Email settings issue - just started today

[#1]

@Dan_the_Van  try relay.plus.net without authentication. You're on a Plusnet IP so it should accept a connection without credentials

[#2]

@NickiQ the blacklisting seems to be a problem with the free online server. Thunderbird shouldn't keep changing the server like outlook does , so if you're able to use relay.plus.net for the time being then that may help

[#3]

I've looked on MX Tools .... all I see are problems for my domain with errors and warnings for mx, dmarc, dns and mail server errors and warnings, nothing necessarily do with gmail. There is a server name attached to that, which  I guess is the issue. 

No blacklisting issues.

[#4]

@RPMozley @MisterW 

I've turned my PC off for the night so I'll have a go in the morning 

[#5]

Hi - I am also having this issue on our two metronet accounts and preventing sending but not receipt of emails.

Changing the outgoing server to relay.plus.net seems to have worked on one account using Outlook but not the other which is configured on an iPhone.

[#6]

@Dan_the_Van OK Dan, I'll probably be looking at it overnight now that I'm on my Laptop.

It seems to me that we are the beta testers with these changes. First it was Metronet, now Free-Online, possibly the least user bases of all the brands PlusNet owns now. It makes sense to roll out to the smaller email user base first, to learn the possible problems and develop fixes/workarounds before switching the more larger "brands".

[#7]

Some users seemed to have a similar issue a couple of weeks ago: Fixed: Re: Cant send e mails. - Plusnet Community

Me too today. Problem is sending. not receiving. I use MS/Outlook with a POP3 incoming server and SMTP outgoing server. The former has the MAIL.FREE-ONLINE.NET name and the latter is referenced RELAY.FREE-ONLINE.NET.

Message is the same as reported above, namely:

"Server error: '554 avasout-peh-003 smtp ESMTP server not available (blacklisted by local policy)'"

I did contact Plusnet by telephone here but the Helpdesk assistant gave me some file server settings to check - they have not changed - and then suggested I look on this forum for solutions. He said nothing about any server changes or testing at the Plusnet end.

I am not technical but from the conversation so far seems to have concluded that the blacklisting message is spurious and the real problem is related to some on-going alterations/migrations being carried out (by Plusnet)?

[#8]

@MisterW 

try relay.plus.net without authentication. You're on a Plusnet IP so it should accept a connection without credentials

I have changed the two emails I have setup in Outlook 365 to use relay.plus.net with no password authentication. They are both IMAP/SMTP.

I am now able to send/receive emails

[#9]

I understand that the smtp '554 blacklisted' error from the free-online server has now been resolved.

[#10]

@MisterW 

I am now able to sign in to server free-online so the problem would seem to be resolved (hopefully permanently).

I've grateful for your assistance investigating this and keeping us updated.

Thanks very much for your diligence in this matter.

[#11]

Thanks for the update. Haven't had any issues with that this morning. 

Email will now only send to gmail if I manually change the outgoing server to relay.plus.net. Unfortunately it bounces back from stating "Your email has been blocked because the sender is unauthenticated."   Outlook has taken it upon itself to change the outgoing settings each time I use it to mail.name.co.uk.

I was looking at mxtools yesterday and from what I can gather and from all the issues it appears that you are at the mercy of the server to which your domain is assigned. (as outgoing mail through relay.plus.net does work). There appear to be a lot of server issues shown for my domain. I'm assuming - perhaps again naively - that before migrating domains to different servers some testing occurs? Or is it that it just happens and the fallout with users is used to properly configure the servers? Surely over time there will be more issues if the SPF DKIM and DMARC for servers isn't set up correctly.

As someone mentioned earlier all the older accounts seem to be having the issues - MAAF, free-online.  I've had my domain since 1999. Shame I'm seriously thinking of moving it.  

[#12]

However I now seem to be getting this intermittent send/receive error related to INCOMING emails this time:

Task NAME@DOMAIN.free-online.co.uk - Receiving' reported error (0x800CCC90) : 'Your incoming (POP3) e-mail server has reported an internal error. If you continue to receive this message, contact your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP). The server responded: -ERR Invalid command.'

[#13]

@NickiQ 

The 'mx 999999 please-add-spf-records' method to add an SPF record to a hosted domain was always an unsupported 'workaround'. The problem is that its not possible for a customer to create TXT records using the domain control panel, hence an SPF record can't be created. The mx 999999 'fiddle' worked by an internal script creating a 'standard' SPF record. This record covered the relay.plus.net servers. It would seem that it also covered the free-online servers but since the recent server changes they appear to no longer be covered by that SPF record.

[#14]

@NickiQ 

The 'mx 999999 please-add-spf-records' method to add an SPF record to a hosted domain was always an unsupported 'workaround'. The problem is that its not possible for a customer to create TXT records using the domain control panel, hence an SPF record can't be created. The mx 999999 'fiddle' worked by an internal script creating a 'standard' SPF record. This record covered the relay.plus.net servers. It would seem that it also covered the free-online servers but since the recent server changes they appear to no longer be covered by that SPF record.

[#15]

Thank you. That would explain a lot.  

Do you know if PN are planning to resolve this for their customers as that would be very helpful.