Problems sending PN email to Gmail addresses

[#1]

Friday's test results.

Five messages sent to Gmail addresses.

One delivered instantly.

Two delayed by 3 minutes each.

One delayed by an hour and 37 minutes

One delayed by eight and half hours.

So any pattern I thought might be emerging has disappeared, results remain random and the service dysfunctional.

The only positive is that I haven't seen a message disappear completely for a while now.

[#2]

Weekend Gmail test results:

SATURDAY

5 emails sent. 

4 delivered instantly (in the morning)

1 (late afternoon) delayed 40 minutes

SUNDAY

5 emails sent

none delivered instantly

2 delayed by 3 minutes

1 delayed by 25 minutes

1 delayed by 1 hour and 37 mins

1 delayed by 15 hours (that's fifteen hours) and 32 mins

All kind of speaks for itself, doesn't it?

I don't have the stats to prove it, but I have a feeling emails sent later in the day UK time are more likely to suffer serious delays than those sent in the morning.

[#3]

Hey @PeterB1 

I believe the issue is tied in with another thread here. I have posted a message with an update on the issue

When we have more information, we will post an update here Sending emails to Microsoft-owned domains such as ... - Plusnet Community

[#4]

Hi Marsh,

Good to hear from you.

I was astonished to see this in your recent post on the other thread:

"I have been chasing for an update on the Gmail issue, and I can see we had a success rate of 98% for delivery to Gmail, which is a great improvement; however, the MS issue is still on our radar and under investigation." 

If you read this thread you'll see I have been reporting results from my daily test emails to Gmali addresses for quite a while.

The success rate (measured by the kind of instant delivery we used to enjoy) is a million miles off 98%.

Here are my latest results from yesterday (Monday).

I sent  five test emails to ,various Gmail addresses.

Zero were delivered instantly.

2 were delayed by 7 minutes.

i was delayed by 15 minutes.

1 was delayed by an hour and 37 minutes.

And 1 was delayed by (wait for it  8 hours and 33 minutes.

So the Gmail problem is still very much with us.

As Gmail addresses are these days so widely used by non-business users, it effectively makes the Plusnet email service dysfunctional.

[#5]

@PeterB1 

Hmm indeed the Microsoft and Gmail threads have become 'cross contaminated' I will try to do better - see https://community.plus.net/t5/Email/From-address-doesn-t-meet-the-authentication-requirements/m-p/20...

The detailed discussion where the questions were raised is elsewhere in the super user space.

[#6]

Wednesday's Gmail test results.

4 emails sent to different Gmail addresses.

Zero deliverd instantly.  (This is the second day running and a big change from the pattern of the previous week or so.

2 delayed by 2 hours 27 minutes.

2 disappeared completely (defined d as missing for more than 24 hours. Again, the second day running this has happened and a big change from the recent pattern)

[#7]

@grumble 

Regarding delays in delivering to gmail addresses, here is part of a delivery report regarding an email I sent from my Plusnet address to my gmail address a few weeks ago.

Message ID	<048801dbe9f9$86a684b0$93f38e10$@xxxxxxx.plus.com>
Created on:	30 June 2025 at 20:59 (Delivered after 20383 seconds)

Astonishingly (or maybe not), this aligns with your 'product of three prime numbers' conjecture (on another thread)
since 20383 = 11 x 17 x 109

[#8]

Thursday's Gmail test results.

4 emails sent to Gmail addresses.

2 delayed by 3 minutes each.

The other 2 delayed by 20 hours and 32 minutes each 🙂

[#9]

After two very bad  days for Gmail testing (consistent delays of up to 20 hours-plus), tihngs have suddenly turned around.

Today (Sunday) I've sent eight emails to a variety of Gmail addresses.

All eight were delivered instantly.

That has never happened in the many weeks since I started this thread.

Too silly to hope, I suppose, Townman ???????

[#10]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for the update on your experience.  I just ran a test - email arrived before I could switch from the Plusnet webmail page to the Gmail web page.

I am not aware of any changes being made.

[#11]

A question for you, Townman,which I should have asked you before.

Does Plusnet have any means of  communicating with Google about this.

Plusnet issues will obviously not exactly be top of Gmail's agenda, but do we know if they are even aware of the problem we've been having?

Which is a rooundabout way of asking this.:If no changes have been made at the Plusnet end, is there any chance Gmail may have introduced mitigations on their side?

Or am I hallucinating, destined to  wake up on Monday morning to discover it's all been a dream?

[#12]

Hi Peter,

I have just asked near identical questions in the SU discussion space.  The business has been in communication with both Gmail and Microsoft over these recent issues.  Therefore a change at either end is possible.  It is difficult to see what changes Plusnet could have applied here. Inspection of the headers on the inbound email (delivered in 2 seconds) does not identify anything different to those on emails delayed for however long.

[#13]

Not an answer to your question, @PeterB1 , but I will be sending the same email to someone with a Gmail and an ntlworld (Virgin) address tomorrow, whilst I am talking to them. We shall see which arrives first, and if the Gmail one is delayed, by how long.

[#14]

Thanks, Townman.

Good news that attempts have been made at communication.

Obviously appreciate any feedback you get from the SU discussion space on the apparent Gmail improvement.

Have you and others been testing Microsoft today to see if the better Gmail performance is reflected there?

(No reason why the two should operate in tandem, of course!)

[#15]

Hi Peter,

Nothing today other than a reference test in response to your report.  I have never been able to reproduce the reported DKIM failures in respect of Microsoft.

If the apparent resolution was in the Gmail space then there will be no likely change to the Microsoft space.  If something has been done in Plusnet space there is a possibility that there could be differences in the Microsoft space.  Remember fixing Microsoft’s draconian rules was time coincidental with the Gmail grey listing.