MWEB blocking all outgoing (SMTP) ports

[Axe]

If you're on MWEB ADSL, the only SMTP server you can connect to is MWEB's own.

Connections to other servers on any SMTP ports (25/26/465/587) fails. We used to get around this by connecting to smtp.mweb.co.za but that now requires authentication and we don't use mweb email accounts so don't have a login.

I think this is frikkin stupid and if it was up to me I'd change ISPs, I've never had this issue anywhere else. Any ideas on getting around this?

 

[Sinbad]

Get a login for their smtp server.

I support this wholeheartedly. Most spam originates from compromised home machines. Control of this is good.

 

[neoprema]

Its not stupid, it stops spammers setting up outbound SMTP relays to spam people using MWEB's network which in turn causes MWEB to appear in RBL's, SpamCop lists, Barracuda's Block lists and general "bad reputation" IP blacklists.

afaik, all ISPs that do this have pretty open SMTP servers anyway so you should not be experiencing problems. If you are, perhaps try a paid-for SMTP service hosted somewhere on the internet.

 

[drs]

I support this wholeheartedly. Most spam originates from compromised home machines. Control of this is good.

I'd certainly support blocking access to port 25. If M-Web are blocking outgoing connections to port 587, though, that's a direct violation of RFC 5068, section 4.1, and stupid enough that I would certainly vote with my feet.

 

[neoprema]

I'd certainly support blocking access to port 25. If M-Web are blocking outgoing connections to port 587, though, that's a direct violation of RFC 5068, section 4.1, and stupid enough that I would certainly vote with my feet.

And we all know how good RFC's are at preventing real-world security concerns..

 

[Axe]

Its not stupid, it stops spammers setting up outbound SMTP relays to spam people using MWEB's network which in turn causes MWEB to appear in RBL's, SpamCop lists, Barracuda's Block lists and general "bad reputation" IP blacklists.

afaik, all ISPs that do this have pretty open SMTP servers anyway so you should not be experiencing problems. If you are, perhaps try a paid-for SMTP service hosted somewhere on the internet.

MWEB will not be added to RBL's, SpamCop lists, Barracuda's Block lists if the spam email is from someone elses SMTP server. If I am on their ADSL network and spam using an outside SMTP server, it is that server that will get blacklisted. Not allowing me to access outside SMTP servers is stupid.

I'd certainly support blocking access to port 25. If M-Web are blocking outgoing connections to port 587, though, that's a direct violation of RFC 5068, section 4.1, and stupid enough that I would certainly vote with my feet.

If only MWEB would listen, but we all know they don't give a **** about customer service. As I said, if it was up to me, I'd also vote with my feet.

 

[neoprema]

MWEB will not be added to RBL's, SpamCop lists, Barracuda's Block lists if the spam email is from someone elses SMTP server. If I am on their ADSL network and spam using an outside SMTP server, it is that server that will get blacklisted. Not allowing me to access outside SMTP servers is stupid.



If only MWEB would listen, but we all know they don't give a **** about customer service. As I said, if it was up to me, I'd also vote with my feet.

"If I am on their ADSL network and spam using an outside SMTP server, it is that server that will get blacklisted."

If you're spamming using an outside SMTP server what MWEB does is irrelevant, you can tell that SMTP server to accept your traffic on port 2526 and spam away. So its not affected by MWEB's actions - and they do not risk their IPs being blacklisted.

MWEB are stopping SMTP servers that ORIGINATE on their own network. The side-effect of doing that is blocking you trying to use port 25 to talk to another outside SMTP server. IF Server A hosted on MWEB's IP range connects to smtp.microsoft.com and delivers 20 000 spam messages to <randomnames>@microsoft.com - that IP address (or worse, block) of MWEB will land up on an RBL.

 

[moki]

I don't know if this is related in anyway, but recently when I try to log into mweb I get a message saying "You are attempting to connect from an unregistered ADSL line". Today, I got something else. See the attached screenshots . I'm really tired of this. I probably need to change service providers.