Problems setting up email on an android smartphone

[#1]

Yestereday I upgraded my phone to a ZTE Racer and I am having difficulty setting up my email.  I have tried on numerous occasions to do this and it keeps failing.  I get the following error message:

Password or settings are incorrect
Protocol:smtp
Error: could not connect to SMTPhost:relay.plus.net, port:25
Contact maildroiddev@gmail.com to get help with the above error.

I have spoken to the Helpdesk, who have kindly walked me through inputting the information in case I had anything wrong but it still will not work.  I have had email set up on my previous phone with 3,  a Sony Eriksson Walkman 595 without problems, although interestingly enough it would not allow me to reply to emails.
I received this reply from maildroiddev@gmail.com

A few comments 🙂 I came across this: http://www.plus.net/support/email/setup/settings.shtml
1. You should for sure set this up as IMAP (incoming settings) as imap.plus.net
2. Now for the outgoing settings, I found this: http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,89006.0.html/ which says:
You may find that outgoing mail via relay.plus.net doesn't work when connected to your mobile network in which case you need to send using the mobile network's smtp server.

Any help suggestions gratefully received
Many thanks
Emma

[#2]

As you are connected tio a different network you must use authentication. The user name you use must be your main Plusnet account username (not the name of a mailbox nor username+mailbox) and the main account password you use to log in to the portal. Encryption must be off.

[#3]

Quote from: thefunniefarm

I have had email set up on my previous phone with 3,  a Sony Eriksson Walkman 595 without problems, although interestingly enough it would not allow me to reply to emails. … You may find that outgoing mail via relay.plus.net doesn't work when connected to your mobile network in which case you need to send using the mobile network's smtp server.

If you are using the 3 network I think they block sending mail through external servers (replies) so the last paragraph I quoted applies.
You need to set the SMTP server to smtp-mbb.three.co.uk. Using this server you should be able to use your normal email address as 'sender'.

[#4]

Ok I have tried all of the above, still getting nowhere.
Anymore suggestions?  Please spell them out!

[#5]

OK, I have finally managed to set this up and can send emails 
But .. I cannot receive emails 
Any ideas?

[#6]

This is a little off the question you are asking but a recommendation. I have a Samsung Galaxy S and found the stock Android mail app to be very poor, it completely crashed my phone when I added an exchange account.
K9 Mail is very good and is freely available from Android market.