ISP Problems

   / ISP Problems #1  

Alan L.

Elite Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2000
Messages
3,053
Location
Grayson County, TX
Tractor
Kubota B2710
Maybe some of you transistor heads have a suggestion.

I have been having a problem with Earthlink in that they are blocking all mail from my domain. We have a mailserver that serves about 10 email addresses and has small mailing lists on it- 10 to 30 members in each list.

2 months ago I got a nice note from AOL stating that our server was set up for open relaying and that we would be given 2 weeks to fix it or they couldn't accept mail from our domain any more. I fixed it to AOL's satisfaction and have not had any trouble with them.

About 4 weeks ago Earthlink members on our mailing lists stopped getting the mail sent to our lists, plus nobody at our office has been able to send mail to anyone who is an Earthlink member, and that includes me, as my home ISP is Earthlink.

I called Earthlink technical support. They said they don't block domains, and that I should contact the ISP we use at work (we have a T-1). I went back and forth between our ISP, who assured us that they had no connectivity issues with Earthlink, our email server software vendor Rockliffe, and Earthlink tech support. Basically EArthlink tech support just said "We can't help you." Rockliffe checked out our logs and verified that the mail was being sent OK and rejected by EArthlink servers.

After 2 weeks of this circus, I finally contacted Earthlink customer service. They in turn emailed the abuse department and forwarded my complaint. After a few days I was told the problem was that our server was open relay, so they blocked it. No explanation. No courtesy warning or message. Just blocked it. Further, they refuse to allow me to speak directly to these people. And for 2 weeks they were telling me "they don't block domains".

2 weeks ago, I spent 3 hours going through the configuration of the server and Rockliffe assures me that there is no way mail can be relayed through it. I have talked to this same guy in tech support at Earthlink for the past 2 weeks and he keeps sending emails to the abuse department and they keep ignoring him and me. Then I starting emailing them at abuse@earthlink.net (from home) and I get standard replies back, telling me that I can't relay from their servers, etc, which is not the issue.

I can't believe that Earthlink can go to such measures to be total a$$holes. Somebody could fix the problem in about 5 minutes.

As I speak I am dialed up using my new EV1 account, and about 5 people are switching ISPs because of this. However I have clients that are on EArthlink and I can't send mail to them unless I convince them to convert to another ISP.

Every day I call the customer support rep, he emails abuse, and then neither one of us hears from them. All messages to Earthlink subscribers continue to bounce.

Anyone have any brilliant ideas?

Alan L., TX
South of Bugtussle
North of Mustang
On the banks of Buck Creek
 
   / ISP Problems #2  
If AOL is sending you email then most likely your open mail relay has been used to send a lot of spam mail. Since AOL is slow in respoding to any problems, I am betting your site has been used for a long time to send spam. If this is the case you have most likely been put on one of the many Open Mail Relay blackhole list. These folks maintain a list of open mail relay sites. Sendmail can be configured to Dip into this list and block sites if there on the list. Usually the black hole sites will send you email letting you know your on there list.
Earthlink may not block domains but they may subscribe to a service that does. I am betting your email support at earthlink is thinking outbound mail and not inbound mail.

To solve the problem you have to find out what blackhole your on and follow whatever procedures they have to get you removed.

Gary.
 
   / ISP Problems #3  
Check out http://mail-abuse.org/ to see if your on there list. They have one of the larger database.
If you drop me an email with your ip address or domain name I can check to see if it have an open mail relay.

Gary.
 

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