Email blocked on 3G network

[wolivier]

I have stumbled onto an interesting/irritating issue with email on 3G.
My web site/email ISP in the USA uses spamcop on their email server.
I link to their POP/SMTP server via Outlook.

So, when I'm in ADSL, all is well and I can send mail no problem. When I go onto 3G, my sent email is undelivered with following message-->
The following recipient(s) could not be reached:

'email@address here' on 2007/01/08 11:02 AM
451 Blocked - see http://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml?196.207.41.253'

if you go to that address it turns out that is a vodacom IP address which is probably routing the email out of their 3G network.

So when I'm on 3G, I cannot send email, since I REALLY NEED email to make a living this totally sucks.

Anyone else had a similar experience or anyone has wise words of wisdom to enlighten my world, thanks a stack!!!!!

Werner

 

[ambo]

http://www.spamcop.net/w3m?action=blcheck&ip=196.207.41.253

Spammers been camping out on the 3G service by the looks of things - and quite often too.

Question to v3g: What sort of action do you take against users who are abusing the network like this? Finger wagging, suspended service or do you actually hit them with the big ECA book?

 

[kaspaas]

Using Spamcop on its own to block mail is a very bad practise. The amount of false positives is enourmous.

It is better to use a system his such as Spamassassin (http://spamassassin.apache.org) to block mail. This system takes Spamcop as an input into the decision if something is spam or not, but more spam like properties are needed to be classified as spam than just Spamcop.

Spamcop is a great system - provided it is used the right way.

However - this does not remove the problem: What is VC doing to prevent their servers form being abused as Spam relays?

Please remember that much spam nowadays are produced on virus infected PC's which gives the spammer control over much of the PC.

 

[ambo]

Please remember that much spam nowadays are produced on virus infected PC's which gives the spammer control over much of the PC.

Agreed - that is currently the source of most of the spam these days.

However - I have come across a number of internet N00b's recently who are firing up outlook, writing a quick ad for their company and then bulk sending it to hundereds of recipients whose addresses they have collected from everywhere. And all this with little regard for the requirements in the ECA regarding bulk email sending.

 

[ic]

I have stumbled onto an interesting/irritating issue with email on 3G.
My web site/email ISP in the USA uses spamcop on their email server.
I link to their POP/SMTP server via Outlook.

So, when I'm in ADSL, all is well and I can send mail no problem. When I go onto 3G, my sent email is undelivered with following message-->
The following recipient(s) could not be reached:

'email@address here' on 2007/01/08 11:02 AM
451 Blocked - see http://www.spamcop.net/bl.shtml?196.207.41.253'

if you go to that address it turns out that is a vodacom IP address which is probably routing the email out of their 3G network.

So when I'm on 3G, I cannot send email, since I REALLY NEED email to make a living this totally sucks.

Anyone else had a similar experience or anyone has wise words of wisdom to enlighten my world, thanks a stack!!!!!

Werner

I agree with kaspaas - to me it looks like there is a problem with the config of the smtp server in the USA that you're using: email relayed through an smtp server from a Dynamic IP address should not be blocked even if the Dynamic IP address is Spamcop listed - there needs to be some keyword & phrase checking of the contents of the email before it gets flagged & binned as being spam.

In this case Vodacom is IMO not at fault, try using smtp.vodacom.co.za instead of the USA smtp server and let us know what happens...

 

[ToxicBunny]

If i am to be honest, Spamcop is one of the worst systems out there simply because of the number of false positives it throws out... It has caused absolute chaos for me a few times last year...

 

[vodacom3g]

The IP in question is not one of the Vodacom servers but rather one of the pool assigned to users. So it seems you're running your own mail server or your ISP is using the Vodacom IP to authenticate you.

AS often discussed here, we will only endeavor to keep the Mail Relay (smtp.vodacom.co.za) unlisted. Trying to keep thousands of IP's unlisted is impractical.

So the correct answer is to use the Vodacom supplied relay when on 3G.

The only way to stop this is to blanket block all port 25 traffic.

 

[wolivier]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I really appreciate it!!!!!
The problem is totally solved by using smtp.vodacom.co.za when I'm on 3G.
After reading up some more on SpamCop I must say the product is WAY too agressive and simplistic in its analysis, well at least how my hosting provider are using it. If the IP is listed, the email is blocked....

Thanks again!!!
Werner