Outlook (Hotmail/MSN) not sending emails but receiving ok since 17th Oct

[#1]

Hi @jamesc @bobpullen @nicwhit, Ok, so I got my 9:00am Monday call with Microsoft (at 06:30am!!) but at least they called. After some further investigation (got a bit technical for me) we are no closer other than he is passing the problem onto the product team (whatever that is) who will look into it. I have another call scheduled with him for Sunday morning when he will have feedback from the product team. He hinted that some BT users were also having a similar problem but couldn't be more specific. He also commented that the fact that it works elsewhere and fails with some Plusnet/BT users should lead to an obvious conclusion (I never raised the fact it worked for me on mt neighbours broadband - he asked). However, Microsoft are continuing to try to diagnose the root cause of the problem and continuing to offer support. I have had no similar offer of support from Plusnet to whom I actually pay for a service. Jamesc - did "G" level plusnet support offer any insight?

[#2]

Hi @RMcD,

You seem to be having more luck in terms of at least speaking to Microsoft  I'd got a call scheduled between 9am and 11am on Saturday, but no call was received...  I've provided them with the email header I captured when sending an email from an affected account using a different connection (going over a VPN), which they've acknowledged receipt of, but not followed up on.

The fact the emails are moving into sent items implies that the email has been accepted by the hotmail mail server, but then gets rejected further on in the end to end transaction.  There must be something about the Plusnet addresses (and other ISPs customers with the same problem) that Microsoft don't like, and are therefore stopping them from getting any further.  Quite how this gets the visibility it needs though, I don't know  It's really frustrating for those of us impacted though.

Perhaps if you do happen to get a call back from them, you could ask them whether servers in their 'mail.protection.outlook.com' or 'outbound.protection.outlook.com' domains could be rejecting emails originating (and in some cases where the email address is included on the 'cc' of an inbound email) from/collected using Plusnet connections?

I've had no update on my support ticket from Plusnet, although Bob's suggestions were helpful in some diagnosis.  I'm pretty convinced it's more of a Microsoft problem, but it'd be great if Plusnet could try and get involved to assist in the resolution as it seems that there's something Microsoft don't like about it's server addresses

Cheers,

James

[#3]

Hi @jamesc @nicwhit @bobpullen ,

Update:

Try your hotmail/msn folks!! Mine is working tonight .

My msn address is sending emails and the recipients are getting them.

I will check again tomorrow and hopefully it will still be working.

Let me know whether it now works for you also.

Richard.

[#4]

Hi Richard,

Wow... Good news (hopefully!). Typically I'm not around this weekend, but will keep my fingers crossed the problem has been sorted for everyone

Microsoft still haven't managed to speak to me at a time we've agreed - their concept of 'UK time' seems to be days out!

Pleased normal service has been resumed for you

[#5]

So back home today, and able to try sending email using the plusnet connection. IT WORKS! I've still not managed to speak to Microsoft, although did send them a load of diagnostics and trace info. The main thing is they've managed to solve the problem (I suspect an overly cautious security filter blocking genuine email servers, which impacted Plusnet and others on this occasion).

Thanks to Richard @RMcD for his perseverance and actually managing to speak to Microsoft in getting this problem resolved, and Bob @bobpullen for his suggestions which may have helped Microsoft identify the root cause, although I'm guessing we'll never know exactly what the problem was.

Nic @nicwhit - are emails sending correctly for you now too?

[#6]

Hi JamesC

Yes everything is working however I am still being very cautious so using Opera as my browser and sending and forwarding through that just in case. I will also try sending and forwarding through Chrome. i don't know what Microsoft did or did not do to firstly create the problem ( I personally am in no doubt it was a microsoft issue as one person on their webchat alleviated to!!!) but glad it is sorted as I find Gmail a disorganised nightmare to navigate through.

Fingers crossed it continues to work

nic

[#7]

Looks like everything's back and as it should be...  Will try and get the thread marked as fixed (although would be great to know what the root cause and resolution was - suspect we'll never know though).  If I ever do hear back from Microsoft, I'll try and get them to let me know what they did to resolve...

Cheers,
James

[#8 · Accepted solution]

All,

Looks like the problem is resolved but I'm not sure where the problem lay as Microsoft said they did nothing but PlusNet said they "unblacklisted" a server. It took 36hrs from saying they would do the change to the fault being resolved. So, either Microsoft in the meantime had implemented a fix or PlusNet's change control process (I assume they have one) takes 36hrs. I doubt we will ever know what the problem was. And who cares - it's fixed.

Thanks to all for help, support and fault finding suggestions. Let's hope it a permanent fix.