topic Re: Not receiving emails in Email

Not receiving emails

lucywoodd — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 12:09:22 GMT

Hello,

I'm a plusnet broadband customer.

I have a private email address for my business, but when I'm connected to my plusnet broadband at home, I cannot receive emails to either of my business accounts. There are no problems if I'm connected to a hotspot or any other internet provider (TalkTalk at work for example), but every time I set up emails on either my iPhone or Windows Laptop I initially can receive emails on the network but then it stops receiving.

One account is POP3, Port Number 995, using SSL

The other is IMAP, Port Number 993, using SSL.

Can anyone help? Can provide more details if necessary.

Thanks

Re: Not receiving emails

Strat — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 12:25:54 GMT

Moderators Note
This topic has been moved from ADSL Broadband to Email.

Re: Not receiving emails

jab1 — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 14:06:22 GMT

@lucywoodd Welcome to the forums.

Who supplies your business broadband? PlusNet or another ISP - TalkTalk, I am guessing from a comment later in the topic.

Who are the emails provided by?

Re: Not receiving emails

Gandalf — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 16:43:06 GMT

Thanks for your post @lucywoodd and welcome to our Community Forums.

Do the people who try to send you emails get any particular error message?

I'd also second @jab1's question of are you using a Plusnet email address or a third party one?

If you're not using a Plusnet email address, you may be better off going to the provider who supplies it to investigate the cause as we wouldn't be able to see much from our side if that's the case.

Re: Not receiving emails

lucywoodd — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 18:37:15 GMT

Update:

@jab1 @Gandalf

I've spoken to my work IT support and we worked out that my IP address is blacklisted by 3 antispam databases.

Please could someone assist in removing me from these? I tried calling Plusnet support this evening but they were fairly useless.

I managed to unblacklist myself from 1 of the databases but for the other 3 it says I have to get my ISP (Plusnet) to unblacklist my IP address

Thanks

Re: Not receiving emails

TheMightyAJ — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 09:35:05 GMT

Hi @lucywoodd,

I'm sorry to hear about this. I can see that you've not got a Static IP Address with us, so you should be able to change this by rebooting the router. You can ensure the IP Address will change by leaving the router offline for 80+ minutes, so it may be worth turning it off tonight before you go to bed and then back on again tomorrow morning.

Re: Not receiving emails

lucywoodd — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 14:11:31 GMT

Thanks, @TheMightyAJ but I've changed the IP address before as i had this issue previously. It made no difference, IP address changed but still got blacklisted. Plusnet needs to remove me from the blacklist themselves (I tried to to it - the databases stated that my ISP needs to do it). Tried again with Technical Support just now but the guy there said he didn't understand what to do and it wasn't his problem. Very helpful.

Re: Not receiving emails

TheMightyAJ — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 17:49:20 GMT

Thanks for getting back to us @lucywoodd. Just to confirm, did you check to make sure the IP Address had changed? Sometimes a short reboot won't do the trick and I can't see any overnight periods of downtime recently.

Re: Not receiving emails

lucywoodd — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 19:42:14 GMT

Yes, I last changed IP on 29th December.

Re: Not receiving emails

TheMightyAJ — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 10:59:30 GMT

Hi @lucywoodd,

We can see that the same IP address has been in place since the 24th of December - please could you try turning the router off before bed tonight and back on again tomorrow morning to see if this does the trick?

Re: Not receiving emails

Townman — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 11:34:31 GMT

Having reread this thread, something is not making sense. @lucywoodd states that she cannot RECEIVE works emails when connected via the Plusnet net work and that her IP address is backlisted by anti-spam services.

IP address blacklisting only affects the SENDING of emails.

It would be the work's email SMTP servers which will be rejecting the outbound connection.

The actual issue needs to be confirmed here, as issues related to RECEIVING email are very unlikely to be due to the receiver's IP address and anti-spam blacklisting. It would be helpful to know the details of the three blacklists - some are notoriously wrong.

Re: Not receiving emails

lucywoodd — Sun, 20 Feb 2022 13:28:02 GMT

My IP Address is in the block 87.115.34.X it is owned by Plusnet.

It is not just my IP that is Blacklisted it is the whole block.

87.115.34.1 Blacklisted by RATS Dyna, SORBS DUHL and Spamhaus ZEN

87.115.34.25 Blacklisted by RATS Dyna, SORBS DUHL and Spamhaus ZEN

87.115.34.75 Blacklisted by RATS Dyna, SORBS DUHL and Spamhaus ZEN

87.115.34.100 Blacklisted by RATS Dyna, SORBS DUHL and Spamhaus ZEN

87.115.34.200 Blacklisted by RATS Dyna, SORBS DUHL and Spamhaus ZEN

The owners of all these blacklisting companies will only accept a whitelisting request from an ISP.

Why will Plusnet not simply request that this happens?

We have been struggling with Plusnet staff who seem to be poorly trained and do not know how to fix this issue.

Any suggestions on how to resolve this is issue please?

Re: Not receiving emails

Townman — Sun, 20 Feb 2022 14:32:24 GMT

Where are you seeing the blacklist notifications?

As advised above blacklist does not impinge on RECEIVING emails. Exactly what error message are you seeing and where when doing what?

Re: Not receiving emails

thackie2015 — Sun, 20 Feb 2022 14:37:51 GMT

Just had a look at Spamhaus it lists those IP's under the Policy Block which is normal and as previous post says should not affect sending e-mails. Also agree that this should n't impact receiving e-mails.

Re: Not receiving emails

Townman — Sun, 20 Feb 2022 14:43:32 GMT

That’s the very point of the policy block list - it inhibits MX SERVERS relaying email from those IP addresses where customers run their own mail servers. Mail message SUBMISSION CLIENTS can still send mail.

I suggest that the problem is not well defined and the presence of the IP address on the PBL (as might be expected) is being thought to be the issue.

Re: Not receiving emails

lucywoodd — Sun, 20 Feb 2022 16:49:00 GMT

If that is the case why is another computer on a different Plusnet account and Plusnet IP address with the same settings able to send and receive email from the server?

The mail server is not on a Plusnet IP address.

Re: Not receiving emails

Townman — Sun, 20 Feb 2022 18:02:10 GMT

Given that we have not seen the precise error messages and the context in which they arise one can only make reasonably logical suggestions here. The answer comes in two parts...

The other IP addresses are not on the PBL
Therefore such IP addresses do not fall foul of the email host providers INCORRECT interpretation of the PBL^

As advised on several occasions, the PBL would only impact SENDING of emails, not RECEIVING. Sharing the exact (full) error message would help move this forward. What error message do you get when attempting to SEND and what do you get when attempting to READ emails. These are very distinct actions / issues involving different email services.

^Something is not quite as it seems to be here - the PBL (Policy Black List) contains those IP addresses which are not permitted to run a SMTP SERVER for the purposes of RELAYING email. Such circumstances only occur where a customer wants to run their on email host server. In such circumstances, they should use smart relay via Plusnet's SMTP servers for OUTBOUND mail. In other words, these PBL entries DO NOT apply to RECEIVING emails.

My IP address is on the Spamhaus ZEN PBL but that has zero impact on my use of many email hosting services I use (around 5). The description of the above reads...

"Spamhaus PBL is a DNSBL database of end-user IP address ranges that should not be delivering unauthenticated SMTP email to any Internet mail server except those provided for specifically by an ISP for that customer's use"

The important points to note in the above are this relates to...

Sending not receiving email
Delivering not submitting email - an email client submits email messages, where as a mail server delivers email
Unauthenticated use of a SMTP server - which I doubt is the case here

The above points to (a) the problem needs clearer definition and (b) the email hosting provider has a bad implementation of PBL filtering. Who is the hosting provider?

Looking at one of the IP addresses you mentioned before - 87.115.34.100* - it is also on the Barracuda list..

"Listing in the Barracuda Blacklist could indicate any number of issues that need to be addressed in your network including but not limited to: virus-generated spam, poor server configuration, dynamic IP Addresses previously used by spammers, bulk mail sending that does not comply with the CAN-SPAM Act."

Again, this would only impact SENDING of email, not RECEIVING as you report your issue to be.

*.1 / .50 / .75 are also on that list but .25 / .200 are not.

You mentioned RATS listing...

"RATS-Dyna - Probable PC or home connection infected with a Trojan, Bot, or Emailer Program"

What anti-virus / malware protection are you running? But again, this only relates to sending, not receiving.

Looking at the SORBUS black list...

"The SORBS (Spam and Open Relay Blocking System), owned and operated by Proofpoint, Inc., provides free access to its DNS-based Block List (DNSBL) to effectively block email from more than 12 million host servers known to disseminate spam, phishing attacks, and other forms of malicious email. The list typically includes email servers suspected of sending or relaying spam, servers that have been hacked and hijacked, and those with Trojan infestations. In an attempt to provide pre-emptive protection, SORBS also lists servers with dynamically allocated IP addresses."

Notice the the predication is consistently SERVERS not CLIENTS and therefore the reliance of your hosting provider on blocking a CLIENT on your IP address from SUBMITTING an email is entirely wrong. At the very worst here, you have a CLIENT with a dynamically allocated IP address, but proper filtering ought not to present a barrier to your client submitting email messages.

Re: Not receiving emails

lucywoodd — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 19:24:16 GMT

So, an update!

I tried logging into the webmail version as a trial run - I couldn't do this, the page timed out ("Safari couldn't open the page X because the server where this page is located isn't responding")

But when I use another ISP, be it my work WiFi or hotspot 4G I can log on to my webmail version without problems.

As requested:

INITIATING CONNECTION Feb 21 19:10:05.832 host:(I've deleted this)-- port:0 -- socket:0x0 -- thread:0x6000036762c0

I've tried removving the accounts from my Mail app. I can't readd the account as it can't connect to the mail server. However, as per above if I can re add the account if I'm connected to another network.

Hosting provider is swordfish.pickaweb.co.uk

Re: Not receiving emails

Townman — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 20:26:25 GMT

Have you asked the hosting provider why they are rejecting the valid connections?