Re: Emails that I send are being blocked
mattheww50
Contributor - Level 2

There are a truly vast number of blocked IP addresses that can probably be traced to the collapse of home.com some years ago. Basically when home.com fell apart, most service re-sellers (mostly large cable and telephone companies many of which were part owners of home) suddenly had to get their own equipment and  large numbers of IP addresses assigned to them. Unassigned IP addresses have long been favored for various hacking attacks, and as a result, many of those IP addresses had a very unsavory past, which resulted in their being blocked. I know at the time I was a Cox customer, and many was the site that I was blocked from when I transitioned from Home to Cox as Home went under. I still had a dail up account with someone not involved in the home fiasco, and had to use them to reach the sites my Cox IP address was blocked from.

The problem has been aggravated because the customer service at most large ISP's is to be polite, awful. Basically I found myself on my own to get my new IP address unblocked. The providers just don't seem to think it is their problem.

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Re: Emails that I send are being blocked
thompa
Enthusiast - Level 1

THe last two posts were very helpful - thanks!

It appears that my IP address is blocked according to lists with:-

dnsbl.sorbs.net

dul.dnsbl.sorbs.net

residential.block.transip.nl and 

zen.spamhaus.org

now... how do I go about getting my IP address unblocked so that I don't have this problem?... anyone?

thanks

Allan

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Re: Emails that I send are being blocked
thompa
Enthusiast - Level 1

A little more information..

Using www.sorbs.net inputting my IP revealed...:-

96.xxx.234.0/23 (96.xxx.234.0-96.243.xxx.255)

[#222078 - Verizon Supplied list (17/02/2009)] 

Currently active and flagged to be published in DNS

So it seems clear that Verizon has effectively stopped email from a whole block of ip's!

Message Edited by Jonathan_K on 02-20-2009 07:55 PM
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Re: Emails that I send are being blocked
thompa
Enthusiast - Level 1

Well - just thought that I would try and see if that all worked - I figured that I had left enough time for the process to work - but alas.. either I haven't left enough time.. or I am still stymied!

Here's the header of another rebuff!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This report relates to a message you sent with the following header fields:

  Message-id: <BDE62BC1EFA24DA8AC52F3E7CC1C9D4F@fastat>
  Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:44:13 -0500
  From: "Allan T{edited for privacy}t>
  To: <mike{edited for privacy}>
  Subject: RE: Louise {edited for privacy}

Your message cannot be delivered to the following recipients:

  Recipient address: mike{edited for privacy}
  Reason: Remote SMTP server has rejected address
  Diagnostic code: smtp;550 #5.1.0 Address rejected mike{edited for privacy}
  Remote system: dns;mx-ironport.core.plus.net (TCP|xxx.46.173.9|38641|xx.92.x.65|25) (mx.pcl-ipin02.plus.net ESMTP)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Again - not spam!

Infuriating!

Allan

Message Edited by Jonathan_K on 02-20-2009 07:56 PM
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Re: Emails that I send are being blocked
thompa
Enthusiast - Level 1

Techman,

Yes it looks like an error 550...

Here is the header information from the email I just had rejected:-

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This report relates to a message you sent with the following header fields:

  Message-id: <BDE62BC1EFA24DA8AC52F3E7CC1C9D4F@fastat>
  Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:44:13 -0500
  From: "Allan {edited for privacy}>
  To: <mike{edited for privacy}>
  Subject: RE: Louise Cowan

Your message cannot be delivered to the following recipients:

  Recipient address: mike{edited for privacy}
  Reason: Remote SMTP server has rejected address
  Diagnostic code: smtp;550 #5.1.0 Address rejected mike{edited for privacy}
  Remote system: dns;mx-ironport.core.plus.net (TCP|206.46.xxx.9|38641|xx.xx.2.65|25) (mx.pcl-ipin02.plus.net ESMTP)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hope that you can help!

Allan

Message Edited by Jonathan_K on 02-20-2009 07:57 PM
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Re: Emails that I send are being blocked
Shirley4
Enthusiast - Level 2

Allan, I don't see anything in that message / report that says your message is spam. I think it is saying that the email address {edited for privacy} is not valid.

Message Edited by Jonathan_K on 02-20-2009 07:51 PM
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Re: Emails that I send are being blocked
thompa
Enthusiast - Level 1

It does seem that way..

All that I can say is that my email was a 'reply' and after the response from Verizon, I copied it and sent it from my Google account to the person and they replied.. So the email address is obviously valid!

Allan

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Re: Emails that I send are being blocked
Shirley4
Enthusiast - Level 2
Regardless of everything else, I see no evidence that there is a problem with Verizon. I might be wrong; I am not an expert, but I do not see any errors from Verizon. Your diagnosis does provide a reason to suspect Verizon but it does not prove anything.
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Re: Emails that I send are being blocked
badmessanger
Enthusiast - Level 2

SMTP authentication is nothing new on a verizon connection

here is a link from 2001 that talks about it being implemented

Verizon SMTP Authentication

Then and now, does not mean you cant send from third party email addresses when on a verizon connection usin port 25, it simply means that you have to AUTHENTICATE with Verizon's server, using a valid username and password

Example:

i have Fios and I want to send email in outlook from joebob@joebob.com.... I have to use port 25, and use outgoing.verizon.net and enable authentication and type in my verizon username and password.

Also here is a link to Verizon's Spam and Email Policies

Verizon Spam Policy: https://www.verizon.net/central/vzc.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=vzc_help_policies&id=AntiSpamPolicy

There of course is also the old

  • You may not include more than 100 recipients in a single email. Messages will not be sent to any recipients in excess of 100.
  • You may not exceed 500 recipients in 1 hour. Exceeding 500 recipients in 1 hour will result in the suspension of your ability to send email for 24 hours. This does not affect your ability to receive email.

And as far as IP's being blocked.... ISP's such as Verizon, do not just mke up more IP addresses to give to more customers... They have to buy them... Like anything else in the world that is used, when you buy it you also buy it's past.

If that IP was owned by a japanese spammer previously.... and now you have that IP... you may have to suffer the consequences of someone elses actions, until all of the databses in the interwebs are updated to reflect the current and legitimate owner.

If it was owned by a Canadian ISP, you may have to look at www.google.ca for a while.

Now I am not saying Verizon has not changed soemthing and failed to inform people, including their own techs.... but everything I am reading here points to known issue or things outside of Verizon's control.

Hope this helps some people.

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Re: Emails that I send are being blocked
Shirley4
Enthusiast - Level 2

You say: "Like anything else in the world that is used, when you buy it you also buy it's past.".

That is true somewhat at least. If we get a phone number that is new to us then we will likely get calls from people calling the previous owner. If the calls are excessive though then most people would not want the number and phone companies should not reuse that number until it is reasonabley "clean". If we rent an apartment or house then we don't expect it to be like new but we do expect it to be clean; in fact, that is the law, correct? If we purchase a home or a business then we also get it's past, but we also have the right to be informed and/or investigate the past.

I think we are talking about email addresses, not IP addresses. If an email address can't be used then it is not our responsibility to deal with it. If an ISP knows that an address has history that makes it difficult or impossible to use then they should not allow it to be used. If an email address can't be used to send email then it cannot be used and I think it is the ISP's responsibility to either clean it up or not make it available.

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