Problems with emails to gmail addresses

[#1]

Then I should not fall into the "biggest issue" category as PlusNet do host my domain - but I can't send emails to Gmail accounts without them responding with, "undeliverable"!

[#2]

Mitigating email delivery failures (notably Gmail)

Many users are reporting challenging issues in sending emails to some of the big email players. Some of those providers (notably Gmail, but only in respect of their free email accounts) have mandated the SPF & DKIM non-mandatory RFCs on other email providers, such as Plusnet. This can bring about significant difficulty when attempting to send emails using the various Plusnet and vISP legacy email services.

How you mitigate Google's behaviour very much depends on how you send your emails via Plusnet's SMTP servers and which Plusnet vISP email brands you use.

• A Plusnet email account or a legacy brand (for example MAAF) email account
• you@youraccount.plus.com (native Plusnet email address)
• you@yourdomain.co.uk which is registered and hosted by Plusnet (or MAAF)
• you@yourdomain.co.uk which is registered elsewhere and hosted by Plusnet
• you@yourdomain.co.uk which is hosted elsewhere which forwards  mail to your Plusnet (or MAAF) mailbox

The vISP email brands have different level of mitigation capability - for some, the only practical solution might be to migrate your email hosting elsewhere.

Native Plusnet email address

If a user sends email using a from address of you@youraccount.plus.com then DKIM signing will be applied to the email automatically (and pass Gmail's imposed restrictions) if the SMTP server is configured to require authentication. Somewhat unhelpfully, Plusnet's email setup guide suggests that such authentication is NOT required if connecting over a Plusnet connection. Whilst technically true, operational complications can occur and it is much tidier to just enable authentication with the "use the same account settings as the incoming server" option.

Your own domain

If you send from your own domain name, then DKIM signing is not available and you will need to configure SPF instead. How to do this depends on where your domain is hosted - by Plusnet or by third party.

Plusnet fully hosted and registered domain

For Plusnet brand registered and managed domains, SPF configuration is facilitated by the addition of a TXT record in the domain's DNS settings. Plusnet's DNS configuration tool for hosted domains does not permit the creation of TXT records. However, there is an unsupported "facilitation" which will create an SPF record for a hosted domain.

On the basis that your account ALREADY has a hosted domain:

• Log into the user portal
• Go to Manage Account
• Manage Your Domains (Manage your domains link)
• Configure domain name
• Create an "Additional DNS records (Advanced)" as follows...

For the avoidance of doubt leave the left side blank, exactly as shown. It might take Plusnet's systems up to 6 hours to generate the SPF record.

If your email service is provided by one of the legacy vISP brands (for example MAAF) acquired over the years by Plusnet, similar options are not available to you.

Domain name registered and managed elsewhere (third party)

There are two scenarios here:

1. Plusnet hosts the email service for the domain
2. The domain forwards email to the native Plusnet email address

THESE ARE NOT THE SAME.  Ideally email forwarding should be avoided as it brings about numerous complications - you should use the DOMAIN's email servers to received and send your domain email, not Plusnet's.

To configure SPF on a domain name registered elsewhere, you must use your domain name provider's DNS configuration tools to set up the applicable SPF record:

v=spf1 a mx include:_spf-internal.plus.net include:_spf-internal2.plus.net ~all

or

v=spf1 include:_spf-internal.madasafish.com include:_spf-internal2.madasafish.com include:_spf-external.madasafish.com -all

[#3]

@number6 

You need to create a TXT SPF record for your domain with your domain name registrar as per the bottom of the above ... or more correctly use your domain host's SMTP server for outbound email.

@Brugmansia 

You have not detailed the way you are seeking to work.  If you are using a personal domain name, hosted by Plusnet NOT on one of the acquired legacy email services, then you need to set up the "spoof" MX record as described above to generate the TXT SPF record for your hosed domain.

[#4]

You may like to read through some of the forthcoming changes at Google (forthcoming in Feb 24 ? from what I read).

It includes some D stuff.

I've *never* had a bounce from the gmail accounts that I send mail to. I have had bounces from a plusnet registered account.

May be down to 'random' redirects? As far as I can ascertain, the bouncing PN account uses IMAP, spread across several devices.

I've been trying to get an old gmail account to work with POP3/SMTP and Tbird. So far, it has been a 'fail'. I suppose Gmail will remain a web-only based mail interface for some.

[#5]

@greygit1

That is an entirely different matter to the subject being discussed in this thread. IIRC you need to modify the Gmail settings in your Google account to allow a third party email. Liens to access the mailbox.

If you need to discuss this further, please report your post above to the moderators and request that it and this post be spilt off to its own topic.

[#6]

@greygit1 

... actually, on checking, your issue does have a tenuous connection to the OP ... that is your issue is yet another plank in Google's general campaign to make Gmail more and more unusable - see Add Gmail to another email client - Gmail Help (google.com).  Soon Gmail users will HAVE to use Google's web interface, instead of the many popular / preferred third party email clients.  And the world thought that Microsoft were the restrictive villains in IT!

People need to wake up to the evil of Gmail and ask why does a data mining (search engine) provider offer a free email service which can only be used in such restricted ways?  Might is be to use the content of our communications to profile the delivery of advertisements?

Let us be clear, Gmail is no body's friend!

[#7]

If it helps you to understand me.

I have no underlying love for Google. Never have done. I have no underlying reason to implicitly trust them. Pushing the 'creepy' line, and all that. However, that 'creepy line' stuff is not restricted to the realms of Google. Google may be the biggest player (and they employ some smart people) in some of the game, but it isn't the only player.

POP3 e-mail downloads incoming e-mail and deletes from the server. Whether there is an over-arching process which has to retain those deleted e-mails I can't say. But IMAP use may reduce the overheads on such process?