Emails blocked. IP address listed by Spamhaus

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kiwiharry

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#173612 29-May-2015 12:25

Hi.

I have posted this on the Vodafone Community, but not too sure if my issue is with them?

Last week, I received message undeliverable notices for emails I sent to an organisation. The bounce back message gave me a reference and a link for troubleshooting. This led me to Spamhaus.org that listed my IP as being in their PBL. Further reading indicated that being listed in the PBL wont stop emails, but it is because there is a problem with my SMTP authentication. The site says the fix is to turn on Authentication. It also says that if Authentication is on, then check that it is working correctly by contacting the ISP.

My ISP is Vodafone and have my own domain name and email service hosted by 1st Domains. I'm running Outlook 2013. I checked my settings in Outlook and I have Outgoing Server requires Authentication selected and the outgoing SMTP port is 587.

I asked 1st Domains, but they said the IP address is Vodafone's so referred me to Vodafone. I then emailed Vodafone. 2 days after I sent the email, I successfully sent an email to the organisation in question. Vodafone Tech Support called me a couple of days later, and they said if it happens again to switch off modem for a minute and restart. It'll aquire a new IP and should be good. I sent emails to the same organisation yesterday, but they all bounced. Rebooted modem and email bounced again. Rebooted modem again and message still bounce. I can confirm that after each modem reset the IP address had changed. All the IP addresses were listed in the Spamhaus PBL.

I have not had any issues sending emails to anybody else. Just gets rejected from the 1 organisation.

I'm unsure what my next step is, so seeking some assistance. Who should I check with to confirm if my SMTP Authentication is working correctly? Is it 1st Domains or Vodafone.

Thanks.

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#1314097 29-May-2015 13:18

Sounds like it's Vodafone's problem, their Mailserver sounds like it's listed in Spamhaus.

Just to clarify: You're not running your own mailserver at all, are you? When you send mail it's sending it via the Vodafone SMTP server?

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timmmay

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#1314119 29-May-2015 13:46

So the spamhaus black hole is looking at both the email server IP (which is fine) but also the originating client IP, and your Vodafone dynamic IP is in their blacklist. Interesting. Unsure why authentication would help with that at all.

You need to prevent your IP being in the email headers. One solution is to use webmail, which would avoid your IP being on the email (probably). Another might be to use a VPN, but that IP could be in the list too.

kiwiharry

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#1314152 29-May-2015 14:37

muppet: Sounds like it's Vodafone's problem, their Mailserver sounds like it's listed in Spamhaus.

Just to clarify: You're not running your own mailserver at all, are you? When you send mail it's sending it via the Vodafone SMTP server?

I am using SMTP details from 1st Domains who host my domain and email. I'm using mail.1stdomains.co.nz

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timmmay

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#1314154 29-May-2015 14:41

Muppet was barking up the wrong track... it's what I said.

kiwiharry

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#1314177 29-May-2015 15:18

timmmay: Muppet was barking up the wrong track... it's what I said.

So you recommending I use Vodafone webmail or 1st Domains webmail facility that is associated with my domain/mail service?

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rusticdog

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#1314183 29-May-2015 15:21

Sounds like the organization using PBL is deep parsing and not just checking the connecting IP, as that would go back to 1st Domains. If you're deep parsing you should only ever use sbl-xbl.spamhaus.org not Zen

Caution: Because ZEN includes the XBL and PBL lists, do not use ZEN on smarthosts or SMTP AUTH outbound servers for your own customers (or you risk blocking your own customers). Do not use ZEN in filters that do any ‘deep parsing’ of Received headers, or for anything other than checking IP addresses that hand off to your mailservers.

So I'd be hitting up the company that's doing the filtering.

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timmmay

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#1314184 29-May-2015 15:22

kiwiharry: So you recommending I use Vodafone webmail or 1st Domains webmail facility that is associated with my domain/mail service?

Yes, wherever your webmail is hosted, presume 1st domains. Getting a real specialist email host might be beneficial too, though I doubt it will help with this particular problem.

timmmay

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#1314187 29-May-2015 15:28

rusticdog: Sounds like the organization using PBL is deep parsing and not just checking the connecting IP, as that would go back to 1st Domains. If you're deep parsing you should only ever use sbl-xbl.spamhaus.org not Zen

Caution: Because ZEN includes the XBL and PBL lists, do not use ZEN on smarthosts or SMTP AUTH outbound servers for your own customers (or you risk blocking your own customers). Do not use ZEN in filters that do any ‘deep parsing’ of Received headers, or for anything other than checking IP addresses that hand off to your mailservers.

So I'd be hitting up the company that's doing the filtering.

You may be right, but I'm not sure any company is going to make changes to their email system for one person who emails them.

kiwiharry

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#1314201 29-May-2015 15:43

On my way to Christchurch at the moment so resent the email from my pc using the Koru WiFi. The message was delivered.

One of my travelling work colleagues has also mentioned that she too had bounce back messages for emails sent to the same organisation. This also started last week. She too is with Vodafone. I haven't asked her for the bounce back message details as it's the first time we've ever met and travelled together.

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rusticdog

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#1314205 29-May-2015 15:52

timmmay: You may be right, but I'm not sure any company is going to make changes to their email system for one person who emails them.

There's millions of IPs that they'll be blocking incorrectly if it's what they've done. I think they'd want to correct that.

timmmay

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#1314238 29-May-2015 16:31

rusticdog:
timmmay: You may be right, but I'm not sure any company is going to make changes to their email system for one person who emails them.

There's millions of IPs that they'll be blocking incorrectly if it's what they've done. I think they'd want to correct that.

Hopefully - but my experience suggests many companies don't care. I hope you're right :)

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kiwiharry

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#1314270 29-May-2015 18:13

I'll call my contacts at that organisation and see if their IT department can check their end. The company is a NZME company.

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muppet

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#1315509 1-Jun-2015 13:45

@timmmay: Are you sure RBLs use the clients IP and not just the mail servers?

I've setup a few servers before and I've not seen a config where the headers are parsed for the sending clients IP, only ever seen the mail server trying to send the message being checked/blocked.

Audiophiles are such twits! They buy such pointless stuff: Gold plated cables, $2000 power cords. Idiots.

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timmmay

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#1315547 1-Jun-2015 15:37

muppet: @timmmay: Are you sure RBLs use the clients IP and not just the mail servers?

I've setup a few servers before and I've not seen a config where the headers are parsed for the sending clients IP, only ever seen the mail server trying to send the message being checked/blocked.

Nope, I'm just working from the information presented. I thought it was the sending email server, but it's not out of the realm of reasonable or possible that it looks at all the headers.

cyberhub

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#1315707 1-Jun-2015 19:31

Ok, it seems like from this discussion that you don't know whether the issue is your home or work IP that has been blocked or Vodafones smtp.
Easy to check, first in that bounce back email you would of had an IP address that is blocked. Go to whatismyip and check what your IP address is when you are at home or at work to find out what your IP is.

Then check that against the IP address that is blocked in the bounce back email. The A record for smtp.vodafone.co.nz is 203.109.135.50

That way you can figure out whose IP is blocked and go from there. My gut feeling is that Vodafone would have systems in place to check if their IP goes onto a spam list and fix it very quickly as that would affect tens of thousand of people.

Another way to avoid all this is to move your emails to business quality email such as Office 365, the email plans start at $6.10 per email per month. All your contact, calendar and emails sync between all your devices and very rarely has any issues.

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