Topic 'Re: SMTP mail server down?' in forum 'AT&T West' - dslreports.com

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Fri, 14 May 2004 23:28:06 EDT

Al1776 posted : Well, if they are in Sacramento, I don't know who they are. In this location, the vendor of choice is SureWest. Everyone I've met simply loves them and their DSL service. That's why I bought a few hundred shares of their stock this week. They are not available in my area so I figured that SBC was the next best choice.

Al

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Fri, 14 May 2004 20:49:13 EDT

unoriginal posted :

said by Al1776:

said by drainbamage:
my email is working just fine (5:37PM PDT)

One thing is for sure.... I'm not impressed with how Yahoo does the ISP thing. I wish we could choose our own ISP.

Al

You do realize that you CAN choose your own isp right? I know plenty of people here in SoCal that use DSLExtreme as their isp with a Pacbell line and a couple in NorCal that use Sonic.net. If you automatically chose SBC/Yahoo based on price alone I am sorry to say that you really didn't do your homework very well. There are plenty of other isp's out there that would be happy to provide dsl over an sbc line if you get in contact with them.

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Fri, 14 May 2004 10:59:40 EDT

Al1776 posted : At 7:57 AM I'm seeing instant delivery. I'll bet by 8:30 AM it's up to an hour again.

No excuse for a long delay. IMO this is just BAD SERVICE and for what we pay, we deserve better.

Good thing I have an alternative via a host service we use who provides limited SMTP. I could never live with an hour delay on email... not at these prices.

Al

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Fri, 14 May 2004 09:25:58 EDT

efflandt posted : Last night when someone mentioned a bounce from specific destination and I wanted to check IP of server making outgoing connection on dsbl.org, I sent mail through smtp.*.yahoo.com authenticated relay, and it took slightly over an hour (relay received it 19:20:06 CDT and I received it 20:23:25 CDT):

Received: from smtp810.mail.sc5.yahoo.com (smtp810.mail.sc5.yahoo.com [66.163.170.80])
by my.domain (Postfix) with SMTP id D2620198E5 for ; Thu, 13 May 2004 20:23:25 -0500 (CDT)
Received: from unknown (HELO wireless1) (me@ameritech.net@68.20.214.24 with plain)
by smtp810.mail.sc5.yahoo.com with SMTP; 14 May 2004 00:20:06 -0000
...
Date: Thu, 13 May 2004 19:19:45 -0500

my.domain is a substute for my own PC which was online with proper MX and A record at the time, so I know that the delay was not at my end.

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Thu, 13 May 2004 20:50:20 EDT

Al1776 posted : I'm seeing 12 to 20 minutes delay as well... and it is 5:45 PM, so the buisness hour "peak" is over.

I guess I'm in the minority since most people don't seem to care, but I think SBC/Yahoo owes us at least as good a service as we can get from almost any dial-up. On it's worst day I don't think there was ever a 45 minute delay with Mindspring in Lanset.... two ISPs I've had experience with over the past 3 years.

Al

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Thu, 13 May 2004 19:29:14 EDT

tonydi posted : So far my test results are looking pretty ugly! :huh:

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Thu, 13 May 2004 01:04:10 EDT

Al1776 posted : I'll do the same. I'll be out most of Wed., but should be around for Thurs and Friday.

Al

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Thu, 13 May 2004 00:18:27 EDT

tonydi posted :

said by Al1776:
Hmmm. Maybe we could start a forum called "Slow Yahoo email" and just post stuff like this for everyone to see? Just a thought.

Heh, I like the forum idea. ;)

As you can see, the speed thing is a moving target. Now it's fine. I've set up a plan to send test msgs over the next few days at different hours of the day and night. Then I'll collect results and see if there's a pattern or what. Only then can we really present a valid argument. I don't want to waste any bullets sending Mr Casali a few headers that can be easily exlained away. If you'd like to do the same sort of testing and collect results I'd be happy to consolidate your numbers with mine.

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 21:47:34 EDT

Al1776 posted :

said by drainbamage:
my email is working just fine (5:37PM PDT)

It's 6:44 PDT and I'm now getting fast turnaround on the SMTP server. I'm wondering if it is a "business hour" problem.... that SBC just can't handle the load during biz hours.

Only problem with that theory is that TTBOMK the overwhelming % of SBC-Yahoo customers are residential.... not businesses with huge networks sending tons of mail.

It will be interesting to see how tomorrow shapes up. It would be nice if SBC kept some kind of log on how their system is doing. I looked at the bulletins and there is nothing. Nice thing about Earthlink is that they kept their system status very current so people knew where the problems were. Made it easier to deal with.

One thing is for sure.... I'm not impressed with how Yahoo does the ISP thing. I wish we could choose our own ISP.

Al

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 20:38:42 EDT

drainbamage posted : my email is working just fine (5:37PM PDT)

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 18:03:13 EDT

Al1776 posted : Maybe if we send Bob Casali some headers like the one below. This shows over an hour latency. (I xxx'd out some stuff for security.)

If you send me address via the "contact us" form on www.adams-blake.com I'll start sending him headers.

Hmmm. Maybe we could start a forum called "Slow Yahoo email" and just post stuff like this for everyone to see? Just a thought.

I know that if I didn't have an alternative way to send mail, I would cancel and call the cable company... or some other DSL reseller who had a better ISP. Why anyone would PAY for this is beyond me.

-Al

Received: (qmail 69658 invoked from network); 12 May 2004 20:36:54 -0000
Received: from smtp811.mail.sc5.yahoo.com (66.163.170.81)
by xxx.xxx.com with SMTP; 12 May 2004 20:36:54 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO 192.168.1.100) (xxxxx@sbcglobal.net@67.xxx.xx.xx with plain)
by smtp811.mail.sc5.yahoo.com with SMTP; 12 May 2004 19:31:07 -0000

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 16:52:42 EDT

tonydi posted : Al, this exact subject, SBC's lack of "interest" in providing other ISP services like reliable email, has been around for quite some time. Before I switched to DSL in 2001 I came here asking about all the bad reports of slow email delivery from SBC. It seemed like every SBC DSL user I knew personally said it was less than satisfactory. Yet almost nobody here at DSLR had similar views. Shortly after I signed up, people here said things would get a lot better once the Yahoo servers came online. Yeah, it's better, but it still isn't on a level with other ISP's I've used in the past.

Like you, I pull email from another ISP, one who hosts my domain. But also like you, I do have to send through the SBC SMTP servers and at times I'm not satisfied with the results. I'm afraid there's really not much we can do to get this to change. Talking to support, etc, would be totally worthless.

Unless....I have an email address for Bob Casali, who is the President of SBCIS. If we could come up with data over a period of time that shows the SBC servers are sub-standard maybe we could send it to him. But we'd need more than just the two of us and like I said, we'd have to show a pattern or else they'll dismiss it as momentary spikes in traffic caused by who knows which virus/worm.

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 15:38:29 EDT

gdm posted : Yes SBC controls it.

Think of it like this Yahoo deals with the mail and extra services...mail, launchcast, dialup, etc.

SBC controls the DSL connectivity.

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 15:30:24 EDT

Al1776 posted :

said by gdm:
Yes you are...all the email is yahoo not sbc....think about it. You get launch cast, yahoo webmail, etc. Look at your pop and smtp servers....pop.sbcglobal.yahoo.com

Yeah, you're right. I had not thought it through that far. Hmmm. I would have expected "better" of Yahoo as they "kinda know" the mail biz!!

Well, as long as I can send mail to an alternative SMTP through 25 I'm OK.

BTW, who "controls" port 25.... SBC or Yahoo? My guess is SBC.

Al

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 15:19:44 EDT

gdm posted : Yes you are...all the email is yahoo not sbc....think about it. You get launch cast, yahoo webmail, etc. Look at your pop and smtp servers....pop.sbcglobal.yahoo.com

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 15:17:22 EDT

Al1776 posted : I'm not really upset, I'm just surprised. I've only had DSL for two weeks now and while I was expecting outages (there have been none) not in my wildest dreams would I have expected 1 hour delay on outing mail. (Of course, it could be hung-up somewhere else.... but I sort of doubt it.)

As for SBC/Yahoo, I assumed that SBC merely licensed the Yahoo brand for marketing purposes. I didn't think that Yahoo is really "doing anything" or providing any ISP services. Am I wrong about that?

Al

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 15:08:55 EDT

gdm posted : Al,

Your getting a little to upset on this.

First you are paying sbc and yahoo 2 different companies not one remember that.

Second....you would be surprised how many users have there own domain and use that instead of SBC's SMTP. SBC has never really been in the practice of blocking ports. Only reason they are now is do to the worms/virus's out there.

You can't compare dialup accounts to dsl they are 2 totally different things. DSL users get much better perks then dialup users do.

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 15:01:37 EDT

Al1776 posted :

said by gdm:
You could call into support, email or do the chat online thing. If you call not sure if there is a option for email issues. Email is really SBC/Yahoo problem.

I don't see SBC blocking port 25......but who knows. If they did there would be some anger users.

Yes, it's a SBC/Yahoo problem. Isn't that whom I'm paying my monthly fee to? Or am I missing something in the mix here?

As for 25 blocking, a fair number of dial-up ISPs block 25 and more are starting to. I know that Earthlink blocks. I don't think there would be too much anger unless I'm mistaken in my belief that most users just send out to the SBC SMTP and don't know the first think about alternatives.

Al

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 14:44:01 EDT

jm8 posted : just as an fyi, one user reporting latency in email, wont get very far.

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 14:41:09 EDT

gdm posted : You could call into support, email or do the chat online thing. If you call not sure if there is a option for email issues. Email is really SBC/Yahoo problem.

I don't see SBC blocking port 25......but who knows. If they did there would be some anger users.

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 14:37:33 EDT

Al1776 posted :

said by gdm:
That is why I got my own domain and use that for my primary email.

But what happens when/if SBC decides to block port 25? (I'm rather surprised they don't!!) Some domian hosts will provide an alternate port (like 2530), but many do not have this feature.

I never use the SBC POP box so receiving is not a problem (or a port 25 issue). But I simply can't live with 10 to 40 minute latency on outing mail. No one should.... but unless people complain about it, I guess nothing will happen. (So where/who would I complain to???)

Al

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 14:17:47 EDT

gdm posted : No problem and I agree but as you said they focus on the connectivity not the ISP stuff.

It's not going to get fixed anytime soon:( That is why I got my own domain and use that for my primary email.

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 13:17:51 EDT

Al1776 posted :

said by gdm:
Al,

This happens and there isn't much you can do. Eventually SBC fixes it but it's not worth worrying about.

Some days it's instant others delay city:uhh:

Sorry, but I don't agree. I can live with a delay of a minute or two, but not 15 or more. After all, WHAT is SBC selling me? Answer: SPEED. If I want slow, be it connect or e-mail, I could stay with Earthlink dial-up!! (Actually the SMTP servers a Earthlink were pretty good most of the time.)

One of the problems with broadband companies is that they focus on the connectivity side and not on the ISP side... which is somewhat understandable.... but makes poor business sense.

Too bad we can't choose our own ISP for e-mail, DNS, etc.

Anyway, I'm fortunate in that I have another SMTP server I can send things through. My volume of outgoing e-mail is very low.... maybe 5 items an hour... if that. But I want it "out now" not 40 minutes from now.... which is not too much to ask from an ISP, I don't believe. I run a small business and it's important that my responses be as timely as possible.

Sorry for the rant.

Al

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 11:47:10 EDT

gdm posted : Al,

This happens and there isn't much you can do. Eventually SBC fixes it but it's not worth worrying about.

Some days it's instant others delay city:uhh:

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Wed, 12 May 2004 11:45:24 EDT

Al1776 posted : I've been doing some tests. I'm sending mail to the same address via SBC's SMTP and via a my own server's SMTP. I'm seeing 10 to 15 minute latency on SBC.

I wonder if they are aware of it.

Mail sent via my host's server has no latency. True, there are other factors involved but I think SBC has a problem.

I'd be happy to test with one of you guys if you post a "test" mail address I'll send to you using both servers and you can look at headers and maybe see what's going on?

Al

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Tue, 11 May 2004 19:12:46 EDT

norbertsf posted : I've been having similar problems all day. Mail says it's going out via my email program....but it's very slow to get where it is going.

Re: SMTP mail server down?

Tue, 11 May 2004 18:36:37 EDT

Sysadmin posted : I can send and receive mail from the web interface just fine.

I'm at work right now so I can't check out if Outlook can connect or not. I'll check it out when I get home if you don't have an answer by then.
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SMTP mail server down?

Tue, 11 May 2004 17:52:42 EDT
Al1776 posted : It seems that none of my e-mail is getting out. I've sent stuff to my own domain as well as the sbcglobal.net address. Nothing. Anyone having similar problems (2:54 PM).

Al