Afrihost & Axxess SMTP issues?

[TechnoChicken]

Morning Folks.

Is anybody having SMTP mail sending issues using Afrihost or Axxess?

I've been having an issue with some of my clients since Afrihost posted the "slow network speeds in Gauteng North, east....etc on their Homepage.

All of a sudden I have 5 clients total (3 on Afrihost and 2 on Axxess) that are getting NDR's when sending mail. Note that they are also on different mail servers, with different hosting companies.

Examples below.

The following recipient(s) cannot be reached:

550 This message scored 6.7 spam points.

OR

smtp.mtnbusiness.co.za #550 This message scored 6.5 spam points

OR

The following organization rejected your message: smtp.mtnbusiness.co.za.

I've tried using smtp.internet.co.za, smtp.afrihost.co.za, smtp.axxess.co.za and smtp.mtnbusiness.co.za. I've also noticed that if you ping all of the above they resolve to mtnbusiness.co.za.

Right.

As I run my own pop3 server with a couple of domains on it, I have run into similar issues in the past. I tested by having my clients "trim" their mail by removing signatures with hyperlinks and pictures and also using simple short text words in the subject line.

This seems to have resolved the issue.

But I cannot see how they are suddenly so overly restrictive on the servers as I have even sent out mails with the subject line "quote" and a 10kb excel file called quote and it bounced with the same NDR. This is a bit excessive.

I also have clients using medical systems like Mededi using the above mentioned servers which are also getting NDR's when sending out patient statements from the software.

Next up I set them up to relay through my pop3 server with authentication, and they could all send without issue. No NDR's and the mail is spooling fine. I also took the liberty of changing 2 of my clients to Saix based accounts and used smtp.saix.net to test and they sent without issue.

I've also done the necessary work of checking blacklists for all the clients on mail and DSL public IP's just to make sure, but as I said when relaying through my server with authentication or Saix using Saix based accounts, they can send without issue.

Unfortunately due to my setup I cannot have all these clients relaying through my pop server, that is out of the question.

I have logged tickets with Afrihost and Axxess regarding this, but am still awaiting response from both of them.

Can anybody shed any light on this ?

 

[mattb006]

I am having the same problem.
The domain is hosted by mweb.
When using either smtp.afrihost.co.za or smtp.mtnbusiness.co.za the mail does not get delivered, with the same ndr.
This started yesterday afternoon.
I phoned afrihost and the tech says the problem is with mweb.
I phoned mweb and tech says the problem is with afrihost.
I am now using smtp.mtnbusiness.co.za, and i tell users to change the subject of e-mails if they have problems.
For me smtp.afrihost.co.za and smtp.mtnbusiness.co.za returns different ip addresses.

 

[AfriGenie]

Hi!

I just spoke to our Server Admin team about this SMTP issue, it appears that the server handling all the outgoing mail had a new updated Spam Filter installed and activated, which is now acting very aggressively towards all mail being sent.

Our Team is working with the MTN Business Team to tone down the excessive filtering and get our mails flowing as they did previously.

 

[TechnoChicken]

Thanks for the response Matt, I see our problems are Identical!

Thank you kindly good sir AfriGenie for the response. Hopefully it get's resolved soon.

As I manage a mail server myself, I know what a pain spam filters can be.

Thanks again for the response.

 

[AfriGenie]

Thanks for the response Matt, I see our problems are Identical!

Thank you kindly good sir AfriGenie for the response. Hopefully it get's resolved soon.

As I manage a mail server myself, I know what a pain spam filters can be.

Thanks again for the response.

No problem! I really appreciate your thorough investigation into the matter!

 

[Franna]

A client is experiencing this SMTP spam error again today 4 March 2015:

An unknown error has occurred. Subject '...', Account: '...', Server: 'smtp.afrihost.co.za', Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: '550 This message scored 6.1 spam points.', Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 550, Error Number: 0x800CCC69

 

[AfriGenie]

A client is experiencing this SMTP spam error again today 4 March 2015:

An unknown error has occurred. Subject '...', Account: '...', Server: 'smtp.afrihost.co.za', Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: '550 This message scored 6.1 spam points.', Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 550, Error Number: 0x800CCC69

Hi Franna!

Could I ask that the client temporarily switch to smtp.mtnbusiness.co.za and try send the mail.

 

[Death]

Did MTN add a spam server for their outbound? That the type of response we usually get from the recipient end, not from the SMTP end??

 

[AfriGenie]

Did MTN add a spam server for their outbound? That the type of response we usually get from the recipient end, not from the SMTP end??

MTN is continuously upgrading the Mail Servers and the capabilities of those servers. I don't think however the Outgoing server will reject any mail being sent from a valid source, I'm not even sure it checks anything like that before sending the mail.

I think that response was received from the recipient however, maybe Franna could clarify for us.

 

[Mark051]

Having exactly the same problem. Outgoing mail server is smtp.afrihost.co.za.

Blocking almost 100% of my outgoing mails now, regardless of who it is sent to

 

[Death]

Having exactly the same problem. Outgoing mail server is smtp.afrihost.co.za.

Blocking almost 100% of my outgoing mails now, regardless of who it is sent to

Can you confirm if it's an actual error message when sending (as in it's not being sent off) or if it's an actual bounce back message being delivered to your inbox?

 

[Mark051]

Can you confirm if it's an actual error message when sending (as in it's not being sent off) or if it's an actual bounce back message being delivered to your inbox?

It's a bounce back msg, so it is getting "sent" - I've beem in contact with Afrigenie so will hopefully have a resolution soon.

 

[Death]

It's a bounce back msg, so it is getting "sent" - I've beem in contact with Afrigenie so will hopefully have a resolution soon.

The Mailer-Daemon that bounce back comes from, Is it the recipient server/domain or is it possibly from MTN?
Sorry for the questions but the more info the better

 

[AfriGenie]

Afternoon Guys!

Just a quick update, our Abuse Team is in the process of making a few changes to the SMTP, can you please check if you are still getting the same bounce back messages.

 

[Mark051]

The Mailer-Daemon that bounce back comes from, Is it the recipient server/domain or is it possibly from MTN?
Sorry for the questions but the more info the better

Its exactly the same bounce back msg, regardless of the recipient (gmail, telkomsa etc), so guess that means its from the outgoing server, ie MTN/Afrihost.

 

[Mark051]

@AfriGenie, I'm not sure why you not responding to my emails and PMs anymore?
I'm still having the same problem, and its costing me money because I've had to purchase ADSL data from another ISP to get the e-mails working.

Please Help!!!!!