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Mail delivery to recipients taking 5hrs plus

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JonoH
Hero
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Registered: ‎29-09-2011

Re: Plusnet to Gmail addresses - what's the problem?


@Townman wrote:

@JonoH,

Post #114

Told the problem is the new billing system.

Really?  I hope not? Wink


The problem Isn't the billing system.

 Jono H
 Plusnet Community Manager
Townman
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 22,919
Thanks: 9,536
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Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Plusnet to Gmail addresses - what's the problem?

… yes we both know that … just hope that agents are not really saying that!! Wink

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

Eddie
Hooked
Posts: 8
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎01-07-2016

Re: Mail delivery to recipients taking 5hrs plus

I have exactly the same problem, Plusnet say they can do nothing.

It seems that Plusnet do not provide what gmail needs for authentication.

In particular they are lacking some things called DKIM, DMARC and SPF

Possibly the problem follows gmail change rolled out in August 2018

Plusnet pretend they know nothing about the problem!

barcud
Grafter
Posts: 27
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎05-11-2014

Re: Plusnet to Gmail addresses - what's the problem?

Apologies JonoH, I missed the "at least".

It was but my frustration.

John

Townman
Superuser
Superuser
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Registered: ‎22-08-2007

Re: Plusnet to Gmail addresses - what's the problem?

@Eddie,

If it really as simple as you seem to think, please explain why there are zero issues in sending emails from *.plus.com email addresses to paid for Gmail addresses ... or from a personal domain hosted on PlusNET (using the same email servers) to any Gmail account. As yet such theories as the one you suggest do not stack up; Google is deliberately making choices which impairs the service received by their free account users.

Google is being selectively disruptive. The RFC rules are quite clear - the absence of SPF records is legitimate and receiving domains should act in a neutral manner. The empirical evidence is that Google are acting detrimentally towards (against) their free Gmail users. They are certainly not answering questions raised on their forums over this matter, which has been experienced by others too, not just Plusnet.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

sirjestalot
Grafter
Posts: 37
Thanks: 26
Registered: ‎08-09-2018

Re: Plusnet to Gmail addresses - what's the problem?

If the delays only affect email sent to *free* Gmail accounts, and email to paid-for Gmail accounts delivers without delay, why should this only affect Plusnet addresses?  There are loads of other email service providers, so is there any evidence that they too are affected?   If it is *only* Plusnet that's affected then surely it's a Plusnet issue.

jab1
Legend
Posts: 16,816
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Registered: ‎24-02-2012

Re: Plusnet to Gmail addresses - what's the problem?

@sirjestalot - see the last comment in the post immediately above yours.

John
sirjestalot
Grafter
Posts: 37
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Registered: ‎08-09-2018

Re: Plusnet to Gmail addresses - what's the problem?

Thanks John (jab1), I hadn't registered that last comment.  My friend on Gmail (to whom many of my emails are delayed) is considering leaving Gmail and finding another provider...

Eavestile
Dabbler
Posts: 16
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Registered: ‎25-09-2018

Re: Plusnet to Gmail addresses - what's the problem?

Do we know if the "other users" apart from PN also are not using SPF (whatever that is).  I can understand if Google want to charge people for Gmail but to degrade their free service to encourage people to pay seems an odd way to do it.  Does anyone know of a user using SPF records who is also suffering the same problem.  It may not be mandatory to use a specific format  but do PN plan to start using whatever is necessary to overcome this ? If so, when?

Eddie
Hooked
Posts: 8
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Registered: ‎01-07-2016

Re: Plusnet to Gmail addresses - what's the problem?

Dear Townman,

I am no expert on email formats; I write on the basis one morning's research into recent delays to, of loss of, almost all emails to gmail. When I spoke to the plusnet help line they denied all knowledge of the problem. From yours and other responses I now see that it is a widespead and well understood problem. If plusnet has a million customers then why don't they either get to grips with google at the appropriate level asap, or take the necessary steps to change their own format. As more and more plusnet users realize what is going on they will be leaving in droves. My patience is wearing thin.

DaveC999
Hooked
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Registered: ‎29-09-2018

Re: Plusnet to Gmail addresses - what's the problem?

Could someone at Plusnet at least put a sticky note somewhere on here, or an item in the service announcements, acknowledging that there is a problem, and that Plusnet is aware.

Any update or workaround could also be posted in the  same place so that users could check back for any resolution. 

 

I too have had this problem a couple of times (at least) over the last couple of days.

 

Whilst I *could* also log it as a problem and clog up Plusnet's support system, I would prefer to be able to easily find such issues as "known and being investigated" rather than having to search through the User forum and read through 9 pages of posts (!). 

 

Dave

(adding yet another post Smiley )

jric
Dabbler
Posts: 15
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎13-08-2018

Re: Plusnet to Gmail addresses - what's the problem?

Yes, while the Plusnet Community is a good resource, what customers need is just a quick summary of this as a known issue which is/is not being dealt with.

I have just wasted an afternoon on this following up on the various bits of advice above and sending test messages to try and find out why my forwarded emails to my wife's gmail account take hours or even days to reach her.

Here are the results of my research:

ANY emails to xxx@gmail.com using Plusnet from Apple Mail are delayed, whether these are new messages or forwarded from other people.

The SAME forwarded email to another email provider yyy@gmx.com is received OK instantly.

The same forwarded email sent using the Plusnet WEBSITE rather than via Apple Mail is also received OK instantly by xxx@gmail.com

The fact mentioned by previous contributors of being/not being in the Gmail user's CONTACTS seems to be a red herring. I checked this and I was not – despite years of email exchanges – but then put myself into my wife's contact list (you have to be an IT genius even to find Gmail's contacts!) and frustratingly it made NO difference.

When you look at the headers in Gmail (another task for an IT genius, not me) it is clear that the address that is acceptable to Gmail generated from the Plusnet website is LoginUserName@imap.plus.net

What produces the 'neutral' classification and delay is yyy@user.plus.com which is produced on my computer by the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) set as <relay.plus.net>. Follow-up info that Google provides for G-Suite users gives a lot of information about the importance of a TXT verification record as already discussed in this thread.

My (bogstandard user) conclusions:
Gmail are unlikely to relax their policies/procedures for Plusnet users as they would see this as a security problem.
There is no point in waiting for Plusnet to fix the issue – it is either too difficult/expensive or outside of their own policies.
If you want to send/forward emails INSTANTLY to existing Gmail free version users then one of you has to change their email provider.
*OR* you have to do it through Plusnet Webmail.
If there are any proper IT geniuses out there who know a better workaround or how to get TXT verification into an email without it being provided by your ISP then I would be pleased to get that info!

jric
Dabbler
Posts: 15
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎13-08-2018

Re: Plusnet to Gmail addresses - what's the problem?

Sorry, but I've just had a second thought about my last post above. If you did forward your emails to Gmail from within the Plusnet Webmail and then the Gmail user replied would their message even appear in your email client on your computer?

barcud
Grafter
Posts: 27
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Registered: ‎05-11-2014

Re: Plusnet to Gmail addresses - what's the problem?

 


@jric wrote:

Sorry, but I've just had a second thought about my last post above. If you did forward your emails to Gmail from within the Plusnet Webmail and then the Gmail user replied would their message even appear in your email client on your computer?


Why not?

I presume the return address on the email is <name>@<username>.plus.com so it would  be like any other incoming email.

spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
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Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Plusnet to Gmail addresses - what's the problem?

I don't think that answer is correct because the return address will be incorrect as explained below...


@jric wrote:

The same forwarded email sent using the Plusnet WEBSITE rather than via Apple Mail is also received OK instantly by xxx@gmail.com

...

When you look at the headers in Gmail (another task for an IT genius, not me) it is clear that the address that is acceptable to Gmail generated from the Plusnet website is LoginUserName@imap.plus.net


Unfortunately that works because the sender address (identity) set up in webmail is incorrect. Gmail is not delaying messages (allegedly) from that domain. In your next post you asked


@jric wrote:

.... If you did forward your emails to Gmail from within the Plusnet Webmail and then the Gmail user replied would their message even appear in your email client on your computer?


I think the answer is no, because it will go to  LoginUserName@imap.plus.net which is not your email address (I anticipate it will bounce).

Your identity (sender address) in webmail is whatever is set up in the webmail Settings -> Identities tab. If you click the identity shown at the top of the left-hand panel full details will be shown in the right hand panel. I expect you will find its email address field is that incorrect address. This needs correcting (and saving).

David