I am currently out of the country (in the Philippines) and am heavily reliant on my email passed through the Verizon server via my FIOS account in the US. My incoming email works fine, but my outgoing email delivery is "currently blocked," according to the error message. It doesn't seem to be a problem with my firewall or other security. Nothing is amiss with my email program (Thunderbird). Nor is it a problem with the SMTP settings. The error message indicates that the problem is the Verizon server (outgoing.verizon.net) and that I should contact my "network administrator" - presumably Verizon. It seems to be impossible to contact Verizon - especially from afar. The question is whether Verizon is somehow deliberately or inadvertently blocking my outgoing email. Has anyone else experienced this problem (nightmare)? Any clues or suggestions (other than Hari Kari)?
Not you specifically ... but the network address range. Verizon does block various network ranges associated with some portions of the world from attempting to send outbound mail via their servers -- typically because those networks tend to be large sources of spam and bogus messages -- particularly if they happen to be a current source attempted spam. You will have to admit that it is extremely odd for someone using a server for a U.S. based ISP serving residential customers to be somewhere other than in the U.S. at least using a direct SMTP mail relay.
While you'd have to talk to Verizon support folks directly about the block and if they will remove it, that will take time.
What I advise people to do when traveling in scenarios like that is to simply use Verizon's web mail interface to send/receive messages. Not a perfect solution, but allows getting the message out when traveling in a problematic area of the world.
Better still, if you are a frequent traveler, don't use Verizon's email as your primary provider but instead use something like Gmail which uses not only a web interface but also for POP/IMAP services leverages a secured channel for sending your credentials (your email password is being passed in the clear presently while you are traveling over potentially suspect networks thereby placing at risk the ability for others to potential see and access your email). Gmail accounts can be setup to retrieve your Verizon mail automatically for you.
Unfortunately SMTP and POP and IMAP protocols were created a long time ago in an era when spammers and such were not a worry. The world has changed, but these insecure protocols remain and thus will you will continue to see countermeasures such as you are encountering to reduce the exposure of networks.
To: Lasagne
Thanks. Based on your very welcome advice, I have tried using another email server (attglobal) where I have my email service. I had used this outgoing server address (and account information) in the past before signing up with Verizon's FIOS service at my US address. This option also did not work. In fact the error message on the blockage was the same as with the Verizon server setting. This suggests that the problem may not be with Verizon having blocked my outgoing email service (along with many others in the Philippines). I incidently have used the Verizon outgoing email server in many (and some strange) places all over the world without this difficulty. I am still searching for a solution or some suggestions as to how to proceed. I do have a secondary, backup, email system (with yahoo), so not all is totally lost.
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