How to check for SMTP blocking on your server

Some internet service providers block their customers from accessing port 25 on server located on the internet. Port 25 i used by SMTP, and SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, and is the protocol used to send email to any outgoing mail server. ISP's who block port 25 do it to get customers to use their outgoing mail server instead. 

Some ISP's do this to ensure that spam email is not sent across their network. ISP's also do this to log the email sent across their network, and if identified as a source for SPAM can be subject to being booted off the network. 

If you're able to receive email, but unable to send email then you may be with an ISP who has implemented this policy. To diagnose whether this is the case, please follow the below steps. 

  1. Open the Command Line window in Windows by click on the 'Start' button. 
  2. In the 'Run' window type in 'Cmd' and then left-click the OK button. 
  3. The command line windows will now be displayed, type 'telnet', followed by the IP address of your server, or domain name of your website, followed by a space and the number '25', and then press ENTER. 
  4. After you press ENTER the telnet program will begin to connect to the server on port 25. If you're able to connect you'll receive output. If the program name output mentions the name "Exim" then you have successfully connected your mail server on port 25, which means that your ISP is NOT blocking you. 
  5. If the output says that the connection could not be established then the connection has failed. There could also be another network issue in some cases.
  6.  Try the above steps again, but this time use port '26' to try and establish  a connection by replacing the port number with 26. If this error occurs again the mail server may not be configured to receive mail, or the mail server is not running properly, or a network issue is occurring that is causing your computer to fail in connecting to the server. 

The next step is to initiate contact with WebGo Support, goto https://synapse.webgo.com.au, and open a support ticket. Once you've opened a ticket let the WebGo support staff know which ports you were able to connect to, and which ones you weren't able to connect to. 

If you were able to connect to port 26, but not port 25 then our staff may tell you to simply reconfigure your email program to use port 26 instead. 

How to reconfigure Outlook Express to use Port 26.

If you're using Microsoft Outlook Express then you can use the following instruction to reconfigure your program to use port 26 instead.

First, click on the tools menu at the top of the program, and select 'Accounts;.

Ensure that the 'Mail' tab is selected at the top of the window which displays next. Then select the mail account which is using the Web Go server. If you are using more than one account you will need to update each account to use port 26. After you select an account click on the 'Properties' button on the right-hand side of the Internet Accounts window. 

The account properties window will display in the General setting tab. Click on the Advanced tab at the top of the window. 

In the Advanced tab you'll see the Outgoing mail (SMTP) is set to 25. Change this to 26, then press the OK button at the bottom of the window.

Test sending email once again, and if it doesn't work remove any email messages in the your outbox and then test again. If you still experience problems contact WebGo support. 

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