SMTP problems??

[@Dmorley]

@Dmorley

I think you'll find the following:

1. the mail.metronet.co.uk/110, no security, smtp.metronet.co.uk/25, no security work when from a desktop connected to PN or Wi-Fi when connected to PN via your router. Reason: the settings work when the IP address allocated to your router (dynamically or statically) was by PN (and your home Wi-Fi will ultimately  goes via your home router)
2. on a 3rd party Wi-Fi then the sending IP of your device will not have been allocated by PN hence will fail (some sort of security check)
3. on a mobile data network it's also the same as #2 hence will also fail.

You can test this yourself.

I believe there are configs that over come this issue and might have been hinted at by @Townman .  However, there are simpler solutions which mean if on a 3rd party Wi-Fi network the basic "desktop" configs still work, (but require a bit more initial work - which I use).

PS I have now setup Thunderbird on my Samsung with the basic config data (which suggests the original failing msg on trying to setup smtp might have some meaning as to the solution (emsg on my other thread).

[#2]

Thanks. But this isn’t the problem. I can always send emails when connected to any wifi network using my phone or laptop. I can never send emails on my phone just using Vodafone mobile data.

[#3]

@Dmorley 

Thanks for the clarification.

I cant send via 3rd party Wi-Fi systems

I cant send by mobile Data networks which in my case is also Vodafone

After that the issue is beyond my understanding of how PN email network might work.

If you find a solution let me know

[#4]

For anyone still having difficulties can they please attempt the following diagnostic...

In a DOS prompt (command window) - NOT a TERMINAL WINDOW (type CMD in on that) run...

curl -v smtp://smtp.metronet.co.uk:25 -u account:password

Where account = your user ID

Password is your password.

The response should be something like ...

* Host smtp.metronet.co.uk:25 was resolved.
* IPv6: (none)
* IPv4: 212.159.8.108, 212.159.9.108
*   Trying 212.159.8.108:25...
* Connected to smtp.metronet.co.uk (212.159.8.108) port 25
< 220 avasout-peh-001 smtp relay.metronet.co.uk
> EHLO Lent
< 250-avasout-peh-001 hello [84.92.100.135], pleased to meet you
< 250-HELP
< 250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN
< 250-SIZE 104857600
< 250-PIPELINING
< 250-8BITMIME
< 250 OK
> AUTH PLAIN
< 334
> AGFjY291bnQAcGFzc3dvcmQ=
< 535 ...authentication rejected
* closing connection #0
curl: (67) Login denied

But hopefully with a success outcome.

If you do this and are tempted to post the full results DO NOT include the line after 334 as that is a readily decryptable encryption of account:password.

I have confirmed that (presently) port 587 does not function.

The SUs have floated the theory that for off network users, access to port 25 might be blocked by the connected to network provider - such is not uncommon.  That is why 587 is always recommended.

The above diagnostic should verify if off network users are even able to connect on port 25, regardless of getting the credentials correct.  NOTE: Do not attempt to use encryption.

[#5]

@Townman 

For Microsoft OS the inclusion of .exe allows 'curl' to be run in both a command and terminal window

curl.exe -v smtp://smtp.metronet.co.uk:25 -u account:password

This line exposes your public IP Address 

250-avasout-peh-001 hello [84.92.100.135], pleased to meet you

[#6]

Thanks Dan - was a rushed post before heading out of the door!

[#7]

I am now getting errors from thunderbird saying:

The mail server responded: <...@metronet.co.uk> recipient rejected - relay denied.

But using curl I get:

535 ...authentication rejected as source IP has a poor reputation

which seems to be a problem I had for several years before I changed broadband supplier this year.  Can anyone remind me of where to look for the list of blacklisted IP addresses?

I suspect this might be the problem others might have using mobile networks.

[#8]

That issue might be mitigated by turning off your router for a couple of hours and hope you get a different IP address.

[#9]

I tried the curl command and the end of the output was:

"< 235 ... authentication succeeded
> HELP
< 214-This is smtp ESMTP service help
214-This is smtp ESMTP service help
< 214-To contact postmaster send email to postmaster@plus.com.
214-To contact postmaster send email to postmaster@plus.com.
< 214-For local information send email to Postmaster at your site.
214-For local information send email to Postmaster at your site.
< 214 end of HELP info
214 end of HELP info
* Connection #0 to host smtp.metronet.co.uk left intact"

Which looked ok to me so I checked sending test emails from all my email clients, desktop and mobile(Wi-Fi via my router). The result sending emails was back working again, earlier in the day it had failed again.

PS I tried curl again with same parameters but replaced 25 with 587 and got:

"* Rebuilt URL to: smtp://smtp.metronet.co.uk:587/
*   Trying 212.159.9.108...
* TCP_NODELAY set
* connect to 212.159.9.108 port 587 failed: Connection refused
*   Trying 212.159.8.108...
* TCP_NODELAY set
* connect to 212.159.8.108 port 587 failed: Connection refused
* Failed to connect to smtp.metronet.co.uk port 587: Connection refused
* Closing connection 0
curl: (7) Failed to connect to smtp.metronet.co.uk port 587: Connection refused"

[#10]

Indeed, Port 587 is sleeping!