Yes, as you may have heard, Verizon has decided to block us from sending outbound email bearing a “From:” header from any domain other than verizon.com or bellatlantic.com (or possibly some other domains that they themselves host).
From an online discussion of same:
Verizon itself doesn’t, of course. Earthlink’s, unfortunately, doesn’t either. (My regular everyday email address of nearly a decade’s standing is an earthlink address).
Does there exist (insofar as any of you folks know) a service provider that will, for some kind of monthly fee that makes me authenticatably one of “theirs”, let me send email FROM myusername@earthlink when I have an ISP parceled out to me by Verizon? I presume that if such service DID exist, it would involve some other kind of authentication (perhaps VPN’ing from Verizon DSL to log into their domain somehow?)…I did a bit of calling around today and could not find any ISP that would do that.
I found a couple that were interested in supplying me with replacement DSL service, and I’m open to that as well, but haven’t found a company that can do so at a reasonable rate and cover both residences (mine & the girlfriend’s) in NYC.
Another option that was mentioned to me on a couple of occasions is to set up my OWN little SMTP server. Uhh, OK, it is good to learn new things. What’s involved in that? Do I need a static IP? How does the STMP box get ITS internet connectivity? Can I do this on a Mac (OS X included)? Can it–don’t laugh at me, now–can it be the same computer I’m using as the workstation from which I’m sending the email in the first place?
This is almost as annoying as when the banks started charging ATM fees for using other banks’ ATM machines.
This is affecting you too? I was wondering why I couldn’t use their SMTP servers to send e-mail, since my e-mail address is given as ending in eden.rutgers.edu. Damn you, Verizoff!
I can’t really offer a solution for you…I happen to be benefited with some server knowledge, so I configured the system that shares the connection amongst all the computers here to act as a local SMTP server.
If you have a system running OS X, you could install sendmail, which would then send messages for you (after you set your outgoing server to 127.0.0.1 so that the system would just send e-mail messages to itself to be routed elsewhere). You don’t need a static IP…my Qube manages it fine with Verizon’s nightmarish excuse-me-while-I-gangrape-you-and-switch-your-IP-500-times PPPoE stuff. And, as indicated above, you can use the same system to send e-mail from that the SMTP server is running on. It’s not actually a dedicated system…it’s just another service you’d set up to run. I’m sure you can find a tutorial somewhere on how to install and configure sendmail on an OS X system.
I have verizon (I like the verizoff refrence ) dsl and if I understand what you are saying I do that and it works. I have m=email addresses that end in verizon.net and bellatlantic.net (you said .com - maybe that’s something diffrent)
One work account I can recieve mail no prob but sometimes I have trouble sending. I set up my bellatlantic.net account to send out work info and look like it comes from my work address (by changing the from setting in OE).
I just sent one out today and it worked. Am I missing soemthing?
Before http://mail.com went down the tubes last time, I subscribed to their POP service, because I wanted a POP account that wasn’t connected to my ISP. It was something on the order of 3 bucks a month. They had their smtp and pop servers (as well as a whole bunch of 2LDs to choose from), and it worked fine until they got bought out and their servers started crashing for days at a time.
They may be back on their feet by now… might want to give them a shot.
Bloody typos! Uh, yeah, SMTP, not STMP. (I have a bad tendency to write OBDC instead of ODBC too. Acronyms should have three letters, not four). And I guess it is verizon.net and bellatlantic.net rather than verizon.com and bellatlantic.com; either way, the only way you can send outbound email is if your “From:” header (generally identical to your POP3) ends in one of verizon’s domains.
You will probably have considerably more trouble sending; when was the last time you tried it? You should be able to send out from the verizon & bellatlantic addresses, and you should be able to get INCOMING email no matter what, but if I understand Verizon correctly, it is the actual “From:” header that they are looking at, so if you try sending out from your work address (which presumably means a domain not hosted by Verizon), I believe you’ll find that they’ve stripped you of this ability. Please let me know if this is NOT so!
(the most common exception being if you have access to a different SMTP server affiliated with your work addy and it allows you access as long as you’re sending from THEIR domain and can enter a POP password when asked. but that’s not what I mean.)
I’m looking for a more complicated exception–I don’t want yet another email address just in order to have one I can send from that isn’t Verizon, I want to be able to send outbound email from my EARTHLINK account specifically. Can’t use Earthlink’s SMTP server, can’t use Verizon’s SMTP server, and…
…yeah, except to really complicate things I don’t want to do business with a company that allows indiscriminate relaying either (I really HATE spam!), so I need one that will allow relaying but has an apparatus in place to verify my authenticity in some fashion.
AHA!!! they LIE!!! (why does this not surprise me?)
It ISN’T really the “From:” header that they check. By default one is not encouraged to edit the “From:” header manually, but I do have the option, and I just did it and by zingo it went through!
This is a standard security measure. Most servers won’t let anybody use their SMTP that isn’t originating on their network (by IP, normally, but you can block specific header info as well), mainly to reduce spam.
After all, you don’t want 15,000 e-mails with the subject “I want to ***** your ***** and have your ***** in my ****** until I *******!!!” traced back to your server. Especially if you didn’t send them.
Probably the easiest thing would be to put the address that Verizon gave you in the From: field, and put the one where you want replies in the Reply-to: field (it’s in the configuration of whatever e-mail client you use).
Failing that, do what chutwig said, and install an SMTP relay on your computer.
Just thought I’d add that this is trivial to do on any Windows, Linux or UNIX machine (including BSD builds). Dunno about Macs, but I can’t imagine that it would be that difficult there, either.
It wasn’t just that I wanted replies to go to the earthlink account, although that’s a big part of it–
Some people tend to copy email addreses from the “From:” header and paste it into their address books. Or they may be alert to my “regular” email address but would ignore email from an unfamiliar address.
Also, although for some reason I can’t replicate the behavior on command tonight, I’ve noticed that sometimes email arrives at its destination with little notes added like (unverified) or (may be forged) to the “From:” header if the Reply-to header specifies a different string.
Anyway, I’m fine; I’ve licked the problem without having to set up my own personal SMTP box (although I’d still like to learn how to do it, since you never know when the knowledge might become necessary).
I have a hard time understanding this statement. You say they don’t check the “From:” header, but that changing it fixes the problem? How can changing it help if they don’t check it?
Now, as to possible solutions. I started up with best.com 3 years ago or so, they were bought by verio.com, but the service was uninterrupted. Their SMTP servers will except mail from outside IPs, but only if the From: address is one they recognize.
At one point they were going to require that you register your IP with them in order to use SMTP from outside their systems, but user outrage made them cancel that plan. This is how they restrict NNTP, by the way. I had to mail some guy with my IP address and ask him to open up a hole for me.
I have no idea if you can still get an “@best.com” account. But, perhaps earthlink will let you use their SMTP servers if you mail them and ask nice. They can’t be as clueless as babybell.net.
Not trouble sending - just did it last night. The only diffrence is that my bellatlantic address that I use for work:
1 Has my work address in the ‘reply to’ field
2 The receive info is purposally messed up so it won’t receive mail (I can get mail from my work account no prob)
3 Hi Opal!
Sorry, that IS rather opaque, isn’t it? Apparently, what they actually check is the POP3 string (username and mail server), from which a From header is generally determined by your email program. (e.g., Eudora “personality” #3 is for username ahunter3 POP mail server earthlink SMTP server smtp.verizon.net so on “new mail”, if I select personality #3 the From header auto-fills as my earthlink address). By default the From header is not editable, but its a setting I can change (and had to) so now I override it; verizon gets the POP3 string and says “OK”; my recipients see my earthlink address in the From field so I’m OK with it too.
