topic Re: Greenby Migration and the Plusnet Relay (relay.plus.net) in Email

Greenby Migration and the Plusnet Relay (relay.plus.net)

starfry — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:05:27 GMT

So I have the Greenby migration email and I have until 05-09-2026 to opt out.

I am going to opt out and I have already scaled down my mailboxes and webspace.

One thing that is unclear is what will happen to the outbound relay "relay.plus.net". Will this keep working after the migration cut-off date and, if so, how long will it stay working for?

Will I be able to continue using relay.plus.net after I hit the opt out button ? If so, for how long ?

I have some work to do to provide another relay, including reconfiguring SPF, etc, for several domains. I am working on it but it would be good to know how long I have to complete this work (or, even, if I can avoid doing it).

Thanks!

Re: Greenby Migration and the Plusnet Relay (relay.plus.net)

PhilipHeyes — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 09:57:13 GMT

We are migrated to Greenby I would not be surprised if our Plusnet Members Centre account closed
and access to the Plusnet email platform ended without warning.

I've not seen a single post on what happens if you opt-out, no surprise usually that person has
long ago ended their use of Plusnet's email platform & does not care.

I've get cracking on the domains and organising an email service for them.

Re: Greenby Migration and the Plusnet Relay (relay.plus.net)

Townman — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:06:23 GMT

@starfry

The answer needs to understand context.

If the email account is associated with a current broadband provision, authentication with the relay.plus.com SMTP server ought not to be impacted. The reality is that for Plusnet accounts, the SMTP server will remain relay.plus.net (using the broadband account credentials) until later in the migration programme.

That is why for users whose email has been migrated and later leave Plusnet find that they can no longer access relay.plus.net - they need to use Greenby's native SMTP server.

If you have an active Plusnet broadband service, the Greenby service is free for 2 years. Why not just remain with the migration option and discontinue your use of @account.plus.com in the coming months?

Re: Greenby Migration and the Plusnet Relay (relay.plus.net)

starfry — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:33:26 GMT

Thanks @Townman for the reply.

At the moment I use relay.plus.net without any authentication from my home, across my broadband connection. Will that continue to work? (given it's unauthenticated, I hoped it might). I would have thought that it will remain around at least until all migrations have been completed.

I don't really want to start a relationship with another unknown third-party entity that seems to have no business except for this migration. I've already transited my mailboxes and webspace - the relay is the only open issue for me at the moment. I am going to migrate to a new relay but would like to be able to releive the time pressure without transferring to Greenby.

Even if I did migrate to Greenby, confidence in that working is low and therefore something I'd rather not be involved in.

I suppose the blunt technical question would be: is the server that provides "relay.plus.net" going to be turned off and, if so, when will that happen ?

Re: Greenby Migration and the Plusnet Relay (relay.plus.net)

MisterW — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:25:49 GMT

@starfry

Do I take it that you are using relay.plus.net to send mail from domains that are registered elsewhere and not hosted by Plusnet?

Once your account has migrated to Greenby, you will only be able to send from a domain address that is hosted by Greenby.

Currently relay.plus.net is not routed via the Greenby proxy, and so you MAY still be able to send from your domains, but this is temporary and may end at any time.

Re: Greenby Migration and the Plusnet Relay (relay.plus.net)

starfry — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:36:29 GMT

@MisterW

Do I take it that you are using relay.plus.net to send mail from domains that are registered elsewhere and not hosted by Plusnet?

Yes.

I have a number of domains across family members, all of which (until yesterday) descended into individual plusnet mailboxes collected by fetchmail into my server. That's actually a secondary path via a low priority MX for when my main smtp server is down. So most mails don't come via PlusNet but direct into my server over direct SMTP.

All mails are sent using relay.plus.net and it works for any domain (but only over my broadband connection). Replicating that capability is one of the challenges that I have. It will most likely become a list of domains (with appropriate spf/dmarc, etc) rather than any and the SMTP server will be my own.

To be in less of a rush to stop using relay.plus.net would be nice.

Re: Greenby Migration and the Plusnet Relay (relay.plus.net)

MisterW — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:45:22 GMT

@starfry have you considered getting the domains hosted properly rather than using your own smtp server and relay.plus.net ?

Mythic Beasts basic mail only account costs £20/yr and allows multiple domains and unlimited mailboxes subject only to a 2Gb storage limit. There are other packages giving raised storage limits if you need it https://www.mythic-beasts.com/hosting .

Could well cost less than the electricity to run your mail server 24/7 !

Re: Greenby Migration and the Plusnet Relay (relay.plus.net)

starfry — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 13:36:28 GMT

@MisterW

have you considered getting the domains hosted properly rather than using your own smtp server and relay.plus.net ?

I prefer having my data on my own metal. The thing with service providers is they turn around and cease a service that one relies on

I'm not looking to use relay.plus.net long term, just trying to find out how long it might be around for.

Re: Greenby Migration and the Plusnet Relay (relay.plus.net)

Townman — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 13:45:57 GMT

For the present relay.plus.net points to a real Plusnet SMTP server which for utterly crazy reasons offers access to any Plusnet broadband connected user without credentials.

It would seem very likely that when that URL routes to a proxy server (as does IMAP & POP3) the authentication will be mandatory. Routing to a target SMTP server will be directed by that authentication. Not a Greenby account might continue to route to the existing back end … until all legitimate users have been migrated and it is switched off.