[RndTbl] Shaw blocking port 25 on business line

[Gerald Brandt]

On 2020-02-04 9:51 p.m., Adam Thompson wrote:
>
> On 2020-02-04 21:04, Gerald Brandt wrote:
>
>> Of course I've tried to get new IPs. I've had nothing but resistance. 
>> I've made another attempt today, so now I wait for a response.
>
>
> Unfortunately, Hartmut is right in this regard.  Trying will not solve 
> your problem, only succeeding will.  Until you succeed at that, I 
> strongly recommend you route all outbound mail through a proxy or 
> relay server, because otherwise you will be wasting your time.
>
Which I am doing, over port 26 to my SMTP server in Montreal.

> The only option I know of is to reach Shaw's retention team; just like 
> cell carriers, the retention team is the only group actually empowered 
> to fix things for you.  In this case, I suggest you /*ahem*/ relent if 
> they send a business tech out to your site, who demonstrates before 
> leaving that you have a static IP, DHCP is disabled, *reverse DNS is 
> set (correctly)*, and you can once again send email.
>
I have no problem having a tech in here. When they lost my multihome 
config, I had a tech on-site for 4.5 hours before it was resolved. 
Reverse DNS is correct, DHCP is disabled... Shaw sees me pulling my 
"static" IPs.
>
> MTS also has business service, and if sending email is your main use 
> case, their business DSL service is probably good enough.  So you call 
> Shaw, tell them you're switching to MTS because Shaw has consistently 
> failed to address your problem. And if they say "OK, have fun with 
> MTS", switch.  You literally can't get any worse off than you are 
> right now.
>
> And if you have the same problem with MTS (which you almost can't 
> because YOU aren't in control of your IP address, they are, ergo you 
> can't really get it wrong) then... um... there's only one common 
> element remaining...
>
> SMTP email pretty much requires a specialist nowadays.  If you haven't 
> devoted, eh, let's say 10yrs (cumulatively, assuming standard working 
> hours) of your life to managing and running public SMTP servers, I'd 
> estimate >50% odds that the problem somehow, somewhere, lies on your 
> end.  Maybe the proximate problem is Shaw, but I've never had problems 
> like you're describing with getting their business service to do the 
> right thing.
>
I've been running public facing SMTP servers for 15 years, at least, 
using sendmail and now postfix. I'm no expert, but I'm not a newbie. The 
only change on my end was moving from VOI to Shaw. The fact that I can't 
telnet to any outside SMTP server removes any mistakes I may have made 
on my end anyway, since it doesn't involve the SMTP server.


> If you continue to have problems, there's a small chance I might be 
> able get your complaint routed to someone capable within Shaw; email 
> me directly if you want to try that before threatening to leave them.
>
Thank you for the offer! I may have to take you up on that.
>
> Also, maybe tell us what the router is, and what the SMTP server is - 
> I don't think we know those details yet.  Although ESR is a walking 
> dumpster fire, this article of his remains relevant (albeit tone-deaf) 
> today: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
I'm running postfix as the SMTP... it's part of my Univention Active 
Directory Server. This email server has been running for two years, with 
no changes. I run OPNSense as my firewall/router.
>
> -Adam
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Roundtable mailing list
> Roundtable at muug.ca
> https://muug.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://muug.ca/pipermail/roundtable/attachments/20200205/5094b9a5/attachment.htm>