EE blocking smtp?

[#1]

Re telnet responses - see above (failed)

 @StayinAlive I think you misunderstood what I was asking. I realise you have tried telnet previously to the free-online smtp server, I was asking if you could check telnet to the normal PlusNet server, relay.plus.net which I didn't believe you had tried earlier.

This is to see if the problem is isolated to the free-online server

[#2]

This is weird. In the last few minutes I have been able to use relay.free-online.net and now can get onto the main Plus Net web site as well. And I haven't done anything!! It's almost as if someone has been monitoring this thread and made a fix somewhere

I'll keep you informed if problems return but, for now, thank you all for your time and efforts.

StayinAlive

[#3]

I'm pleased that the problem has been resolved.

The key to this could be changing IP address, but then having to wait for a cache to refresh - something to try if the problem does return.

[#4]

Aargh. I knew it was too good to be true. Same old problem has returned. I have tried different DNS server (8.8.8.8) but no change. Can't get plus net main web page or send smtp. I note the response to telnet this morning is avsout07 which, having searched through previous topics, suggests it may be a spam problem But I don't know how to solve that one. Any more ideas please?

StayinAlive

[#5]

Just to add - I have rebooted my router which does solve the problem. But I obviously can't keep rebooting every time I want to get plus.net web page or send free-online mail so I'm really looking for a permanent answer.

StayinAlive

[#6]

---

@StayinAlive wrote:

I note the response to telnet this morning is avsout07 which, having searched through previous topics, suggests it may be a spam problem

---

@StayinAlive

The avasoutxx servers carry out anti-virus and anti-spam checks on all outgoing emails and would block messages triggering alerts, but that is unlikely to be the problem here. I suspect it's a problem with routing that Plusnet will need to investigate. Sending works with a "good" route, but doesn't with a "bad" one.

Trying to show routes using Windows tracert doesn't give anything useful, because access policies block probes at the infrastructure boundary. Telnet on port 587 (or 25) gets through since it acts as an SMTP, client but only gives a success or failure indication - no diagnostics in either case.

Are you able to install programs on your computer - specifically tracetcp from http://simulatedsimian.github.io/tracetcp.html and its pre-requisite winpcap from https://www.winpcap.org/install/default.htm. Neither says they are compatible with Windows 10 but I can confirm they are.

Executing the winpcap download will install it on your system. For tracetcp unzip the file and extract the contents into a folder of choice. It doesn't have to be in your path.

Once installed, using a command prompt window, CD to the folder containing tracetcp and run

tracetcp relay.free-online.net:587
 note colon 587 follows the server name, or
tracetcp 212.159.9.105:587
 if an IP address is used

From inside Plusnet infrastructure I get

C:\Users\xxxxx\yyyyyyyy\tracetcp_v1.0.3>tracetcp relay.free-online.net:587

Tracing route to 212.159.8.105 [relay.free-online.net] on port 587
Over a maximum of 30 hops.
1       7 ms    6 ms    6 ms    192.168.1.254   [PNHUB1]
2       17 ms   16 ms   16 ms   84.93.253.72    [gi12-0-0-441.ptn-ag04.plus.net]
3       17 ms   16 ms   16 ms   84.93.253.75    [gi2-23-442.ptn-gw02.plus.net]
4       39 ms   16 ms   22 ms   84.93.232.61    [gi5-1.peh-cr02.plus.net]
5       22 ms   22 ms   24 ms   84.93.232.61    [gi5-1.peh-cr02.plus.net]
6       *       *       27 ms   84.93.232.16    [po5.peh-cr01.plus.net]
7       *       *       *       Request timed out.
8       *       *       *       Request timed out.
9       Destination Reached in 21 ms. Connection established to 212.159.8.105
Trace Complete.

or using the alternate IP

C:\Users\xxxxxx\yyyyyyyy\tracetcp_v1.0.3>tracetcp 212.159.9.105:587

Tracing route to 212.159.9.105 [relay.free-online.net] on port 587
Over a maximum of 30 hops.
1       6 ms    6 ms    6 ms    192.168.1.254   [PNHUB1]
2       15 ms   15 ms   15 ms   84.93.253.72    [gi12-0-0-441.ptn-ag04.plus.net]
3       17 ms   16 ms   16 ms   84.93.253.79    [gi2-1-444.ptn-gw01.plus.net]
4       17 ms   18 ms   22 ms   84.93.232.61    [gi5-1.peh-cr02.plus.net]
5       23 ms   22 ms   *       84.93.232.61    [gi5-1.peh-cr02.plus.net]
6       *       39 ms   22 ms   84.93.224.16    [po3.ptp-cr01.plus.net]
7       23 ms   23 ms   23 ms   84.93.224.45    [vlan2658.ptp-elb02.plus.net]
8       Destination Reached in 23 ms. Connection established to 212.159.9.105
Trace Complete.

Results from outside the Plusnet infrastructure are likely to be markedly different. Comparison traces when working and not working should provide useful diagnostic information for Plusnet staff. Doing a pair of traces, as I did, to cover both 212.159.8.105 and 212.159.9.105 would add value.

[#7]

Attached as requested (don't know how to embed).  I was unable to add a port onto the route, it saying too many parameters hence the reply comes from port 80. Also, I don't know if this is significant but, I am getting a long TLS handshake with plus.net which I don't appear to get with any other web site.

StayinAlive

[#8]

Also, can anyone explain these results?

StayinAlive

[#9]

@StayinAlive

Getting a "too many parameters" error sounds like spaces were left after the server host name before the port number was added. The colon and port number must be appended to the host name (or IP) without any spaces, thus

tracetcp relay.free-online.net:587
or
tracetcp 212.159.9.105:587

The default port for this command is 80 (http). The result from that picks up nodes which I assume are local to the EE network, but nothing within Plusnet apart from acknowledging that the target was reached. The TLS handshake possibly arises from attempts to force insecure http communications to upgrade to secure https. That shouldn't happen if the correct smtp port is targeted.

To embed pre-formatted text in this forum,

• drag the mouse over the several lines of text in the Command Prompt window
• that should leave the block highlighted
• right-click in the highlighted area which should copy the text to the clipboard

Now return to the post window on this forum and click the turned-down page icon marked </> between the 66-quote and smilie icons. This is tagged "Insert Code". Right-click and select paste in the text box which opens, do any editing desired, then click OK.

You should then see the text in the post window (and can do further editing if desired). The frame is added by style sheets.

[#10]

Sorry, couldn't get the mouse to highlight in the Command window so attached again.

It appears to me that it is getting "stuck" on 195.166.129,176 which, I believe, is a Plus Net node.

Hopefully, this helps with troubleshooting.

StayinAlive

[#11]

Were those done when sending was not working? If so it might help if you could restart your router, hopefully making sending work again, then repeat the traces.

You are right that 195.166.129.176 where responses stop is a Plusnet point-to-point node.

To highlight text for copying to the clipboard, point he mouse at the start point then press and hold the left mouse button and drag to the end point. Alternatively, left click at the start point, then hold the Capitals key down and left-click at the end point. Release the Capitals key. The text between the clicks should now be highlighted.

You can practise the process on the text in these posts if you wish. It highlights in blue for me but that might be browser dependent. The highlight will be white in the Command Prompt window.

[#12]

Unfortunately, my left mouse button does not do that on this computer.

Attached is result after the router was rebooted and relay.free-online.net started working again.

StayinAlive

[#13]

@Kelly

Have you any thoughts on why sending from an EE connection works immediately after the router has been restarted, but then stops?

When it stops working tracetcp to port 587 shows responses up to node 195.166.129.176 which I believe is Plusnet infrastructure. See attachment to message #25.

When it works, as one would expect relay.free-online.net is reached. See first part of attachment to message #27.

[#14]

As an update to this problem, since rebooting my router last Tuesday, I have been able to use relay.free-online.net and PN main web page continuously, so I'm just fingers crossed at the moment. What I really didn't understand is why relay and home page either did or did not work at the same time but community.plus.net worked all the time throughout. Is that diagnostic?

StayinAlive

[#15]

No ideas I'm afraid.  Does it eventually stop working? Or does it stop working after a resyc