does not require authentication to use SMTP over port 25 as long as you are on the Comcast network. I'm sure it would cut down significantly on the zombie machines on the network sending spam if they did. -- You want the truth? You can't handle the truth! |
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 NormanSPremium,MVM join:2001-02-14 San Jose, CA kudos:4 Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| said by Big_D:One thing close to what you were saying is Comcast (like a lot of ISP's) does not require authentication to use SMTP over port 25 as long as you are on the Comcast network. I'm sure it would cut down significantly on the zombie machines on the network sending spam if they did. Not at all. Zombies don't, usually, use message submission servers. If they did, Comcast would notice PDQ that there was something fishy about the sea. They attempt to connect directly to the MX servers of the recipient email address domains from the residential connection. Like this:
T 20061026 153919 4540bcaf Connection from 24.15.105.167 T 20061026 153919 4540bcaf EHLO c-24-15-105-167.hsd1.il.comcast.net T 20061026 153919 4540bcaf MAIL FROM: <commom_cps@chester.k12.sc.us> E 20061026 153919 4540bcaf Host 24.15.105.167 blocked by CBL - message rejected. T 20061026 153919 4540bcaf MAIL FROM: <comp.mail.pegasum@aosake.net> E 20061026 153921 4540bcaf Host 24.15.105.167 blocked by CBL - message rejected. T 20061026 153921 4540bcaf Connection closed with 24.15.105.167, 2 sec. elapsed.
T 20061026 183400 4540f935 Connection from 71.58.122.55 T 20061026 183400 4540f935 ehlo YOUR-FD6NVJCER4 {NOTE 1} T 20061026 183401 4540f935 MAIL FROM: <tkasela@hydrogeotechnika.pl> E 20061026 183401 4540f935 Host 71.58.122.55 blocked by CBL - message rejected. T 20061026 183401 4540f935 Connection closed with 71.58.122.55, 1 sec. elapsed.
T 20061026 214830 45411ca9 Connection from 71.58.65.75 T 20061026 214830 45411ca9 HELO dbhpdn {NOTE 1} T 20061026 214831 45411ca9 MAIL FROM: <htnddq@qisolutions.com> E 20061026 214831 45411ca9 Host 71.58.65.75 blocked by CBL - message rejected. T 20061026 214831 45411ca9 QUIT T 20061026 214831 45411ca9 Connection closed with 71.58.65.75, 1 sec. elapsed. T 20061026 214831 45411caa Connection from 71.58.65.75 T 20061026 214831 45411caa HELO dbhpdn {NOTE 1} T 20061026 214832 45411caa MAIL FROM: <htnddq@qisolutions.com> E 20061026 214832 45411caa Host 71.58.65.75 blocked by CBL - message rejected. T 20061026 214832 45411caa QUIT T 20061026 214832 45411caa Connection closed with 71.58.65.75, 1 sec. elapsed.
T 20061027 140620 4541d3cf Connection from 68.50.114.8 T 20061027 140621 4541d3cf helo localhost {S/B: c-68-50-114-8.hsd1.md.comcast.net} E 20061027 140621 4541d3cf 554 Forged host name - message rejected; see: HTTP://antispam.aosake.net. T 20061027 140621 4541d3cf Connection closed with 68.50.114.8, 1 sec. elapsed.
NOTE 1:
10/27/06 14:41:07 dns 71.58.65.75 nslookup 71.58.65.75 No reverse DNS (WSANO_DATA)
10/27/06 14:43:49 dns 71.58.122.55 nslookup 71.58.122.55 No reverse DNS (WSANO_DATA)
10/27/06 14:41:09 IP block 71.58.65.75@whois.apnic.net Trying 71.58.65.75 at ARIN Trying 71.58.65 at ARIN
OrgName: Comcast Cable Communications Holdings, Inc OrgID: CCCH-3 Address: 1800 Bishops Gate Blvd City: Mt Laurel StateProv: NJ PostalCode: 08054 Country: US
NetRange: 71.56.0.0 - 71.63.255.255 CIDR: 71.56.0.0/13 NetName: CCCH-3-34 NetHandle: NET-71-56-0-0-1 Parent: NET-71-0-0-0-0 NetType: Direct Allocation For the last two days, those are the zombie connection attempts from Comcast subscriber residential IP addresses to my domain MX server.
Over the same time period I pulled these entries from, there were only one attempt each from AT&T and Bellsouth residential connections, and none from Cox. Several from Road Runner and Verizon. Guess which ones block outbound port 25 to SMTP servers other than their own?
Not Comcast. Not Verizon. Not Road Runner.
Just AT&T, Bellsouth, and Cox (among those I have mentioned).
The way to beat zombie spam is to block subs from port 25 access off network. If they need outbound port 25 access to off network SMTP servers, let their SMTP service provider offer access through port 587 (per RFC 2476), port 465 (as Comcast does for their traveling subs), or some other port than port 25.
-- Norman ~Oh Lord, why have you come ~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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 | reply to NormanS said by NormanS:I got tired of the spam to my ISP account and set up my own domain.
Also:
AOL Mail (SMTP/IMAP, free) AIM Mail (SMTP/IMAP, free) GMail (SMTP/POP3, free) Lycos Mail (SMTP/POP3,$19.99 per year) MSN Hotmail (HTTPMail, $19.95 per year) Yahoo! Mail (SMTP/POP3, $19.99 per year) Well no one wants to send out business emails with AOL, Hotmail, Gmail, etc accounts. (These are legitimate emails about the organization - not unsolicited junk.) They have their own domain (as well as several client domains they manage) and so use their domain email with a Comcast business account (not residential service). So you'd think if you call customer support they wouldn't give you some baloney line about a company wide policy about banning outbound connections but would instead inform the client what a block had been placed and why. |
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 madylarianThe curmudgeonlyPremium join:2002-01-03 Parkville, MD | reply to jbob said by jbob:Another issue here that I haven't seen mentioned is that I believe Comcast also has an email recipient limit in place. I think it is like 200. If you are emailing using Lists and the list contain over 200 recipients Comcast will flag that for abuse as well. I seem to remember reading you have to break up the Lists into smaller chunks or choose another smtp server. I think that is the way I remember reading it anyway. Actually, the limit is 100 at a time. And they will also do a 48 hour block if there are too many attempted connections within a (I think!) 5 minute period. And if Port 25 does get a permanent block, the customer is instructed to use Port 587.
mady
-- Honi soit qui mal y pense |
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 jbobReach Out and Touch SomeonePremium join:2004-04-26 Little Rock, AR | As I was typing my earlier message I almost typed 200(or 100?)! I was sure someone would correct me either if I had my number incorrect. Thanks |
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 Big_DPremium join:2003-06-02 Augusta, GA | reply to NormanS said by NormanS :
Zombies don't, usually, use message submission servers. Ah, forgot about that, good point! -- You want the truth? You can't handle the truth! |
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 NormanSPremium,MVM join:2001-02-14 San Jose, CA kudos:4 Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| reply to englund
 GMail account and reply. |  Yahoo! Mail Plus account, and reply. |
said by englund:Well no one wants to send out business emails with AOL, Hotmail, Gmail, etc accounts. (These are legitimate emails about the organization - not unsolicited junk.) They have their own domain (as well as several client domains they manage) and so use their domain email with a Comcast business account (not residential service). So you'd think if you call customer support they wouldn't give you some baloney line about a company wide policy about banning outbound connections but would instead inform the client what a block had been placed and why. GMail and Yahoo! Mail Plus allow you to send email from your domain. Here are examples, including screen shots detailing a reply composition: GMail servers ('smtp.gmail.com'):
Return-Path: <%User_ID%@gmail.com> Received: from rly-yc06.mail.aol.com (rly-yc06.mail.aol.com [172.18.205.149]) by air-yc03.mail.aol.com (v113.6) with ESMTP id MAILINYC31-6ef453fd4276e; Wed, 25 Oct 2006 17:16:23 -0400 Received: from nz-out-0102.google.com (nz-out-0102.google.com [64.233.162.204]) by rly-yc06.mail.aol.com (v113.6) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINYC69-6ef453fd4276e; Wed, 25 Oct 2006 17:16:23 -0400 Received: by nz-out-0102.google.com with SMTP id 16so197185nzp for <%User_ID%@aim.com>; Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:16:23 -0700 (PDT) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:from:organization:to:date:mime-version:subject:message-id:priority:x-mailer:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-description:sender; b=AfSzSmLNTK19H96215tyqBl7XNnrkPupUvshfzWAw6v1w67qAxevLmL3mafkfAqcCRz2qpdfGgDrs03R 5mphIXO3IBLXDJRKTiC2yL+VTHwKZw5YubPH7Niluh0thtEIvY3s2p5oV3h/E3K0ILBR6tdgXaoyH+0cw3LAPwCjI4Y= Received: by 10.65.54.5 with SMTP id g5mr1612182qbk; Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:16:22 -0700 (PDT) Received: from gmail.com ( [69.106.38.180]) by mx.google.com with ESMTP id f18sm3562161qba.2006.10.25.14.16.19; Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:16:22 -0700 (PDT) From: "NormanS" <%User_ID%@aosake.net> Organization: Google Mail System To: %User_ID%@aim.com Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:16:04 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Subject: [TEST] GMail servers. Message-ID: <453F71A4.2856.67693E@%User_ID%.aosake.net> Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (4.41) Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-description: Mail message body Sender: NormanS <%User_ID%@gmail.com> X-AOL-IP: 64.233.162.204
Just to prove a point about GMail SMTP service. Despite the "Return-Path:", and "Sender:" header lines, the recipient's client will only display the "From:" header line, and will open a composition window to the "From:" email address. This is not a GMail email address!
Yahoo! Mail Plus servers ('smtp.mail.yahoo.com'):
Return-Path: <%User_ID%@lycos.com> Received: from rly-xn06.mx.aol.com (rly-xn06.mail.aol.com [172.20.83.119]) by air-xn04.mail.aol.com (v113.6) with ESMTP id MAILINXN42-75b454294f42c2; Fri, 27 Oct 2006 19:23:40 -0400 Received: from smtp109.plus.mail.mud.yahoo.com (smtp109.plus.mail.mud.yahoo.com [68.142.206.242]) by rly-xn06.mx.aol.com (v113.6) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINXN69-75b454294f42c2; Fri, 27 Oct 2006 19:23:32 -0400 Received: (qmail 63347 invoked from network); 27 Oct 2006 23:23:32 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO lycos.com) (hard2findanamenotused@68.127.139.241 with login) by smtp109.plus.mail.mud.yahoo.com with SMTP; 27 Oct 2006 23:23:31 -0000 From: "NormanS" <%User_ID%@lycos.com> Organization: Yahoo! Mail To: %User_ID%@aim.com Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2006 16:23:13 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Subject: [TEST] Yahoo! Mail servers. Message-ID: <45423271.8225.1BAC539@%User_ID%.lycos.com> Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (4.41) Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-description: Mail message body X-AOL-IP: 68.142.206.242
Just to prove a point about Yahoo! Mail Plus servers. There are few clues that this went through Yahoo! servers. No 'yahoo.com' email address. The "Organization" string can be changed in the client (I just don't feel like re-testing after changing it; there is a setting for in in Pegasus Mail). Note that Pegasus Mail even let me specify the "HELO" string (lycos.com), despite that this message did not even go through Lycos servers. BTW, Lycos Mail Plus works similar to Yahoo! Mail Plus; as an option for using SMTP servers other than Comcast. I do have a Yahoo! Mail Plus account, courtesy of AT&T HSI (sort of like Comcast and Giganews). I don't have a Lycos Mail Plus account.
The screen shots show what the recipient sees in the message list, and the reply composition window.
Bottom line, though, to get somewhat back on topic: Nobody should be using a residential ISP service for business purposes. You need to mail large quantities of messages on a regular basis? Your own domain, and mail hosting for that domain can be had for under $70 per year.
-- Norman ~Oh Lord, why have you come ~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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 | I skimmed over most of the messages and did not see this so I apoogoze in advance if someone mentioned it. In a effort to reduce spam, Comcats (as does many other ISPs) only allows their SMTP servers to be used if you are connected through a Comcast IP address. If not, you will be blocked. So therefore, if the OP had a non-Comcast IP the SMTP would be blocked. -- I'm not really sure what I am doing, but I'm doing it anyway! |
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 NormanSPremium,MVM join:2001-02-14 San Jose, CA kudos:4 Reviews:
·SONIC.NET
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| said by TraumaJunkie:I skimmed over most of the messages and did not see this so I apoogoze in advance if someone mentioned it. Including skimming over my post with email headers showing email sent through a Comcast SMTP server...
In a effort to reduce spam, Comcats (as does many other ISPs) only allows their SMTP servers to be used if you are connected through a Comcast IP address. If not, you will be blocked. So therefore, if the OP had a non-Comcast IP the SMTP would be blocked. That is not true. Aside from examining the headers of the message I posted earlier, fourth one (it shows access to 'smtp.comcast.net' from a 'pacbell.net' (AT&T Yahoo! HSI) IP address), check your Comcast site FAQ for configuring an email client to access 'smtp.comcast.com' from another network. You must configure your client to use SMTP AUTH when connecting from another network.
BTW, my ISP, which is AT&T Yahoo! HSI, like Comcast, does allow authenticated connection to their mail servers from other networks. -- Norman ~Oh Lord, why have you come ~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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 madylarianThe curmudgeonlyPremium join:2002-01-03 Parkville, MD | In fact, here is the instruction for using Outlook Express while travelling (and not being connected via Comcast). There are similar instructions for Outlook and other email clients.
mady -- Honi soit qui mal y pense |
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