topic Re: Emails not arriving at destination in Email

Emails not arriving at destination

Tiffin57 — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 15:38:46 GMT

My wife is having problems with her sent emails not arriving at their destination - well not for four or five days. What is going on?

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

jab1 — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 15:42:24 GMT

Who is she sending them to, and what does her email address end in - (.plus.com), or something else?

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

Tiffin57 — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 15:51:09 GMT

Her emails end in *.plus.com and she has sent to several different emails. She sent a test one to my gmail account at 11.45 this morning which hasn't arrived yet.

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

jab1 — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 15:55:21 GMT

OK. This looks like another one for the email experts (that's not me).

@Townman / @MisterW ?

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

MisterW — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 16:19:26 GMT

@Tiffin57

She sent a test one to my gmail account at 11.45 this morning which hasn't arrived yet.

That's not unexpected , its an ongoing problem sending to gmail see here https://community.plus.net/t5/Email/Problems-sending-PN-email-to-Gmail-addresses/m-p/2013223#M50713

and if the other addresses are Microsoft ones e.g outlook, hotmail etc then that's also been a problem recently.

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

Tiffin57 — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 16:35:03 GMT

@MisterW Thank you for your reply. I notice from the link to another thread regarding this issue that Plusnet were looking into this four weeks ago(!), but there is obviously still an problem. Is there another way round this? It's really important as my wife uses her plus.com address for her business.

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

MisterW — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 16:48:34 GMT

Instead of addressing the emails to <address>@gmail.com , try <address>@googlemail.com . They are the same address but apparently processed differently by gmail

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

Tiffin57 — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 16:58:48 GMT

Yes, that worked. Emails were received immediately. Thank you for that. But Plusnet really need to get this sorted their end!

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

jab1 — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 17:02:53 GMT

@Tiffin57 With respect, it is gmail/googlemail who have caused the issue, and PN ARE trying to resolve it.

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

Townman — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 17:31:24 GMT

@Tiffin57 wrote:

Yes, that worked. Emails were received immediately. Thank you for that. But Plusnet really need to get this sorted their end!

Indeed - Plusnet are working darned hard trying to fix what Google broke ... with very few clues as to what Google needs for this work, which works with Microsoft and apparently Googlemail...

Sometimes the emails get through promptly, sometimes they do not, like a bad song - no rhyme, no rhythm!

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

MisterW — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 17:39:42 GMT

Yes, that worked. Emails were received immediately. Thank you for that. But Plusnet really need to get this sorted their end!

So to be clear , when you send an email to the same actual mailbox but using a different address, Gmail accepts one but not the other. How is that not a Google problem ?

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

Townman — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 17:52:55 GMT

The current user experience is not dissimilar to the malarky Gmail played a few years ago ... same email sent to various Gmail users...

@googlemail - delivered instantly
@gmail - PAID FOR mail box - delivered immediately
@gmail - FREE mail box - very variable between a few minutes and may be never

This is NOT an email sending issue, but a delivery acceptance issue - essentially Gmail is saying I'll not accept delivery now to this lowly FREE Gmail user (for no given reason) you can try later...

The real question to ask is why is Gmail treating its non-subscription user base in such a shameful manner? Might the answer be that there is no revenue at risk.

Gmail might claim that this is something to do with managing spam ... ignoring the fact that they / their users are the largest source of spam email.

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

jab1 — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 17:58:04 GMT

@Townman wrote:

Gmail might claim that this is something to do with managing spam ... ignoring the fact that they / their users are the largest source of spam email.

As one of my accounts has been finding out for the last three/four months.

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

Doug_R — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 14:40:10 GMT

The "Fix" in this thread didn't fix it for me I'm afraid. I've been having problems sending emails for 4 weeks now, ever since I renewed my Broadband Contract with Plusnet (ironic, coincidence, or because of??).

Basically, I can't rely on any emails I send actually arriving at their destination - sometimes they do (after taking several hours) and sometimes they don't arrive at all. This applies to Gmail, Hotmail, and any other type of account I've sent to, e.g. a business's own named account ending in .co.uk.

I have a Gmail account myself, which I've had to resort to as a means of communicating with anybody. This has been sending instantly using the same hardware and software as I use for Plusnet emailing.

I have tried sending Plusnet emails to my own Gmail account and met with the same results. As suggested in the "fix" in this thread, I have today sent Plusnet emails to my Gmail account, but changed the suffix to Googlemail instead. I am still waiting for them to arrive, now an hour after sending. So it certainly hasn't "fixed" my issue.

I am left wondering if my renewal of the Broadband contract has itself caused this problem for some reason. Have any of the Server configuration parameters changed for example, and no-one has told me?

Can anyone please tell me what the current Server names and Port Numbers should be set to for both Thunderbird email program (on my laptop) and Gmail app in my Android smartphone? Perhaps these need to be changed for some reason.

Any other suggestion for a FIX would be most welcome. I reported the problem to Plusnet Support 3 weeks ago and a "ticket" was raised but I am still waiting for a response.

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

Townman — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 18:42:13 GMT

Server settings can be found in the email server diagnostics topic.

This having a correlation with you changing your contract is nothing more than a coincidence.

These issues are completely connected to the draconian actions of Microsoft and Gmail towards the Plusnet and similarly configured email providers. Treating all users.plus.com customers as the same bulk sender is utterly bonkers.

Work continues on finding practical mitigations.

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

Doug_R — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 21:37:19 GMT

With all due respect, if the number and content of posts elsewhere on these Community pages are anything to go by, the emailing problem is more generalised than I suspected and the most likely cause of the issue seems to be Plusnet's migration of the Email System to Greenby's servers, which began about the time I first noticed I had an issue.

If that is the case, I suggest that Plusnet should stop just blaming Gmail and Microsoft (who have nothing to do with a private business's emails running on dedicated Servers) and start blaming themselves and/or Greenby !!

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

Townman — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 07:01:22 GMT

The Microsoft and Gmail issues have ZERO to do with the email platform migration (which has barely started) but everything to do with how Microsoft and Gmail have changed its definition of a bulk sender.

Exactly what are you trying to say with “Gmail and Microsoft (who have nothing to do with a private business's emails running on dedicated Servers)”? If you mean they SHOULD have nothing to do with other party’s private email services then we agree; the fact is they ARE interfering, treating everyone as the same single bulk sender.

Stoping the migration will make no difference to how those platforms perceive *.plus.com as a single source of email.

You asked for the server details - did you look at the server diagnostic information I referred you to?

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

RealAleMadrid — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 21:44:00 GMT

@Doug_R Unfortunately your views on the reasons for the email problems are completely wrong.

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

Doug_R — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 21:57:49 GMT

@Townman Thank you for your response. Firstly, I would like to point out that in my original post to this topic on Saturday 26th July i nowhere stated that I was only experiencing problems with Gmail or Microsoft accounts - I specifically used the phrase "Gmail, Hotmail, and any other type of account I've sent to". My delayed emails were sent to several different types of account, including btinternet, btconnect, fastmail, yahoo and various business accounts having their own domain name.

Secondly, what I meant by “Gmail and Microsoft (who have nothing to do with a private business's emails running on dedicated Servers)” was - if I am using Plusnet to send an email to, let's say a bt or yahoo or private business account for example, how exactly can Gmail or Microsoft interfere with the transmission process? Please explain - I need to know.

Thirdly, Yes, I did look at your server diagnostics page and could barely understand a word of it I'm afraid. However, my email client's smtp server settings are set to "smtp.plus.net, port 587, with no encryption", so that should be ok I think.

Fouthly, I am not a great believer in coincidences, especially when there appears to be some connection linking the two different events. From where I'm sitting, my problems with sending emails began around 29th June. I reported the problems to Plusnet Support on 7th July and was told that the email system migration began "about a week ago", rather than the "which has barely started" statement you posted yesterday. I'm not suggesting for one minute that the migration should be stopped, that would be foolish - it's a business decision made by Plusnet for no doubt sound operational reasons. But are you, and everyone at Plusnet, 100% convinced that it is not perhaps some process that Greenby are using during the transmission process that has caused Gmail and/or Microsoft to change their definition of a bulk sender?

Finally, it would be most useful if you would spell out ALL of the email suffixes, e.g. gmail, hotmail, msn, outlook, googlemail, etc, etc, that are likely to suffer from poor transmission speeds, so that I and other Plusnet Users are made aware of which of our contacts are at risk of delay or non-delivery when we email them. There's not much worse that being kept in the dark with our hands tied behind our backs.

Re: Emails not arriving at destination

Townman — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 23:44:47 GMT

@Doug_R wrote:

Firstly, I would like to point out that in my original post to this topic on Saturday 26th July i nowhere stated that I was only experiencing problems with Gmail or Microsoft accounts.

This thread which you have joined, is expressly discussing delayed delivery to Gmail accounts.

@Doug_R wrote:

My delayed emails were sent to several different types of account, including btinternet, btconnect, fastmail, yahoo and various business accounts having their own domain name.

This is the first time that delays associated with these services has been raised by anyone. Please raise issues with services other than Gmail and Microsoft in a new thread, with details of the delays, specifically the email headers of the received delayed emails. Other the the hosting provider service, receiver's "own domain names" are not thought to have any bearing here.

@Doug_R wrote:

if I am using Plusnet to send an email to, let's say a bt or yahoo or private business account for example, how exactly can Gmail or Microsoft interfere with the transmission process? Please explain - I need to know.

If a receiving email service decides to be difficult, it can do whatever they decide they want to do. In the case of Gmail, Plusnet's attempts to deliver emails are not being accepted, they are being backed of with a "try later" deferral response. That is 'how exactly' they do it, not sure how knowing that helps any. They do it because they can. Why they are doing it is a very different question - if that were known it could be circumvented - which real spammers would be delighted to learn, which is why Gmail are unlikely to explain their behaviour.

@Doug_R wrote:

Thirdly, Yes, I did look at your server diagnostics page and could barely understand a word of it I'm afraid. However, my email client's smtp server settings are set to "smtp.plus.net, port 587, with no encryption", so that should be ok I think.

Its is not difficult. Select the email brand and what you need to know is shown very clearly.

Do not understand why you think the work settings should be OK. As it happens the wrong settings will work fine with no encryption ... but you ought not to be using no encryption.

@Doug_R wrote:

I am not a great believer in coincidences, especially when there appears to be some connection linking the two different events.

From where I'm sitting, my problems with sending emails began around 29th June. I reported the problems to Plusnet Support on 7th July and was told that the email system migration began "about a week ago", rather than the "which has barely started" statement you posted yesterday.

I'm not suggesting for one minute that the migration should be stopped, that would be foolish - it's a business decision made by Plusnet for no doubt sound operational reasons. But are you, and everyone at Plusnet, 100% convinced that it is not perhaps some process that Greenby are using during the transmission process that has caused Gmail and/or Microsoft to change their definition of a bulk sender?

Greenby migration - who told you what? I will repeat myself - the migration has hardly started and it certainly has not been started if you have not had an email advising you that your account is scheduled to migrate. Some brands have been migrated but NOT PLUS.COM - indeed that brand is NOT using any Greenby technology.

Further the Microsoft / Gmail issue has nothing to do with the email service platform, it purely relates to the way those services treat the domain name. If you do not understand that, then go read up on SPF, DKIM and DMARC - they have NOTHING to do with the email delivery platform.

Receiving services can make up whatever rules they want - the Microsoft rule change has been dribbling out for a while - having published the rules (SPF or DKIM) they then went and changed them to SPF AND DKIM ... which is utterly draconian. Bulk senders is simply treating *.plus.com as a single sender - this has been said multiple times on this forum - have you read those posts?

@Doug_R wrote:

Finally, it would be most useful if you would spell out ALL of the email suffixes, e.g. gmail, hotmail, msn, outlook, googlemail, etc, etc, that are likely to suffer from poor transmission speeds, so that I and other Plusnet Users are made aware of which of our contacts are at risk of delay or non-delivery when we email them. There's not much worse that being kept in the dark with our hands tied behind our backs.

No one is keeping anyone in the dark - suffixes are of not relevance. The domains which have been reported here know to have delay issues, are just Gmail.

The domains which are know to give rise to non-delivery reports are outlook, live and hotmail.

Other domains you mention do not currently have substantive evidence of there being any issues.