# I can't email my sister using OE

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-email-my-sister-using-oe/448655>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 9, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-email-my-sister-using-oe/448655 "2008-05-09T02:45:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CubaDiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@CubaDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CubaDiver)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-email-my-sister-using-oe/448655/1 "2008-05-09T02:45:13Z")

</div>

I’ve been using gmail with OE for years and I never had a problem. My sister has an email account with embarqmail and every time I email her, I get back the message:

> [@](#):
>
> This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification
> 
> Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
> 
> ```
> heremailaddress@embarqmail.com 
> 
> ```
> 
> Technical details of permanent failure:  
> PERM\_FAILURE: Probe failed: Illegal To: address (invalid domain name): [heremailaddress@embarqmail.com](mailto:heremailaddress@embarqmail.com)

When I use gmail by logging onto the site and not using OE, it works just fine.

Any idea what’s wrong?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-email-my-sister-using-oe/448655/2 "2008-05-09T03:28:42Z")

</div>

Just to be clear…you are sending using a GMail account via Outlook express, right? Or do you use some other domain with OE?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CubaDiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@CubaDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CubaDiver)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-email-my-sister-using-oe/448655/3 "2008-05-09T04:17:46Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=ZipperJJ]  
Just to be clear…you are sending using a GMail account via Outlook express, right? Or do you use some other domain with OE?  
[/QUOTE]

Yes, using a GMail account via Outlook express.