Xtra Port 25 Filtering (SMTP)

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Topes

18 posts

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#9986 28-Oct-2006 18:46

What does this mean to you?

If you have your own domain and are using your own SMTP server to send mail then it will be blocked as I have found out in the past week.

No matter there is a resolution (well a couple or three).

You can for $5.00 a month, Dial up or $20.00 a month Broadband purchase a Static IP address or option 3 use another provider who doesn't filter (or charge for IP addresses).

A couple of questions come to mind here, why is a static IP address difference prices when regardless of the service you use it's just an IP address and secondly why are we being charged for IP addresses in the first place when they are actually distributed free of charge worldwide?

Funnily enough this doesn't occur on my mobile broadband card.

Other implication I've just thought of is that any businesses using the new and improved xtra services will also be hit with this problem.

PORT 25 FILTERING - New Xtra anti-spam measure

In the course of an average week, Xtra's anti-spam filter detects, marks up or removes over 40 million bits of spam email.

That's a very good start but, as you probably know, some spam still gets through.

To help tackle this problem, we're planning to filter email traffic on the email Port 25.

Put simply, Port 25 is the dedicated Internet port that is used for sending email. Unfortunately, it's also used by spammers to send unwanted email and new viruses and worms will often spread across the Internet using this port. That's why we want to filter it.

In nearly all cases, making this change will not affect any of the Xtra services you use because we won't be filtering out email that's sent using our dedicated email servers. The same is true of web based email programs like XtraMail.

If you have an questions about port 25 filtering please email port25@xtra.co.nz.

Filtering Port 25 will start on 26 April 2006 and will be phased in over several months for all of our customers.

freitasm

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#50091 28-Oct-2006 18:55

Are you running your SMTP server on a Xtra account and trying to reach it from an external network? In this case I've seen tests showing it works.

What seems to be blocked is a Xtra account accessing a smtp server on another network. This is to prevent for example a worm or trojan horse using your PC to send unsolicited e-mails using smtp servers from another side of the world.

g7viz

48 posts

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#50109 28-Oct-2006 21:46

I and on xtra and use a mail server in Europe. I use port 587 for out going mail and it works without a problem.

geekiegeek

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#50113 28-Oct-2006 22:17

If you are having any issues just call Xtra and ask to opt out of port 25 filtering.

cokemaster

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#50114 28-Oct-2006 22:40

If you read their page on port 25 filtering (hint: look at the bottom of the page)... you can also opt out online.

This is in addition to what geekiegeek said.

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Topes

18 posts

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#50147 29-Oct-2006 11:59

Thank you team. Case of RT (entire) FM.

Done, the opt out option is quick and effective.

Cheers
Topes

richms

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#50259 30-Oct-2006 12:19

You really should get your mail server accepting connections on 587 for end users to use, its just the smart thing to do as more and more places you may want to send emails from will have 25 blocked, like public wifi etc, and using the ISPs smtp isnt really viable because of reverse dns etc of the sending MTA not matching the email addresses in header so getting a higher spam filter score.

At least xtra tell you they do it and give an opt out, xnet dont do either, which cost them us here as a customer because its hard to test the availability of your smtp server when you cant get to the damn thing!

Richard rich.ms

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#50268 30-Oct-2006 14:02

Topes:

why are we being charged for IP addresses in the first place when they are actually distributed free of charge worldwide?

No, there are administration and other costs from APNIC or whomever the regional authority is. Also if a /30 of address space or greater was free of charge then IP addressing would be wasted on a massive scale and/or ISP's time would be taken up by frivolous requests for addressing space which they have to qualify.

Topes:
PORT 25 FILTERING - New Xtra anti-spam measure
In the course of an average week, Xtra's anti-spam filter detects, marks up or removes over 40 million bits of spam email.
That's a very good start but, as you probably know, some spam still gets through.
To help tackle this problem, we're planning to filter email traffic on the email Port 25.

Put simply, Port 25 is the dedicated Internet port that is used for sending email. Unfortunately, it's also used by spammers to send unwanted email and new viruses and worms will often spread across the Internet using this port. That's why we want to filter it.

In nearly all cases, making this change will not affect any of the Xtra services you use because we won't be filtering out email that's sent using our dedicated email servers. The same is true of web based email programs like XtraMail.
If you have an questions about port 25 filtering please email port25@xtra.co.nz.
Filtering Port 25 will start on 26 April 2006 and will be phased in over several months for all of our customers.

Welcome to the topic of discussion 9 months ago??? I'm unsure what new, updated or otherwise relevent information or discussion is being provided here.