Mail Server Problems
From ARG Guide/Trail Wiki
A lot of people seem to be having problems sending and/or receiving email from their @ideltech accounts. The following is a refinement of [a post at Unfiction (http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=38870&highlight=#38870)] describing possible problems and diagnosis.
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Description of the Problem
I suspect the majority of problems will boil down to one (or both) of two things: port blocking and open relays.
Most ISPs are not open relays. Basically, this means that any mail you send through your ISP's mail server must have their domain name in the "to" or "from" address. This is to prevent spammers from bouncing third party messages through their servers. The in-game effect with this is that you probably will not be able to use your ISP's mail server for outbound mail from @ideltech.com unless they have some other kind of authentication scheme (IP-based or authentication-based).
Some ISPs--notably the bigger, national ones--block outbound connections on port 25 (the port that your mail client uses for sending email) to anything other than the ISP's mail server. This is partly to stop spammers from contacting open relays elsewhere on the internet and partly to stop viruses that propagate through forged mail. The in-game effect here is that you will not be able to sent using Ideltech's mail server and must use your ISP's server (which is likely configured to not be an open relay--see above).
So, really, some people may not be able to send @ideltech.com email without some kind of web interface (Squirrel mail, etc).
Authentication Details
It appears that Ideltech's outgoing mail server (the SMTP server mail.ideltech.com) is configured in a way that blocks sending outgoing mail except in two circumstances:
- You first retrieve your mail (using their POP server) within 30 minutes of sending
- You provide authentication details
Since I do not have an account with Ideltech, I cannot provide exact details, but describe how this generally works. The first bullet point--check your mail before sending it. Many email clients will attempt to send queued mail first, THEN check for new mail. If you have a configuration option to set this order, you should set it. If not, you may have to synchronize mail first (and expect an error during the first send), then synchronize AGAIN because the first mail check validated you to the server. The second time you should not get the error. Alternately, you could try the second bullet point--provide authentication details. Many email clients have an option for "Authenticated SMTP" rather than just plain old SMTP. It will use your username and password to send mail, thereby proving you are who you say you are (and not just a spammer). Look for an option for "Authenticated SMTP" that you can set to "Password" or "MD5 Challenge/Response."
Technical Diagnosis
This section may not be for everyone, but offers a way to check if you have the above problems. The steps here involve opening a command line window and typing a few commands.
This first section is to see if your port is blocked. Open a command line window. Under Windows, I believe you can do this by selecting "Run" from the start menu and typing "cmd." In this window, type "telnet mail.ideltech.com 25" to try to establish a connection to the mail server. If this command does not respond after a long time (it should be fairly instant, but I'd give it about 30 seconds to be sure) or if you get some message like "connection refused," then your ISP is blocking the port and requires you to use their mail servers. If you get several lines of messages, starting with "220-" and mentioning ESMTP and version numbers and things, you have an open connection.
This second section is to check if your ISP's mail server allows you to relay mail. This is much more involved process and won't be described here.
Solutions
If your ISP is blocking the port, you can use a webmail service. On this purpose, Ideltech has set three different servers in its web page: http://www.ideltech.com/mail Just select one of them and configure your mail identity and password. It works!!