Hi all
I currently (I use the word 'currently' with tongue firmly in cheek) use AOL Broadband Platinum as my ISP but I use a third-party domain for email. Of late I have found it impossible to send email from Outlook 2003 or Express.
A couple of days ago I went to AOL's online support and was told that the problem lay either with the third-party email server or with my installation of Outlook. However after some further research I have discovered that
AOL is now permanently blocking all third-party email sent via the default port 25 as a measure against mass spam mailings by zombied or infected computers.
AOL advises sending email either via their SMTP server (which uses port 587) but this prohibits 'alias' email addresses - so my mails would appear to the recipient to have originated in the AOL domain. If I had wanted this to happen, i would of course have stuck with my aol.com address and not paid the extra for a personalised domain!
Alternatively, AOL advises connecting to the third-party server on a different port. I have managed to contact my email provider this evening (following 45 minutes on a queueing system yesterday at national rate with no answer), only to be told that this is not possible.
I am now, as they say, in a cleft stick: ISP and email provider are blaming each other and both are refusing to budge.
My research suggests that users in the US have had to cope with port 25 blocking (by various ISPs, not just AOL) for rather longer than us Brits - so any tips? I have seen some weird and wonderful port settings specified on various websites, but so far none has worked. I don't really want to be forced to change ISP at the moment as I would more than likely get locked in to either a minimum term or a monthly download limit (neither of which I suffer from with AOL) at a time when the market is opening up and competition is widening choice month by month - but on the other hand I do want to be able to send emails from my personal domain via Outlook (not least so that they sync with my PDA!).
Anyone got any suggestions?
Cheers
Gadget 