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uniqs
10310

DSLinVancouver
@telus.net

DSLinVancouver

Anon

Slow SMTP response from mail.telus.net

For the last 3 days I've been experiencing very slow response to outgoing SMTP service requests. I use mail.telus.net as my outgoing SMTP server (also known as smtp.telus.net).

I called first level support and was told that other people are not experiencing this. I decided to do some investigation on my own and fired up Wireshark to trace the conversation with the mail server. What I see is that the TCP connection setup works as expected (the usual SYN, SYN, ACK), but the first actual SMTP response from priv-edmwaa06.telusplanet.net (which is a response code 220) takes 60 seconds. After that, the transaction proceeds at normal speeds.

Is anyone else seeing this?
Halfwise
join:2008-06-12
Edmonton, AB

Halfwise

Member

Me too since yesterday afternoon. Can't send at all.

erik123
@telus.net

erik123 to DSLinVancouver

Anon

to DSLinVancouver
Same here. I called and complained (after the usual runaround "No, no technical problems reported here. Have you checked your email program? Your anti-virus software?..."

It's not like we have any choice. Telus forces us to use their SMTP server by blocking port 25 for any other SMTP server, so it seems to me that they should have an obligation to their customers to keep theirs working properly.

It's normally not a big deal - the Telus mail servers have always been slow compared to everyone else - but I wasted an hour investigating why my home security system is no longer emailing alerts, only to discover that the Telus SMTP server is exceeding its built-in timeout limits.
wyle5
join:2007-12-12
Canada

wyle5

Member

said by erik123 :

It's not like we have any choice. Telus forces us to use their SMTP server by blocking port 25 for any other SMTP server, so it seems to me that they should have an obligation to their customers to keep theirs working properly.
That isn't quite correct. You can access any SMTP server you want - you just can't host it.

erik123
@telus.net

erik123

Anon

On a Telus internet connection you cannot send SMTP email via port 25 to any SMTP server except smtp.telus.net.

There are some ways to work around it:
- If your alternative SMTP server supports alternative port numbers other than the standard port 25, you are allowed to send SMTP email via that port. For example if your computer/internet device supports SSL, you can send email via port 465 to Gmail's SMTP server.
- Apparently Telus business internet customers can request port 25 to be unblocked, but they won't do it for personal accounts
- You can use IMAP instead of SMTP. Telus does have an IMAP email server, although it's not well publicized.

Unfortunately none of those solutions work for my home security system - its firmware supports only standard port 25 SMTP email with a 30-second timeout.

vilisineur
@telus.net

vilisineur

Anon

said by erik123 :

- You can use IMAP instead of SMTP. Telus does have an IMAP email server, although it's not well publicized.
IMAP is a protocol used to RECEIVE email.
POP3 is a protocol used to RECEIVE email.

SMTP is a protocol used to SEND email.

IMAP is an alternative to POP3.

SMTP is used with both IMAP and POP3 to send mail.

erik123
@telus.net

erik123 to DSLinVancouver

Anon

to DSLinVancouver
Thanks for that clarification. Ok, IMAP not an alternative to SMTP (that was actually a suggestion of the Telus tier-2 tech support - I didn't bother to investigate further).

phoneboy3
@shawcable.net

phoneboy3 to DSLinVancouver

Anon

to DSLinVancouver
I cringe at the thought of trying to setup IMAP with Telus. It's difficult enough trying to get support for SMTP.

netwerk2
Premium Member
join:2003-02-03
BC

netwerk2

Premium Member

Actually setting up IMAP is easy and also pretty nice if you have a few computers in the house.

Getting support for it is also quite good.

JammerMan79
Premium Member
join:2004-05-13
Prince George, BC

JammerMan79 to phoneboy3

Premium Member

to phoneboy3
the smtp is not changed..
it's simply changed from a pop3 to imap service
sinjindog
join:2006-09-28
Airdrie, AB

sinjindog to DSLinVancouver

Member

to DSLinVancouver
Same problem with 6.0 in Airdrie, Telus says there is no problem at their end...... any one resolve this yet?

Lakebottom
Future Fishermen are Friendly
join:2006-10-28
Sylvan Lake, AB

Lakebottom

Member

Reset your gateway by turning it off for 15 seconds and then restarting. Mine was hooped today again, before the reset I was at half speed, now I'm back to full speed. A glitch existed here some where, what it is I have no idea. The DNS grabbing has some sort of problem.

Current test shows:


erik124
@uniserve.ca

erik124 to DSLinVancouver

Anon

to DSLinVancouver
Different issue. When we say that the SMTP server is slow, we mean that it takes more than 30 seconds to respond to the initial inquiry from the email program, whereas other requests such as reading web pages and POP mail are still responding quickly and transferring data quickly. It's a specific server issue, not an overall connection issue that can be fixed by resetting the modem.
psydfx
join:2002-12-20
Canada

psydfx

Member

Have you tried a different smtp server? priv-edmwaa06.telusplanet.net is timing out for me as it looks like it's going to a local address of 192.168.81.206 which is sort of goofy... but there's nothing stopping you from using a different one.

Try mail.telus.net instead of smtp.telus.net. It should reference a different server completely. You can actually also use pop.telus.net as your smtp server if you make sure you're still connecting to port 25.
sinjindog
join:2006-09-28
Airdrie, AB

sinjindog

Member

no change with mail or smtp and pop.telus.net fails on send.
psydfx
join:2002-12-20
Canada

psydfx

Member

Try SMTP (port 25) using IPs:
204.209.205.51
204.209.205.52
204.209.205.53
199.185.220.245
199.185.220.249

If the 204.* IPs are slow to respond, try the 199.* ones. They take different routing so hopefully one will work better than the other. If they both suck, I'm out of suggestions.

traceroute to 199.185.220.245 (first 4 hops not important)
5 vancbc01gr01.bb.telus.com (154.11.4.65) 27.806 ms 26.801 ms 26.600 ms
6 edtnabxtdr01.bb.telus.com (205.233.111.104) 48.879 ms 267.031 ms 203.576 ms
7 host206.77.34.207.in-addr.arpa (207.34.77.206) 42.497 ms 42.614 ms 42.291 ms
8 edtort22-v302.agt.net (161.184.255.70) 41.504 ms 42.937 ms 41.401 ms
9 mail.svc.telus.net (199.185.220.245) 42.245 ms 46.217 ms 41.554 ms

traceroute to 204.209.205.51 (first 4 hops not important)
5 vancbc01gr01.bb.telus.com (154.11.4.65) 27.204 ms 28.522 ms 27.947 ms
6 edtnabxtdr01.bb.telus.com (205.233.111.136) 42.441 ms 42.068 ms 41.307 ms
7 209.115.245.246 (209.115.245.246) 42.099 ms 41.912 ms 43.424 ms
8 edmwrt21-g1.telus.net (161.184.255.245) 42.063 ms 42.545 ms 41.603 ms
9 smtp.svc.telus.net (204.209.205.51) 42.309 ms 41.687 ms 42.116 ms
sinjindog
join:2006-09-28
Airdrie, AB

sinjindog

Member

Same response for me on all of them. The 204's were maybe 10 seconds or so faster than the 199's if there was any difference.