Help! Emails I'm trying to send to Gmail accounts are bouncing!

[#1]

I've been having this problem since last December, with varying results. My emails to recipients on gmail very rarely arrive in the inbox, sometimes go to the junk folder, often just disappear without trace. I sometimes get a bounce message, sometimes not.

I send via relay.plus.net from Thunderbird. I had found I could avoid the problem by using my wife's email account at waitrose.com (which I believe runs on Plusnet), but even that is no longer reliable to gmail accounts.

I think the problem is getting gradually worse, and I know I am not alone in seeing this. I feel there is something about the Plusnet servers that gmail doesn't like or is suspicious about. PLEASE try to find a solution, or at least remind me of the exact settings I should be using.

[#2]

Hi @SammyM 

Some information for you:

I'm connected at home on the Plusnet connection, hardwired from PC to router.

I am using Outlook 2019.

Incoming mail (POP) = username/password set ok, server=mail.plus.net, port=110.

Outgoing mail (SMTP) = server=relay.plus.net, port=587, encryption=STARTTLS, authentication=same as incoming server.

Sending any emails to xxxxx@outlook.com or any other email addresses (apart from GMAIL) go through with no issues at all.

Sending any emails to xxxxx@gmail.com are all Blocked/Failed with the following file attached as "details.txt":

Reporting-MTA: dns; avasout-peh-001 [212.159.14.17]
Received-From-MTA: dns; Administrator [my ip address]
Arrival-Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2022 07:56:59 +0100

Final-recipient: rfc822; xxxxx@gmail.com
Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 550-5.7.26 This message does not have authentication information or fails to

As you suggested, I logged onto Plusnet Webmail and sent an email from there but this time it worked!

Very strange that sending via Outlook gets blocked. The plot thickens.

[#3]

I've started recently to have emails from my ic24.net account bounce back from gmail addresses with the error message:
The MAIL FROM domain [ic24.net] has an SPF record with a
hard fail 550-5.7.26 policy (-all) but it fails to pass SPF checks with the
ip: 550-5.7.26 [46.22.136.244].

[#4]

46.22.136.244

That doesnt appear to be a PlusNet mail server and is not in the SPF record for ic24.net.

What server are you using for your outbound mail ?

[#5]

I'm using mail.ic24.net for incoming and outgoing mailservers. ic24 was taken over by Plusnet hence my post here!
It used to work fine for gmail and does work for all other addresses.The IP address quoted is not my own IP (I have broadband with Plusnet).

[#6]

I appreciate that ic24 was taken over by PN.

he IP address quoted is not my own IP (I have broadband with Plusnet).

So that is not the address being reported in the bounce ?

i'm using mail.ic24.net for incoming and outgoing mailservers. 

According to this https://community.plus.net/t5/Email/How-to-change-your-outgoing-server-on-a-mail-client/m-p/1606155 , those are the correct url's for the IC24 mail servers.

However, mail.ic24.net resolves to 212.159.9.236 which does not appear to be in the SPF record for ic24.net ?

[#7]

The IP reported in the error message is (via Whois) Ireland Carlow Blacknight Cloud Hosting
Nothing I have ever used.

I have no control over ic24.net's email deliverability controls - I was hoping that Plusnet do and so can correct the SPF error...

[#8]

The IP reported in the error message is (via Whois) Ireland Carlow Blacknight Cloud Hosting

Yes, it appears to be one of their smtp servers. AFAIK Plusnet have nothing to do with them. It would appear from the bounce , that your email is somehow going via the blacknight server?

Have you double checked your email client config ?

Have you checked that an nslookup  for mail.ic24.net resolves correctly ? ( although if it didnt , incoming mail wouldnt work )

[#9]

I've checked my Outlook mailservers - both are mail.ic24.net
Only outgoing mails to gmail accounts are bouncing back. 

Can I email you so you can see my outgoing mail headers?

[#10]

Send the headers to me in a PM (private message)

Only outgoing mails to gmail accounts are bouncing back. 

If it's an SPF problem then that's very possible. Quite a few email servers dont process SPF completely yet. They may use it as part of spam scoring but often dont bounce whereas gmail does.

[#11]

Can you remind me.

How long has SPF been around?

[#12]

I ran into something similar today whilst trying to change my Plusnet community login password.
At the login page, & failing to login, I clicked the "help with forgotten username/ password“ & filled in my email - a gmail.com address....

[that address has been used with Plusnet services for years (bills, various attempts to seduce me into changing mobile network etc etc AND the forums...)]

Clicked ok & message says "email sent" BUT not one email from Plusnet arrived despite me trying it several times, nothing in spam folder either...

[#13]

We have had this problem now for a couple of months, emails to ANY @gmail.com address are bouncing back with an undeliverable - I've done digging and it seems as though gmail *may* be blacklisting plusnet as spam, although I use a @freenetname.co.uk with my surname mask (registered via FNN in days of old!)

Strangely enough, when we use our alternate email address ***@outlook.com to send to @gmail.com, it doesn't bounce them.

This indicates a problem at the Plusnet end of the universe and its authentication when sending?!?

This is starting to get annoying as we run 3 businesses, one of which has a lot of clients with @gmail addresses, although its only starting affecting them in the last day or two.

The biggest problem is that my wife sits on a committee for a local society and about half of the members have gmail accounts and they all bounce back.

[#14]

I'm having exactly the same problem too.  I've had a least 4 different people who have emailed me from a gmail account, and every time I reply, the email just bounces back.

Can anybody advise anything please, it's getting a bit frustrating now? 

[#15]

I've been having the same problem for a while now... I use my own domain (hosted at plusnet) but every email I send to gmail.com addresses bounces. I really do not want to give in to the all powerful google and start using their email system instead of my own domain. 

Is there something up with my domain SPF records or (if I've read correctly they're no longer in use) what is the solution?