Outgoing email not working

[#1]

Yes I can send on my mobile via Vodafone, however cannot via EE (our broadband provider).  Email will not send via EE on the laptop or my mobile phone.  If I turn off the WIFI, it goes via Vodafone.  This started sometime between late Wednesday night and yesterday afternoon.

I also have a BT email address and there is no issue with this - I can send from BT no problem.

I have turned the router off and on as suggested elsewhere on this forum, to no avail.

[#2]

however cannot via EE (our broadband provider)

So you don't have a PlusNet broadband account then ?

I assume you did have PlusNet broadband previously, did you request downgrade to a free email account when you left ?

[#3]

I see that the facts are dribbling out here - connectivity is not on the Plusnet network, which gives rise to a specific set of potential issues, outside of Plusnet's regime.  Seems like the soup to nuts standard approach is required here ...

Test SMTP authentication

Email programs often report username / password error for issues not actually related to those being wrong, but for other connectivity issues. Such can be very frustrating when you are convinced that they are correct. Testing SMTP authentication through a command line interface can deliver a more precise error message. The following describes how to do this using TELNET.

This is not difficult, but you need the following resources which might be unfamiliar...

1. TELNET - this might need installing as an additional option, for Windows see enabling TELNET.
2. A code64 encoder / decoder such as this.

You can use TELNET to communicate direct with the SMTP server as follows...

Open the code64 encoder in a web browser and leave ready for use in the following steps.

Launch a windows command line window (DOS window) - press windows-key+R - type CMD into the run box - click OK

Enter...

telnet relay.plus.net 587

Press enter. Note if you use one of the other brand email services, use the appropriate SMTP server name for that brand. In response to SMTP server I'm here message, say 'HELLO'...

EHLO relay.plus.net

The SMTP server will then report what it can do after which tell the server you wish to authenticate...

AUTH login

The server should return the following, which is a base64 encoded string that requires your username:

334 VXNlcm5hbWU6

Use the code64 encoder to encode your username and paste it into the telnet window and press enter. For example:

bXl1c2VybmFtZQ==

The server should return the following, which is a base64 encoded string that requires your password:

334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6

Paste the base64 encoded password for the username. For example:

bXlwYXNzd29yZA==

The server will then report success or failure, any failure message should clearly indicate the reason for the failure. If the reason for the failure is not clear, please report back the message.

Close the SMTP / TELNET session by entering

quit

The session should look something similar to the below wherein your input is in bold...

220 avasout03 smtp relay.plus.net
EHLO relay.plus.net
250-avasout03 hello [your IP address], pleased to meet you
250-HELP
250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN
250-SIZE 104857600
250-PIPELINING
250-8BITMIME
250-STARTTLS
250 OK
AUTH LOGIN
334 VXNlcm5hbWU6
bXl1c2VybmFtZQ==
334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6
bXlwYXNzd29yZA==
235 ... authentication succeeded
quit
221 avasout03 smtp closing connection
Connection to host lost.

Here are some examples of failure responses...

535 ...authentication rejected [as username / password is wrong]
535 ...authentication rejected as source IP has a poor reputation

Note in your email settings, the SMTP server should be configured to use PORT 587 with STARTTLS

Port 25 is for MT to MTA relay, not email client message submission and is often blocked for "off network" connections such as these.

Port 465 is deprecated and ought not to be used.

[#4]

That's right, yes (and what a carry on that was).  We had Plusnet Broadband up until February.  The contract was coming to an end and we had to leave as we were not even reaching 3mb.  We had to go for mobile broadband (EE4G) instead.

So yes I have a Plusnet Mail only account. 

[#5]

Then it is very likely that the IP address you have with your current ISP is falling foul of abused IP address blocking.  Following the diagnostic guide above will deliver an "informed" 535 authentication failure message - which virtually all email applications will unhelpfully report as a username / password failure.

[#6]

@Townman, @MisterW, I've a vague recollection that free mail accounts don't keep access to relay.plus.net.  Am I just totally making that up, which is quite possible, but could account for this if true.

[#7]

@pjmarsh They didn't use to, but they do now. 😉

[#8]

---

@pjmarsh wrote:

@Townman, @MisterW, I've a vague recollection that free mail accounts don't keep access to relay.plus.net.  Am I just totally making that up, which is quite possible, but could account for this if true.

---

The implementation of SPF changed that.  A free account without access to a Plusnet SMTP server became all but unusable in the face of firm SPF compliance checking.

[#9]

I saw that elsewhere on this forum.  Is there something other than relay.plus.net I can try?

As I said, this isn't an issue with my BT email address, and not an issue when on the Vodafone network...so this would point to a possible ip address issue - although I did switch off the router and it didn't help.

The Telnet thing I cannot check as due to some sort of Microsoft update issue.

[#10]

Hoping this message catches everyone who was trying to help me as I couldn't remember your names to tag you in:

Just powered down the router and restarted......and hey presto my email is sending again.

I did this last night and there was no change, yet today it has worked.

So it is to do with the ip address?  What can I do about this issue?

Thanks 😀

[#11]

Hoping this message catches everyone who was trying to help me as I couldn't remember your names to tag you in:

Just powered down the router and restarted......and hey presto my email is sending again.

I did this last night and there was no change, yet today it has worked.

So it is to do with the ip address?  What can I do about this issue?

Thanks 😀

[#12]

Thanks @jab1 and @Townman.  I wondered about that as I was typing.  I think it was when we were discussing SPF that I was thinking of, but couldn't remember if that was about allowing it, disallowing it or was just us discussing the pros and cons!  I still thought it worth mentioning though just in case it wasn't allowed.

[#13]

So complicated! 🤯

[#14]

Actually it is fairly simple - what is complicated is deciding to have services fragmented over a number of different supplier's systems - whilst not understanding the potential consequences.

@Hazel74 wrote:

Is there something other than relay.plus.net I can try?

No - What would be the point?  Plusnet's SMTP servers are the only SPF permitted relay servers for Plusnet email addresses.

@Hazel74 wrote:

As I said, this isn't an issue with my BT email address, and not an issue when on the Vodafone network...so this would point to a possible ip address issue - although I did switch off the router and it didn't help.

Having not run through the diagnostics offered to you, it is difficult to prove, but the fact that restarting the router "fixed" the issue, strongly suggests that your previous EE owned IP address has been involved in internet abuse and is (or was) therefore on a suspect-mailer-blacklist.

Restarting the router is likely to have caused you to be allocated a different (apparently clean) IP address.  Restarting your router is no assurance that a new (or a clean) IP address will be allocated, so as you note, rebooting the router will not always "fix" the issue.

This is nothing to do with your email addresses, but everything to do with how seriously the email provider implements security measures to protect the reputation of their email services.  Thankfully Plusnet is somewhat more circumspect over email security than many service providers, who seem not to bother protecting the reputation of their email SMTP servers for the benefit of their own users.  However non-Plusnet users using retained email services are thus likely to encounter the issues you describe on networks whose IP addresses have been abused ... not necessarily by the user presently using them.

@Hazel74 wrote:

The Telnet thing I cannot check as due to some sort of Microsoft update issue.

What update issue - please elucidate.  Have you followed the instructions supplied to enable Telnet?

[#15]

I assume you cannot see my previous posts before you are asking these questions.

It was suggested I follow the Telnet procedure on the laptop earlier today however I cannot do this as I receive an error message about Microsoft updates.

The reason I am not with Plusnet for broadband anymore is because Plusnet are unable to offer us anything over 3mb.  The  contract came to an end and we did not renew.  Having 4 people working from home on 3mb for a year took its toll.  This is why I have a Plusnet email address and a different broadband provider.  Not by choice - driven by neccessity to work from home and need a decent broadband speed.

The reason I ask if there is something other than relay.plus.net to try is that I have seen this suggested on other threads in this forum, although I think this may be something that happened in the past and is no longer active.

[#16]

No I did read all of your posts - not one of them mentioned what the error was, just that there was an error citing windows updates.  Did you look the error up?  10 second Goggle search using "telnet windows update error" - first item listed - is this your issue?

not able to enable telnet client in windows 10 - Microsoft Community

If that is what you are encountering, you are likely to have issues somewhat more concerning that just not being able to run telnet.  You should follow the advice to run SFC.

3mbps - that is very much not a Plusnet problem, but a BT networks issue.  BT coverage of very rural areas is not good in some places.  No fibre available to you?  Living in beautiful rural areas can have its downside.

Your operational problem is being allocated abused IP address by your ISP.  It happens a lot on mobile networks and is an issue you need to take up with your ISP.  You should ask if they can allocate you a fixed IP address, but I doubt that (on a mobile network) they can do that.