Telstra blocks port 25 - affects all Bigpond customers with 3rd party webhosting

[dferguson]

See BigPond FAQ's (http://bigpond.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/bigpond.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=cMAqCP8h&p_lva=&p_faqid=5562&p_created=1080867561&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9ncmlkc29ydD0mcF9yb3dfY250PTIwJ nBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9cG9ydCAyNSZwX3Byb2RfbHZsMT1_YW5 5fiZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=)

This decision by Telstra effectively stops big pond users who have websites hosted on third party webservers from sending mail from their OWN server!

[Update: Many other Australian ISP's are now blocking Port 25 by default. Here are just a few... Optusnet, iinet, iprimus and Internode]

Telstra are now recommending you use their mail server to send email - This is unacceptable as professional businesses need the sent email to appear as though it came from their own domain - and not Telstra's!

We hope Telstra reverses this decision immediately and we recommend that any affected Bigpond customers call Telstra and complain and demand the block be removed.

[UPDATE: myshophosting.com has a work around for Telstra customers (and other ISP's that block Port 25). They can now use Port 26 to communicate with the myshophosting.com mail server effectively side stepping Telstra's attempt at blocking the user from sending email.]

[bcarroll]

This shouldnt be a problem?
I have used my ISP's SMTP mail server for years alongside my Domain POP A/c
Just configure your mail client to use the right pop and SMTP server as well as setting your reply to address to be your domain address

ie pop.myhost.com as pop server
ac: username
password :host_password

SMTP
mail-hub.bigpond.com (or similar)
and enter authentication details if required (for ISP a.c) - most ISP's do not need you to authenticate to their SMTP server if you are inside ther IP range.

then set the reply to address to be your someone@domain.com - which you probibly already have. Everything will look just as professional as before - if you look at the mail header info then you would see bigpond.com as the orgiginator - just as you would see myhost.com etc already.

If you are however hosting your site on a server you have directly connected to ADSL/

Port 25 only afects SMTP (Outgoing) mail and if all ISP's did this then the spam problem the world is facing may not be quite so bad.

[dferguson]

Hi Ben

While its true that you can do this HOWEVER many large ISP's such as AOL do VERY rigorous checking of emails to make sure that the email server that sent the email IS the mail server thats in the MX DNS record for the 'sender' email address.

Example: ben@gatewaymodels.com.au is hosted at say BLAHwebhosting.com

You send an email to me (dave@aol.com as an example)

AOL's mail server checks that the SENDING mail server (which in your case is now bigpond) is the server listed in gatewaymodels.com.au MX records.. Of course it wont be so they can reject the email as possible spam.

This doesn't happen with all ISP's - YET. But more and more of them are employing this technique to ensure that an email is coming from the proper source and not some rouge spam mail server.

[bcarroll]

Ok - Point taken.

As far as I know this has not been an issue to date (and I have been operating this way for at least 3 years) but that doesnt mean it wont be in the future.
I note on Bigpond ADSL if you chose to pay $10 a month for a static IP (which can be very useful other than just for this) the restriction can be removed. You can also get a static IP on a dialup account for about the same price as a retail dialup if you deal with Telstra Internet Direct (www.telstra.net) rather than Bigpond - NB must be a business.

Optus Cable had a outbound block on port25 about 6 months ago - but you can submit an automated form to have this removed. (they tftp a different config file to your modem - filter is at the CPE end)

Blocking port 25 may have limited effect in stopping spam but will have a massive effect on the propergation of viruses especially those running their own SMTP tasks.

As for AOL - their mail servers continually have Optus's SMTP servers blocked (along with thousands of other ISP's) so matter what you do you cant guarantee getting an email through. No sooner does an ISP have their server whitelisted by AOL (after complaints) then AOL blacklist it again.

[dferguson]

Yes, I noticed Telstra offered to unblock the port by 'upgrading' the plan for around $10.00 per month - In my opinion this is a shameless grab for cash. The term 'internet access' to me means exactly that! What Telstra are now offering is not in my opinion 'internet Acceess' But rather 'Restricted Access'

The fact is that around 99% of spam comes from overseas - not Telstra's mail server... Since Telstra implemented the change i have not noticed a drop in spam - have you?

[MitchDenny]

I got caught by this last night. Now I am sitting in a wireless bar to send my e-mail instead of a dial-up from my hotel room. I spend alot of time travelling and switch ISP's from wireless to dial-up, I don't want to have to change my SMTP settings every bloody minute.

I am going to call them and have words today . . .

[brianoz]

Many webhosting companies (I am one) will add an additional SMTP port so that you can work around port 25 blocks.

These days most large ISPs have implemented port blocking on port 25. The simple win for them is that they prevent viruses propagating, and prevent spammers from trying to operate within their networks. Granted the spammers will go elsewhere, but they then don't have to clear up the mess afterwards when their mail servers or IP ranges get blocked. The problem these large ISPs face is that when they get large and popular, generally the percentage of customers with any sort of clue diminishes rapidly.

From a consumer point of view the blocks are annoying, but from Telstra's point of view it makes good business sense - the majority that are saved from viruses etc outweighs the few that are inconvenienced, so I'd be fairly sure that this is the new reality we're all going to have to live with. And I really don't think it's being done with an anti-competitive motive, for once, although I'm sure they don't mind that aspect.

There are a number of solutions for Bigpond customers:

- Change to a good ISP - AAnet (cheap, good all rounder), Internode (more expensive, fantastic quality, speed, and service), Iinet, Westnet, Netspace. Most of these are cheaper anyway, so why wouldn't you change?

- Check with your webhost, and use a non-port-25 SMTP port. This is changed in something like Tools->Email accounts->More settings->Advanced settings - change the 25 to 26 or whatever the alternate SMTP port is. If your webhost doesn't offer an alternate SMTP port, ask them to get with the game and do so.

- Use smtpport.com or something similar. (Good find!)

- If you don't have a laptop, just use mail.bigpond.com. It's probably quicker anyway. If you do have a laptop, use one of the above solutions.

:)