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Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

Semje
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎25-06-2017

Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

This is more because I'm confused - the problem is solved but I'm interested in people's opinions;

 

I was fixing a family member's iPad, she wasn't able to send emails, and the eventual fix turned out to be switching to using the 'smtp.plus.net' instead. Given that everything I found online told me to use 'relay.plus.net', I was wondering why it wasn't working. The only reason I solved this is because I found an old (a few years old) post on another website that spoke about setting up an android phone with the mail - and that used the smtp server instead. This website said that either would work as well.

 

 

Like I said, I'm more just interested in why the official advice (including from support that I briefly spoke to) seems to point to using the relay server but it didn't work on the account and what people's opinions on this might be (hopefully it'll save people some trouble if they have the same issue!)

 

Thanks.

14 REPLIES 14
Townman
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Re: Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

relay.plus.net works fine. I am surprised to find that smtp.plus.net is also resolvable.

I wound suspect the iPad got its email server details twisted. It's not unknown for quite correct settings to fail, requiring the email settings to be deleted and reinstating on both iPads and iPhones. Other than that once working they are usually fine.

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spraxyt
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Re: Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

smtp.plus.net is an alias of relay.plus.net retained at the moment for legacy reasons. Does sending using the iPad continue to work if the SMTP server is changed back to relay.plus.net?

David
Semje
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Registered: ‎25-06-2017

Re: Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

No, that's why I'm so confused - everywhere I looked (and the support team as I said) always say to use the relay server; it was only after many hours of trying lots of things (including my patience!) that i found the old article that uses the smtp server. Once it's switched back to relay it continues to fail to send messages again.

spraxyt
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Re: Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

Thanks for the feedback. Can you confirm SSL/TLS was not set? Also which port is being used and is authentication set up?

relay.plus.net works fine on a friend's iPad. Huh

David
Semje
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎25-06-2017

Re: Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

Yeah I made sure that SSL/TLS was off

 

The ports were 587 and then for incoming (I tried both IMAP and POP because nothing was working) - IMAP I used 143 and POP I used 110. Like I said I literally just used the information given to me by Plusnet so I can't imagine anything else being wrong - just very weird!

Mav
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Re: Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

Have you tried port 25 and ticked 'Requires login'?

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Townman
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Re: Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

Relay.plus.net on port 587 works fine - I have multiple accounts using it on multiple iPads / iPhones. As noted sometimes these devices get their account settings screwed and the only solution is to delete the email accounts and start again.

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wisty
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Re: Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

I don't have an iPad so I am not sure what is possible, but it would be interesting/useful to see what the iPad thinks are the addresses of the two servers.

Can you ping relay.plus.net and smtp.plus.net from the iPad? From a PC if I ping either, they both resolve to 212.159.8.107. I suspect the iPad has got the address resolution for relay.plus.net cached somewhere with a corrupt address. 

Adding smtp.plus.net made it go and get a new address which is now correct.

You need to purge the bad cached address for relay.plus.net - but as I said I have no idea how you do that on an iPad 

 

 

RPMozley
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Re: Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

"Can you ping relay.plus.net and smtp.plus.net from the iPad?"

You can use the free app "HE network tools" for ping and other useful features. (the HE being Hurricane Electric, most known for their IPv6 tunnels)
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robatworkuk
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Re: Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

I know this thread is a little old but it pops up first when googling about relay.plus.net

 

Just wanted to correct a bit of misinformation further up. relay.plus.net does NOT resolve to the same address as smtp.plus.net

 

One has a 9, the other an 8 in the third octet

MisterW
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Re: Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

@robatworkuk there are primary and secondary mail servers , one with a 9 and one with an 8 in the 3rd octet.

Both relay.plus.net and smtp.plus.net (which is just an alias to relay) resolve to BOTH addresses

nslookup relay.plus.net
Server:  cache-2.ns.demon.net
Address:  ...........
Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    relay.plus.net
Addresses:  212.159.9.107
          212.159.8.107

 

nslookup smtp.plus.net
Server:  cache-2.ns.demon.net
Address:  ..............

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    relay.plus.net
Addresses:  212.159.9.107
          212.159.8.107
Aliases:  smtp.plus.net

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robatworkuk
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Re: Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

OK I will take that as the authoritative (hoho) answer.

What I don't understand is why plusnet would "retire" the smtp.plus.net address - it wouldn't appear to benefit them much and would cause lots of disruption to systems with that dns coded in.

Townman
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Re: Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

What leads you to believe PlusNET are retiring the smtp. URL?

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

robatworkuk
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Re: Why 'relay.plus.net' doesn't work but 'smtp.plus.net' does??

Another thread that I can't find now....... maths too quick maybe.....2+2=3