MWEB Outgoing Mail

D

Dean

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Hi MWEB Guy/Ops/Will

I've been trying to find a solution for a client, without much success.

He is travelling overseas, and foreseeing a potential mail sending issue (while his laptop is connecting through various WiFis throughout Europe, rather than his MWEB ADSL), I called the helpdesk last week to get the authenticated SMTP server details, to enable him to continue to use Outlook for sending mail.

I was assured that relay.mweb.co.za would work, and that I should just check that the "Requires Auth, same as settings as incoming etc" option was selected, which I did.

Unsurprisingly, I got an sms from him sitting in Istanbul airport, to say that he cannot send.

After a few phone calls to the MWEB helpdesk, SMSes and a very solid Team Viewer session, I tried various things including changing the outgoing server to smtpauth.mweb.co.za

I was then advised by the MWEB agent to tell him that the only work-around for the problem is to use the message centre.

After telling him that, and him struggling to copy paste the messages into the message centre, more SMSes and another (equally solid) Team Viewer session ensued, followed by another less enthusiastic call to the MWEB helpdesk, who confirmed that the reason for this problem is that the message centre isn't full compatible with the latest version of Internet Explorer.

The helpdesk agents final workaround was to use a third party service named mail2web.com. He finds this to be a very (for lack of a better term) crude workaround, and finds it cumbersome to operate his business through their interface.

Please could you advise a solution for the problem, so that he is able to effectively run his business while out of the country.

Thanks

- Dean
 
I had the same problem, but not with MWEB. In Europe with the different providers there was a problem each time it changed, although technically it shouldn't. I ended up setting up a GMAIL account and using those settings as an outgoing server. There are options to choose the email address so that the sent mail sit in your normal email address sent box for imap mail.
 
Hi Dean,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Please could you PM me your customer details so that I may look into this for you.

Kind regards,
MWEB Guy
 
MWEB Guy said:
Hi Dean,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Please could you PM me your customer details so that I may look into this for you.

Kind regards,
MWEB Guy
Click to expand...

PM Sent.
 
I actually went to at least 20minutes of trouble to try and test this and have found the following:

Using https://myaccount.mweb.co.za
I confirmed my "primary email address" for my Mweb home user account by going into "My Email Account" link

Then I tested using telnet and outlook express to relay.mweb.co.za port 25,with authentication turned on I succesfully sent mail

A transcript of the Telnet session
Code: 
220 relay13.smp.mweb.co.za ESMTP Exim 4.74 Wed, 06 Jul 2011 21:52:25 +0200
EHLO test
250-relay13.smp.mweb.co.za Hello
250-SIZE 35651584
250-8BITMIME
250-ETRN
250-PIPELINING
250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN CRAM-MD5 NTLM
250 HELP
AUTH LOGIN
334
(base encoded email address @mweb.co.za)
334
(base encoded password)
235 Authentication succeeded
MAIL FROM: [email protected]
250 OK
RCPT TO: (mygmail)@gmail.com
250 Accepted
DATA
354 Enter message, ending with "." on a line by itself
hello
.
250 OK

I was using a different ISP so normal Mweb smtp wouldn't allow sending. From this I can work out that either SMTP authentication isn't enabled on the guy's Mail client,or the username/Password for SMTP isn't correct - you need to use the @mweb.co.za address here
 
PsyWulf said:
I actually went to at least 20minutes of trouble to try and test this and have found the following:

Using https://myaccount.mweb.co.za
I confirmed my "primary email address" for my Mweb home user account by going into "My Email Account" link

Then I tested using telnet and outlook express to relay.mweb.co.za port 25,with authentication turned on I succesfully sent mail

....

I was using a different ISP so normal Mweb smtp wouldn't allow sending. From this I can work out that either SMTP authentication isn't enabled on the guy's Mail client,or the username/Password for SMTP isn't correct - you need to use the @mweb.co.za address here
Click to expand...

I teamviewer'd into his laptop, to confirm myself that all the correct settings and values were used.

Authentication was definitely enabled, using same settings as incoming. Incoming was using the full email address ([email protected]) and the usual password.

This was with both relay.mweb.co.za and smtpauth.mweb.co.za on ports 25 and 587.
 
Dean said:
I teamviewer'd into his laptop, to confirm myself that all the correct settings and values were used.

Authentication was definitely enabled, using same settings as incoming. Incoming was using the full email address ([email protected]) and the usual password.

This was with both relay.mweb.co.za and smtpauth.mweb.co.za on ports 25 and 587.
Click to expand...

Don't use the mail client,this is a silly way of testing and gives little or no info of real value
Telnet,and paste the session here
 
PsyWulf said:
Don't use the mail client,this is a silly way of testing and gives little or no info of real value
Telnet,and paste the session here
Click to expand...

Unfortunately he is somewhere over the Mediterranean Sea right now, so can't connect until he's all WiFi'd up again at his next destination.

Thanks for the efforts so far - legend!
 
Dean said:
Unfortunately he is somewhere over the Mediterranean Sea right now, so can't connect until he's all WiFi'd up again at his next destination.

Thanks for the efforts so far - legend!
Click to expand...

Do it from your ADSL line first to confirm the username and password is passing the AUTH check,if yes the AUTH isn't the problem on his end ;)
 
PsyWulf said:
Do it from your ADSL line first to confirm the username and password is passing the AUTH check,if yes the AUTH isn't the problem on his end ;)
Click to expand...

If I had his password on hand, I would :/

Just a side-note - he used MWEBs password recovery tool to get it sent to his mailbox (he can receive without a problem), and successfully logged into the message centre, so we at least know that the password is correct :)

Will try once he's back online!
 
Get yourself a hosted mail server. Hostgator offers one at 10 dollars a month and use that as a SMTP server on PORT 26.

Quite a few overseas ISP's don't allow port 25 to be used on their network by 3rd parties as PsyWulf correctly says "3rd possible issue might be SMTP redirection on the overseas networks not allowing EHLO commands on port 25"

I have clients who are with mWeb and travel overseas often and this solution works a treat. Even with Blackberry devices this will work.

I know for a fact this configuration works in Cyprus where I have a client from South Africa with an mWeb email address.

At 10 dollars a month you can offer a service that your clients will be grateful for :)
 
ITCynic said:
Get yourself a hosted mail server. Hostgator offers one at 10 dollars a month and use that as a SMTP server on PORT 26.

Quite a few overseas ISP's don't allow port 25 to be used on their network by 3rd parties as PsyWulf correctly says "3rd possible issue might be SMTP redirection on the overseas networks not allowing EHLO commands on port 25"
Click to expand...
The correct port to use for this is the mail submissions port which is defined in the Internet standards as port 587.
 
Hi Mweb Guy

So I didn't hear from him for a few days - as it turns out, Outlook worked perfectly for a week (12th to 19th July) on WiFi in various airports and hotels, without changing any settings. It has since stopped sending once again.

Please could you check whether there were any changes made to the network/mail servers on these days so that the problem can be isolated.

Also, you asked me to PM you the client's code, which I did, and I've since had no feedback from MWEB.


Side note: Thanks to all the 3rd parties who have given suggestions - unfortunately, given his risk-averse nature, most could only be practically implemented in time for his next trip. I'll check that his client is set to use port 587.
 
Last edited:
Dean said:
Hi Mweb Guy

So I didn't hear from him for a few days - as it turns out, Outlook worked perfectly for a week (12th to 19th July) on WiFi in various airports and hotels, without changing any settings. It has since stopped sending once again.

Please could you check whether there were any changes made to the network/mail servers on these days so that the problem can be isolated.

Also, you asked me to PM you the client's code, which I did, and I've since had no feedback from MWEB.


Side note: Thanks to all the 3rd parties who have given suggestions - unfortunately, given his risk-averse nature, most could only be practically implemented in time for his next trip. I'll check that his client is set to use port 587.
Click to expand...

Afternoon Dean, please ensure that the client is using port 587 and provide me with feedback OR I could also arrange a technician call the client if you would like?
 
Thanks for all suggestions. I have been working in China for 8 years now and have never been able to get my MWEB sending out of Outlook working. After trying some of your suggestions, I actually got Outlook working today, sending mail via my MWEB account from within Outlook!!
This is the settings I use:
Outgoing mail server: smtpauth.mweb.co.za
Logon Information: full email address for Username

Under More Settings:
Under Outgoing Server Tab, tick Outgoing Server SMTP requires authentication. Also tick Use same settings as my incoming mail server
Under Advanced Tab, Outgoing Server SMTP: 25 (I tried using 587 but it didn’t work)
 
Since all of you are so helpfull, I was wondering if you could help me better understand this:

I've been using Gmail for many years now. My problem is not with multiple email addresses, but rather with multiple connections.
99% it will work on any connection but i've found there are some internet cafe's that use a weird internet and in order to send email I'm told i have to change my outgoing server to smtp.something_or_other.co.za before it will work.

But I'm not sure I want to do that when I don't fully understand why it is neccesary.
At home i'm using the standard smtp.gmail.com when using my adsl. When travelling i often use my vodacom 3G connection with the same settings. At my sisters house I use her superfast internet, same settings. I've even used the sames settings whilst in mozambique. But sometimes I find a one horse town with an internet cafe (3G not existing)but they require me to change it in order to send emails. WHY???

I've even crossed my fingers and phoned vodacom helpdesk to find an answer but all they said was i should change my server when using my 3G dongle to smtp.vodacom.co.za Again WHY??? It's already working perfectly you anadromeda sized idiot.

I've learnt that if something works, leave it the &%#$ alone. Tinkering with something that isn't broken, might break it (if you don't fully understand it)

So in conclusion, I'm hoping someone here could shed some light as to why I have to change my outgoing server.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
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