Telecom retiring SMTP server end of September 2014

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Telecom retiring SMTP server end of September 2014

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Networkn
32871 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 15468

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1090664 17-Jul-2014 13:30

telecom.co.nz/smtp doesn't work under chrome, works with IE.

old3eyes

9158 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1364

Subscriber

#1091178 18-Jul-2014 08:30

A freind of mine got this email from Telecom
, Guess I'll have to go see them and redirect the SMTP to Orcon's as we did at home here when we joined Telecom and retained our Orcon email addresses..

" Hello. You may or may not know that when you send email from username@orcon.net.nz it gets directed through a Telecom server.

On 30 September, we’re making some changes that will help make your email more secure and reduce spam. It’s all part of giving you the best possible service, but first you’ll need to make some decisions about your email and update your system. Here are your options: Your easiest option is send email directly through orcon.net.nz. You’ll need their ‘outgoing mail’ settings for POP email to make the necessary update. Here’s a link to their page where you’ll find more information.

Regards,

Old3eyes

MurrayM

2502 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 742

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1091270 18-Jul-2014 11:18

I've got some clients that use Xtra and they have their own domain names. The domain names aren't registered through Telecom, nor are they hosted on Telecom.

In the past I've set up the incoming email to forward to the client's @xtra.co.nz email address, and for sending I've told the client to set their From address to use their domain name (i.e. info@whatever.co.nz) and to send through smtp.xtra.co.nz

In order to get this to work I think we might have had to log into the Xtra / Yahoo webmail and set up the senders email address (i.e. info@whatever.co.nz) as a valid sender before we could send through smtp.xtra.co.nz

Will this setup still work with the changes that Xtra have bought in? Will people still be able to send email that uses their own domain names through send.xtra.co.nz?

l43a2

1784 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 591

ID Verified

Trusted

#1091272 18-Jul-2014 11:23

MurrayM: I've got some clients that use Xtra and they have their own domain names. The domain names aren't registered through Telecom, nor are they hosted on Telecom.

In the past I've set up the incoming email to forward to the client's @xtra.co.nz email address, and for sending I've told the client to set their From address to use their domain name (i.e. info@whatever.co.nz) and to send through smtp.xtra.co.nz

In order to get this to work I think we might have had to log into the Xtra / Yahoo webmail and set up the senders email address (i.e. info@whatever.co.nz) as a valid sender before we could send through smtp.xtra.co.nz

Will this setup still work with the changes that Xtra have bought in? Will people still be able to send email that uses their own domain names through send.xtra.co.nz?

is this what you are looking for ? Setting up 3rd party email address Xtra Mail

Dynamic

4016 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1853

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1091334 18-Jul-2014 12:01

MurrayM: I've got some clients that use Xtra and they have their own domain names.

Have you considered talking to them about business-grade mailboxes? POP email for business users is far from ideal, backing up the email is a PITA, and there are so many features from the likes of a Hosted Microsoft Exchange account that can make their lives easier.

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

MurrayM

2502 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 742

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1092002 19-Jul-2014 14:07

l43a2:
MurrayM: I've got some clients that use Xtra and they have their own domain names. The domain names aren't registered through Telecom, nor are they hosted on Telecom.

In the past I've set up the incoming email to forward to the client's @xtra.co.nz email address, and for sending I've told the client to set their From address to use their domain name (i.e. info@whatever.co.nz) and to send through smtp.xtra.co.nz

In order to get this to work I think we might have had to log into the Xtra / Yahoo webmail and set up the senders email address (i.e. info@whatever.co.nz) as a valid sender before we could send through smtp.xtra.co.nz

Will this setup still work with the changes that Xtra have bought in? Will people still be able to send email that uses their own domain names through send.xtra.co.nz?

is this what you are looking for ? Setting up 3rd party email address Xtra Mail

Yeah, that's what we used to have to do in order to be able to send using a non-extra email address.

The email that Xtra sent out said that if you're using your own domain name then you should use your email providers SMTP server, which made me wonder if they'd closed things so you couldn't send via send.xtra.co.nz with your own domain name.

I guess I'll just give it a try and see if it still works.

New World

Shop on-line at New World now for your groceries (affiliate link).

MurrayM

2502 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 742

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1092003 19-Jul-2014 14:09

Dynamic:
MurrayM: I've got some clients that use Xtra and they have their own domain names.

Have you considered talking to them about business-grade mailboxes? POP email for business users is far from ideal, backing up the email is a PITA, and there are so many features from the likes of a Hosted Microsoft Exchange account that can make their lives easier.

The few clients that I've got that do this are either small one-man businesses, or friends and family that wanted a really simple way to have their own domain name for their emails. They don't want to spend any money at all on email. If Xtra become a problem I'll just recommend they get a Gmail account and we'll redirect their email there and they can use Gmail for sending as well.

nickbrooker

56 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 10

#1092098 19-Jul-2014 18:10

MurrayM:
Dynamic:
MurrayM: I've got some clients that use Xtra and they have their own domain names.

Have you considered talking to them about business-grade mailboxes? POP email for business users is far from ideal, backing up the email is a PITA, and there are so many features from the likes of a Hosted Microsoft Exchange account that can make their lives easier.

The few clients that I've got that do this are either small one-man businesses, or friends and family that wanted a really simple way to have their own domain name for their emails. They don't want to spend any money at all on email. If Xtra become a problem I'll just recommend they get a Gmail account and we'll redirect their email there and they can use Gmail for sending as well.

Kind of a solution: If you stick with your old non-telecom email address and send via Google's servers after authenticating with your Google account it says from your old address but the sender is your Google address.

Headers show..

Sender: Nick <me@gmail.com> 
Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 18:05:01 +1200 
From: Nick  <me@nottelecom> 
To: nick <email@someaddress.com>

If you reply it goes to the From address rather than sender so only the nosey will see your gmail address.

Nick

cisconz

cisconz
1348 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 179

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1095294 24-Jul-2014 22:59

nickbrooker: If you reply it goes to the From address rather than sender so only the nosey will see your gmail address.

Nick

In outlook it will show as "joebloggs@gmail.com on behalf of joebloggs@mydomain.com"

Hmmmm

MurrayM

2502 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 742

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1095408 25-Jul-2014 09:32

I had one client bring in his iPad and Macbook for me to change the settings on and I can confirm that he can still send emails through send.xtra.co.nz with the From address being his own domain name. The way the initial email from Telecom was worded made it seem as if this wouldn't work, as they said if you have your own domain name then you should also have a third-party email service and should be sending through that and not Xtra. Of course you still need to login into the Xtra/Yahoo webmail and set it up to recognise your domain name, otherwise it'll block your outgoing messages.

qraider

374 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 10

#1095476 25-Jul-2014 10:47

They could try Google Apps ... I've got my domain mailboxes hosted there ... free.

Using send.xtra.co.nz has restrictions, unable to use admin@yourdomain.co.nz, "sales" is also out I believe.
Plus there are restrictions on attachment size & mail volume.

Current Phone:
- Android: Samsung SM-G900F Galaxy S5 (XT)
- Win Phone 8: Samsung ATIV S (XT)

Current Tablet:

- Acer Iconia 7" Android Tablet

Twitter: qraider

Apple TV

Stream your favourite shows now on Apple TV (affiliate link).

BlakJak

1330 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 735

Trusted

#1095501 25-Jul-2014 11:22

Talkiet: Sorry guys, while you can set up all the correct settings to run your own SMTP servers, the fact that they are sitting in an ISP BB customer pool is going to mean you're never going to get a solid, reliable score with respect to never being marked as spam.

Your best bet is a paid smarthost option.

Cheers -N

I just want to draw attention to this again.
My very quick review of this situation shows that people who run an SMTP server of any sort, and are using an Xtra connection, are effectively hosed here.

If you use an SMTP client - the likes of Outlook, Thunderbird etc, clearly you need to register the address you'll be using and you'll be fine (once you've made the requisite changes).

If you use an SMTP server you used to have historically had two options:

1) Use DNS and direct-to-MX delivery.

Required outbound Port 25 access
Introduced potentially problematic delivery due to the issue flagged above around IP address reputation - coming from a broadband customer pool is going to see people judge you as such (general rule is that residential-grade IP addresses shouldn't be doing SMTP - and sorry if you run a business on ADSL, but that's what it is...

2) Use an SMTP Smarthost.

i.e. smtp.xtra.co.nz who would trust you by IP address only and then relay on your behalf, allowing you to leverage their reputation. Pretty much the standard way of operating for the last 10-15 years if you wanted reliable email delivery (subject to the reliability of your service provider, of course).
Clearly Xtra don't want to continue offering this, which was a big chunk of their email picture that wasn't immediately in the outsource-to-Yahoo arrangement but clearly is changing...

So with neither of these being viable in many scenarios, you have two further options:

1) Find a paid SMTP service that uses something straightforward (like plain old trusted-static-IP (requiring you to have a static IP) or a basic SMTP-auth service), or
2) Upgrade to one of their 'business products' to get access to additional features not available to 'residential grade' connectivity product, or
2) Choose an ISP that care to continue offering the service you need.

I'm pretty cynical about Xtra these days, they have demonstrated no great desire to maintain local email capability, nor given this most recent case, the desire to be flexible for what is a not-uncommon-at-all email delivery arrangement. Raging on Geekzone (or NZNOG) isn't likely to change their minds... if you're affected and still don't believe what you're reading here, your only choice is to talk to Xtra directly and determine whether there's a scaleable way forward with them that meets your needs, and if not, find a different way.

Cheers
BJ.
PS: All personal opinion etc etc.

No signature to see here, move along...

Dynamic

4016 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1853

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1095557 25-Jul-2014 12:41

BlakJak: 1) Use DNS and direct-to-MX delivery.

Required outbound Port 25 access
Introduced potentially problematic delivery due to the issue flagged above around IP address reputation - coming from a broadband customer pool is going to see people judge you as such (general rule is that residential-grade IP addresses shouldn't be doing SMTP - and sorry if you run a business on ADSL, but that's what it is...

We have had good results with DNS and direct to MX delivery (providing PTR records are set up) . Occasionally we have had an ISP-assigned Static IP addresses that are in a range configured as dynamic/dialup and have had to be on at the ISP multiple times for this to be sorted.

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

Peppery

919 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 188

Trusted

#1095596 25-Jul-2014 13:28

We've had a static IP w/PTR and have been receiving emails in from our address fine for years. Switched off the smart host, emailing seems a little less reliable, with some emails just disappearing.

We're switching from Telecom ADSL to Orcon UFB hopefully soon, so when that's back up we'll relay through their SMTP server.

Had a client the other day trying to set up @ihug email on a Telecom connection. Vodafone SMTP servers, despite their website, don't appear to be listening on port 995, only port 25, which Telecom blocks. Wasn't too sure what to do with that one.

Paul1977

5171 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2192

#1095629 25-Jul-2014 14:04

qraider: They could try Google Apps ... I've got my domain mailboxes hosted there ... free.

Using send.xtra.co.nz has restrictions, unable to use admin@yourdomain.co.nz, "sales" is also out I believe.
Plus there are restrictions on attachment size & mail volume.

How do you have this free?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4