Sending email with GPRS phone via O2

[#1]

I have a new Nokia 206 GPRS phone and my phone account is PAYG with O2. I have been trying to set the phone up to access my PlusNet email account, with mixed success. I have set up the incoming mail using the imap server, and can receive emails. However, I have been unable to set up the outgoing mail settings to enable me to send messages. I have tried combinations of the following settings:
Outgoing mail server: relay.plus.net
                                  smtp.plus.net
                                  smtp.o2.co.uk
Outgoing port: 25
                      26
                      587
Security: none
              SSL
Login required (SMTP authentication): yes
                                                              no
Each time I try to send a message, the phone gives me the warning message:
'Network not available. The message is in the Outbox and will be sent during next refresh.'
However, refreshing the phone's inbox does not cause the message to be sent.
Plusnet support were not very helpful; they advised me to contact Nokia.
Can anyone help?

[#2]

I was hoping that one of the PlusNet team would be able to advise me on this problem. To summarise, I can't find the correct settings for sending emails from my GPRS phone via O2. There are 36 possible combinations of settings from the options I listed, and it isn't feasible for me to try them all. Also, it is possible that the problem is caused by some other factor that I haven't considered.
I would appreciate a response from one of the PlusNet team.

[#3]

you need to use smtp authentication , security - None , outgoing port 587 and the server is relay.plus.net .
You need to use either username+mailboxname and password ( as you use to login to webmail ) or your main account username and password ( as you use to login to the members portal )

[#4]

Thanks for your reply, MisterW. I had already tried the settings you suggest, without success, and have now tried them again, with the same result. As it has been suggested in other threads that you need to use O2's smtp server when you are with O2, I have also tried your suggested settings, but using smtp.o2.co.uk as the outgoing server, both with and without smtp authentication. Neither of these attempts was successful either.
Can anyone help?

[#5]

Using your Plusnet credentials when trying to authenticate on the O2 SMTP server will not work. O2 have no idea whether that information is correct or not. When using the O2 SMTP server then settings appropriate to O2 are needed, which aught to be specified in their help pages.
Do the SMTP settings mentioned at the bottom of this page work for you?

[#6]

Quote

I had already tried the settings you suggest, without success, and have now tried them again, with the same result.

I have used authenticated smtp to the plusnet server from various mobile and wifi networks. The only probelm I've had is that some networks (Three for instance!) block port 25, hence the suggestion to use port 587. Have you tried the authenticated smtp settings when using your PlusNet home wifi connection ?  of course you don't NEED to authenticate from your home connection BUT trying to will prove whether your settings are correct. As spraxt says, using the mobile providers server does not usually require authentication (since you're on their network) but sometimes they will validate(or change) the sending email address.

[#7]

Email (and/or data) has been set up by O2 for use with your sim?

[#8]

Many thanks for the three replies, and apologies for the delay in my response. I thought I'd better learn a bit more about smtp authentication before escalating the topic.
Can I respond to all three of you in turn?
sprayxyt

Quote from: spraxyt

When using the O2 SMTP server then settings appropriate to O2 are needed, which aught to be specified in their help pages.

I don't have an O2 email account, and don't particularly want to set one up. In any case, the Nokia email client I am using does not have the facility to enter different login details for the incoming and outgoing email servers. When I try to use the O2 server without authentication, the Nokia email client seems to get stuck in a loop where it says it is sending the email; it never completes the operation. So it looks as though I need to find a way to get O2 to forward my outgoing emails to the Plusnet smtp server.
Mister W

Quote from: MisterW

Have you tried the authenticated smtp settings when using your PlusNet home wifi connection ?

I'm actually on holiday just now, and so can't test my Plusnet home wifi connection. However, I do have wifi in my holiday cottage, provided by BT. I have just configured my Outlook account to use authenticated smtp, and I can now send messages from Outlook. In fact, until now I couldn't send email from my Outlook account when I was away from home because I didn't know how to set up Outlook to do this. So, even if I don't resolve my phone problem, I have gained some very useful information from this discussion.

Quote from: MisterW

As spraxt says, using the mobile providers server does not usually require authentication (since you're on their network) but sometimes they will validate(or change) the sending email address.

As I described in my reply to sprayxyt, when I use the O2 server without authentication, the Nokia client gets stuck in a loop when attempting to send a message.
NedLudd

Quote from: NedLudd

Email (and/or data) has been set up by O2 for use with your sim?

I have purchased a data allowance from O2 and can access the internet and receive emails. So presumably I have some email facilities, although, as I said above, I have not opened an O2 email account.
Does anyone know if the message that my phone gives when I try to send an email is significant. This is:
'Network not available. The message is in the Outbox and will be sent during next refresh.'
However, the message is not sent when I refresh the phone's Inbox. I have looked for help on this message on the internet, but have not found anything relevant.
Thanks again to everyone for your help. I would appreciate any further help that anyone can provide.

[#9]

Quote

Network not available. The message is in the Outbox and will be sent during next refresh.'

That sounds a bit like it can't get to the server, relay.plus.net. Are you sure the phone is using port 587 and not 25, as it is possible that O2 might block access on port 25.

[#10]

I'm on O2 and send via non O2 servers and via port 25 too. SSL is off. Authentication is by password.
Sometimes it pays to delete the mail setting in 'Settings' and start again.

[#11]

Thanks for that, I wasn't sure if O2 blocked it or not. I'm not familiar with the Nokia client so I'm really guessing at what it's trying to tell us is the problem...

[#12]

Quote from: MisterW

That sounds a bit like it can't get to the server, relay.plus.net. Are you sure the phone is using port 587 and not 25, as it is possible that O2 might block access on port 25.

Neither port 25 nor port 587 works.

Quote from: NedLudd

I'm on O2 and send via non O2 servers and via port 25 too. SSL is off. Authentication is by password. Sometimes it pays to delete the mail setting in 'Settings' and start again.

I seem to be using the same settings as you. Each time I change the settings, the Nokia makes me enter all the settings from scratch. (Hence this whole business is rather time consuming.)
Is this beginning to look like a problem with the Nokia client?

[#13]

I use an iPhone 4 and moderate on an Apple site. When we see this kind of problem we advise deleting the offending connection entry and rebooting the phone. Then set up the connection again.
If bits of data behind the scenes get corrupted then changing some settings will not change anything. Deleting the offending connection and rebooting will clear out everything to do with that connection.
It may work the same way on a Nokia!

[#14]

I've solved it! The problem was one that no-one could have helped me with, as I didn't provide you with the relevant information. However, your advice was very helpful in leading me to the solution. As Sherlock Holmes said:
Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.
The problem was caused by the fact that, in setting up the Nokia client, I did not use my Plusnet email address, but rather a forwarding address that I use to forward incoming messages to my Plusnet, hotmail and gmail accounts. I did this because I wanted the From field of my outgoing emails to show my forwarding address, rather than my specific Plusnet address. My Outlook account for my Plusnet mail is set up in this way, and works with no problems. Outlook doesn't seem to do any checking on the account email address, but it looks like O2 do check it. When I changed the email address on my Nokia client to my actual Plusnet address, the problem resolved. Of course, outgoing messages from my phone now have my Plusnet address, rather than my forwarding address, in the From field, but this is a small price to pay.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to give me advice on this issue. This was my first posting in the Plusnet Community forum, and I have been very gratified by the helpfulness of the forum members. If anyone can cast light on why Outlook and O2 differ in how they use an account's email address, this would be an added bonus.

[#15]

Glad to hear you got this working.
For clarity please could you confirm the exact settings which work. Is it
SMTP server relay.plus.net
port 25 (or is it 587?)
SSL off
authenticated using Plusnet username
with password appropriate to username
then it works with
sender address (from) yourmailbox@username.plus.com
whereas
sender address (from) anothername@anotherservice.co.uk
does not work?