E-mails getting lost on iBurst servers

J

JeanetteR

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I had the same problem before and lately every now and then some of my e-mails get lost on the server.
I sent a very important e-mail off on the 30th of November which the recipient never received. I re-sent it the following day with the same result. After trying four times, I gave up and sent it from work.

Two weeks ago I e-mailed some docs from work which I was supposed to work on over the weekend. When I got home on Friday, the docs weren't in my Inbox. As this was very important work, I phoned the HelpDesk with nobody picking up after the phone rang for a solid 20 minutes! I then sent an e-mail to them, which I never got a response from. I even sent the same e-mail to the facebook team who normally is quite helpful, but for this particular query they didn't even bother to respond.

These e-mails were only delivered on the Monday evening after that weekend. I am still in the dark as to where the problem lies - what happen to undelivered e-mails? What can I do, besides using the "read receipt" function on my Outlook to ensure that my e-mails get delivered / received?
 
The Domain name of the address would be the best start... i.e. @iburst.com @facebook.com
From there you know who to talk too. Iburst of facebook or whomever it is.

a few tips for mail sending ...

Never used cached addresses (as you typing the address it automatically appears) Rather select the address from your address book. Yes I know this is a long route but it eliminates so many problems.
Have a look at the internet headers of the mail, as that tells you if the mail was sent successfully.
Never expect a read reciept as it can be disabled as to not send a read or delievered reciept.
 
JeanetteR said:
These e-mails were only delivered on the Monday evening after that weekend.
Click to expand...

Its possible to look at the message and see the exact path it took and what time it moved from server to server.

I luckily have not used outlook in several years so someone else can show you how to get message headers, once you have that you can locate the problem.
 
I have also had a similar experience with a client of mine.

When does iBurst answer an email ? - never.

When does iBurst answer their phones ? only when they feel like it.
 
Sometimes it is as simple as a spam filter on the other end catching some emails before the intended recipient sees the emails.
 
Use GMail ; get rid of iBurst

JeanetteR said:
What can I do, besides using the "read receipt" function on my Outlook to ensure that my e-mails get delivered / received?
Click to expand...

You can bypass having to use iBurst's e-mail servers entirely ; just make use of their data to send/receive your mails in future.

Here's how:

1. Set up a Gmail a/c ;
Note: you'll seldom need to access the Gmail a/c itself, to send/receive your e-mails.

You may want to log onto it occasionally to ensure Gmail isn't putting legitimate mails into the ''Spam'' folder (this happens from time to time, but is worth the bit of extra effort once a week or even two); if that happens, move them to the ''Inbox'' from ''Spam'', after which time they'll make their way to your PC, when you next check for e-mail in Outlook.

Set up your Outlook using the following method:

2. In Outlook Express, follow the process as described, depending on whether you want to use POP or IMAP:

https://mail.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=ts.cs&ts=1668960

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=12103

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=76147

(Even though they suggest using IMAP, I think POP is preferable - much simpler - if you're only sending/receiving e-mail from/to one device like your PC & not a smartphone as well).

Test it out, by sending/receiving e-mails in Outlook to from/your Gmail account (you can set up a 2nd Gmail test a/c for this, or to/from someone you know who can give you feedback there & then).

If happy with it, SHELVE iBurst entirely. (Under TOOLS - ACCOUNTS - select your iBurst PROPERTIES, then untick ''Include this account when receiving mail or synchronising'' (when you're sure you won't receive more mails to your iBurst a/c. (I'm using Windows Mail so names might be slightly different). Ensure you tick the option for your new Gmail a/c.

Simply hand out your new Gmail e-mail address to everyone you need to, and you'll be amazed at how much more reliable Gmail is compared to iBurst, or even some of the other SA ISP's. In the past, I've had delays using Web Africa, but nothing like the ones you're experiencing.
 
Last edited:
JeanetteR said:
I had the same problem before and lately every now and then some of my e-mails get lost on the server. ....... I am still in the dark as to where the problem lies - .........? What can I do, .......... on my Outlook to ensure that my e-mails get delivered / received?
Click to expand...

Whether you continue to use your iBurst e-mail or setup Gmail / Yahoo / a Windows Live account, or all 3 in conjunction with one another, in Outlook select Tools - Accounts - select your e-mail account(s) - click on Properties - select Advanced, then under .....

Server Timeouts .......move arrow across to the right, to ''Long'' representing 5 minutes ;

Sending ..... TICK 'Break apart messages larger than (and fill in 16000) KB' - the highest # that can
be filled in here.

Click on ''Apply'' , then ''OK''.
 
Last edited:
Vis1/0N said:
Except that our number one client blocks gmail.
Click to expand...
That's a bit short-sighted.

Are they blocking the gmail servers or @gmail.com addresses? If you associate another email address with your gmail account you send mail "from" the other address.
 
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