Gmail bounces - hosted domain and email only account (temporarily)

[#1]

Hi all - short preface to my issue - been with Plusnet for over 16 years and have my domain name hosted here for email purposes. I moved home last year and had to leave Plusnet (for BT) as they could not provide FTTP service to my new home. However, they did very kindly allow me to continue a free email only service and free domain hosting - unbelievably kind. 

Since then however, I have been plagued with email bounces back from Gmail (only Gmail) with ** The remote server ?? responded with: "A message that you sent to the following recipient could not be delivered due to a permanent error. ** The remote server ?? responded with: ** *****@gmail.com ??:?? "

I understand that this may be due to me requiring to add an SPF record for my domain, but although Plusnet hosts the domain, I cannot find "manage my domain" under "manage account" - possibly because my account is email only? It's my intention to return to Plusnet when my 2 year BT contract finishes (ironically, Plusnet started providing FTTP in my area shorty after I signed up to BT), but advice on how to work around this issue in the short term would be very much appreciated.

[#2]

Hi

There's a few threads around about this.  Basically it's down to Google mandating some non mandatory checks.  A good post about how to work around it is this one by @Townman.

[#3]

Thanks @pjmarsh  - I saw similar advice in another thread but my attempt to follow it fell at the fist hurdle as I have no  "Manage your domains" option under "Manage Account", despite my domain being hosted by Plusnet. I'm not sure if that is because I'm currently email only? Email only with a hosted domain is probably a niche case.

[#4 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Uncle_Tupelo 

I've added the MX record for you, so the SPF record should be created within 24 hours.

I hope this helps!

[#5]

@Uncle_Tupelo two possibilities

1) it could be the 'manage your domains' isnt visible at the current page zoom, try zoomin in or out and see if it appears

2) its not on the page for email only accounts but can be accessed via a direct link. Unfortunately I cant check the direct link since I no longer have a hosted domain

I'm sure someone will be along with the link shortly...

edit:

three possibilities ,  our resident wizard could zoom in on his broomstick, fix it and fly out again😁

[#6]

Brilliant, thanks @Gandalf . I'll report back tomorrow - much appreciated! And thanks @MisterW - it would be good to get the direct link.

[#7]

@Uncle_Tupelo  it SHOULD be available within around 6 hrs.

you can check using nslookup for the TXT record

use nslookup -type=txt <domain>

[#8]

---

@Uncle_Tupelo wrote:

it would be good to get the direct link.

---

And here it is.

[#9]

Success! I have now successfully sent two emails to Gmail with no bounces - thanks all.

[#10]

@Gandalf @MisterW Apologies for resurrecting this thread, but I have a new problem which I suspect may be related. Since the change above which fixed the problem, I started to have intermittent and now permanent problems sending mail from my PC (using Thunderbird). Mails are received ok, but I cannot send - I either get a password prompt (but entering my valid password just repeats the prompt) or a time-out. I can send email fine from my Android phone using Aquamail. I did read something about email only accounts requiring to pay £1.06 a month and I don't mind doing so if that is the issue.

[#11]

@Uncle_Tupelo  I did read something about email only accounts requiring to pay £1.06 a month and I don't mind doing so if that is the issue.

Email only accounts have been free for a while now.

I can send email fine from my Android phone using Aquamail.

If that's the case then the Thunderbird problems must be configuration issues. Try reentering the complete authentication details for the outgoing server.