SMTP port
NetEng
Enthusiast - Level 2

Hi,

Up until yesterday/today I was able to use a 3rd party paid service for SMTP access.  For some reason after a lot of troubleshooting I'm thinking VZ has started blocking port 25 outout.  Is my assessment correct?  Anyone else experiencing the same thing?

Thanks.

Re: SMTP port
tadfurtado
Enthusiast - Level 2

You are correct.  I can't even start to tell you how much time I wasted today on this.

I don't use my Verizon email account, so I never got a single message about this.  Of course, Verizon knows exactly which email address to use to let me know my bill is ready to pay!

My outbound messages just stopped working today. And after 4 hours of trying my server and Outlook settings, I came across a notice about this going into effect last year so I called Cus. Service.  After the typical 30 minute phone tree issue, I finally got someone who could explain it to me.

Worse, to get my emails to work I had to switch my POP3 account to SMTP through Verizon outbound.  And now my messages keep coming back saying they are spam.

I don't want spam scanning by Verizon and I don't want them looking at messages for any reason whatsoever.

This is abusive and out of control.

Dear Verizon, fix this.

Re: SMTP port
NetEng
Enthusiast - Level 2

Yeap...just got off the phone with them after a 30 minute wait with same results as you.  It is frustrating to say the least.  I had Comcast for years and never had a problem with that and 6 months ago I switched to VZ specifically because they told me that they don't block and now they're blocking.  This is not very good customer service.  The rep pointed me to http://www.verizon.net/port25 well after I started to probe him for the real answer.  I use someone elses SMTP service specifically because of their policy (will not store, track, log may emails relayed through them unless I specifically ask for troubleshooting purposes).

This is very frustrating to say the least.  They don't even allow you to white-list yourself somehow.  20/20 hindsight I now appreciate what Comcast's did which was getting their own relays white-listed and letting their DHCP ranges populate RBLs.  The level of service is now on par with verizon business which has been spiraling downwards for sometime now.

VZ...fix this bad policy.  There are plenty of us clueful customers out there.

Re: SMTP port
tgindrup
Enthusiast - Level 1

Having the same problem myself... and I thought it was my wife have problem's clicking the Send button... LOL

Anyone have any ideas, other than trying to get my mail host to change their port?  Don't have a VZ account and would switch ISPs before I'd let them monitor my emails!!!  Doesn't make sense for them to run off their customers like this.  Give us a better option.

Re: SMTP port
mikedee
Enthusiast - Level 1

Same problem here.  According to support, no changes were made recently on Verizon's end.  Yet today port 25 stopped working after a year where it did work!

I'm not sure Verizon's left hand knows what its right is doing.

I'll try forwarding SMTP through Verizon, but if it doesn't work the way I want then I'll switch from FIOS to another carrier.

Re: SMTP port
somegirl
Champion - Level 3

Re-posted from this thread:

You don't have to use Verizon's outgoing server. You can use whatever outgoing server you want, just not on port 25. (Most providers have an alternate port available. It's usuallly 587, but not always.)

If your particular server doesn't allow an alternate port and you really don't want to use Verizon's server, find a free one. I recommend Gmail, it's free and their SMTP server uses 465.

Re: SMTP port
tadfurtado
Enthusiast - Level 2

@somegirl wrote:

Re-posted from this thread:

You don't have to use Verizon's outgoing server. You can use whatever outgoing server you want, just not on port 25. (Most providers have an alternate port available. It's usuallly 587, but not always.)

If your particular server doesn't allow an alternate port and you really don't want to use Verizon's server, find a free one. I recommend Gmail, it's free and their SMTP server uses 465.


I am sorry, Somegirl, that is an unacceptable responce.

It reminds me of Henry Ford saying you can have any color Model T you want so long as it's black.

I can't use whatever port I want since my server needs to port in on 25.  And I can't use the Verizon outbound server because 1/3rd of the messages I've sent since yesterday have bounced back as spam.  And I assure you, there is nothing spammy about them.

So here I pay a lot to rent my own server for my small business and for years have been able to use my own outbound SMTP just fine using my client email program, causing no burden to Verizon.  But all of a sudden and without any notice that changed and I must use the Verizon outbound server if I am to connect through my domain.

And you instead that I simply set up a gmail account?  Yeah, awesome.

Negative kudos.

--

Re: SMTP port
somegirl
Champion - Level 3

@tadfurtado wrote:

I am sorry, Somegirl, that is an unacceptable responce.

It reminds me of Henry Ford saying you can have any color Model T you want so long as it's black.

I can't use whatever port I want since my server needs to port in on 25.  And I can't use the Verizon outbound server because 1/3rd of the messages I've sent since yesterday have bounced back as spam.  And I assure you, there is nothing spammy about them.

So here I pay a lot to rent my own server for my small business and for years have been able to use my own outbound SMTP just fine using my client email program, causing no burden to Verizon.  But all of a sudden and without any notice that changed and I must use the Verizon outbound server if I am to connect through my domain.

And you instead that I simply set up a gmail account?  Yeah, awesome.

Negative kudos.


I only meant that you could use Gmail's SMTP with your current setup instead of Verizon's, since you are upset about their restrictions.

Other options:

- Pay for a static IP address from Verizon. This will open port 25 for you.

- Set your server to listen on a different port. If you don't have access to do this, contact the admin.

- Use web-based access to check your email.

Yes, it's a pain to have to change something that has worked for years, but Verizon is actually lagging behind most other providers in making this change.

Re: SMTP port
Al_J1
Enthusiast - Level 1

This really sucks!  Verizon doesn't have a clue as to the impact and I don't think enough people are complaining.  I called twice today and used their live chat to get a resolution and VZ has no work around.  Ports 465 and 587 do not work.  None of the two solutions VZ offered worked.  And all of their representatives had a smug attitude like yeah, you can use the other port settings, oh it doesn't work?  Call you email provider or call Microsoft. This is close to getting Comcast or RCN as my ISP.  Totally frustrated!

{please keep your posts courteous}

Re: SMTP port
lasagna
Community Leader
Community Leader

Folks, as one poster here already said, this is a good thing that Verizon is doing.   The reality is that the number one source of all SPAM on the internet is malware-bots generating tons of spam messages on people's infected PC's and sending the information out on port 25 using spoofed headers.   This simple change shuts many, many, of those down cold.  Admittedly, some will know enough to try other ports, but most script kiddies aren't that smart.

With respect to communicating the change ... I received not one, but two (at each of my addresses I have on file with Verizon) alerting me to the port 25 change. 

So rather than whine and moan ... why not look for a way to be a good network player in helping to reduce the volume of spam on the network.  There are a variety of ways if you actually understand how things work ...

For the person running their own mail server -- get a business account with a static IP.   You need this anyhow because most reputation based spam scoring engines will pitch all of your messages if you originate from a dynamic IP.   Verizon will open port 25 inbound/outbound for business accounts with a static IP.  Better still, if you're a small business, Verizon will host your mail for you AND let you use your own domain.   I've done this for several clients.

For regular users -- use Verizon's outbound mail server on port 587 to send your mail  You can configure you mail client to use whatever sender address / reply-to you want and you can configure your mail client to continue to pickup your mail via POP/IMAP from whatever server you currently use.    The only real change here is on the outbound mail server sttings you need to tell it to login to your Verizon pop email server first (which is what enables the mail to go outbound from your client on port 587).

Someone suggested using a mail relay which worked on an alternate port -- many ISP's and mail services do indeed offer such a capability  nowadays.   Yeah ... those $3.95 / month hosting services might not, but then I wouldn't use them for mail for a number of other reasons which I'd be glad to discuss but aren't worth the space here.

Someone said Gmail ... actually go a step further ... check out Google Apps.  Free for personal domains and non-profits.   They use SSL secured mail sending and pickup which means no port 25.   You can use your own domain name  and you get the one of the best anti-spam filters on the planet for incoming mail.

For those of you running a conspracy theory game ... really?  If you need to hide your tracks for outbound messages, you're probably one of the spammers they're looking to shut down in the first place.  I think running your mail thru a verizon server is the least of your concerns.   But hey ... that's me.   

Feel free to whine if you want,  but as someone who sees the volume of mail which enters my corporate network on a daily basis (and it numbers in the millions of messages a month) and who sees 95% of it pitched by our gateways as spam, anything which can shutdown the malware bots is a good thing particularly when there are so many alternatives available for legitimate traffic to continue to get thru.