SMTP with Cingular quit working early this week

[MFH]

I've been using notepager Pro in my business for about a year I'd guess, and am used to Cingular's SMTP being somewhat unreliable. I have not been able to send a message to my Cingular phones for about a week now, so I'm figuring something is wrong. I've included text from the most recent log.

It seems that my computer is connecting to Cingular's computer, but they are rejecting the messages. Can you help me figure out why?

12/9/2004 1:20:49 PM Start connection to carrier: SMTP
12/9/2004 1:20:49 PM Sending via SMTP
12/9/2004 1:20:49 PM ------------------------------------------------
12/9/2004 1:20:49 PM Working on message to: Anne Cell from: MFH
12/9/2004 1:20:49 PM Formatting message
12/9/2004 1:20:49 PM Message contained in single packet
12/9/2004 1:20:49 PM Looking up mailserver for mobile.mycingular.com
12/9/2004 1:20:49 PM Trying host: mx.mycingular.net
12/9/2004 1:20:50 PM Connected to: mx.mycingular.net
12/9/2004 1:21:11 PM Disconnected
12/9/2004 1:21:11 PM Message not accepted
12/9/2004 1:21:11 PM Message retry limit reached
12/9/2004 1:21:11 PM FAILED To:Anne Cell Frm:MFH Msg:edited. - Greg
12/9/2004 1:21:11 PM Carrier retry limit reached. Marking pending messages as bad
12/9/2004 5:02:30 PM Dialer Stopped
12/10/2004 8:30:20 AM Dialer Started

[Tech Support]

It looks like your TCP/IP port 25 is blocked either by a firewall or by your ISP.

Open a command (also known as a 'DOS' or 'C') prompt on the machine and type (without the quotations!):

"telnet mx.mycingular.net 25"

You should receive this (or something similar):

"220 atlmta3.mycingular.net ESMTP Mail Server Ready"


Do you receive that message, or do you get a

"Connecting To mx.mycingular.net...Could not open a connection to host on port 25 : Connect failed"

If you get the "failed", port 25 is blocked.

[MFH]

When I type that at the C: the screen clears, the cursor blinks for about 5-10 seconds, and then I get the message "connection to host lost" and another C prompt.

[MFH]

I've tried a few more times with the same results. After I type what you told me to type and hit enter a message flashes very quickly before the screen clears. The first word is "connecting" but I can't read any of the rest of the message.

Seems like I'm making the connection and then it is droping for some reason. I assume this means I don't have a port 25 problem. What else could be the cause of the problem?

[Tech Support]

It sounds like you DO have a connection issue. What happens if you try the following:

"telnet notepage.com 25"

You should receive:

"220 PageGate ESMTP Server Ready"

If you do not receive that message, you have an port blocking issue. You would need to contaceither your ISP or computer technician for further assistance.

[MFH]

You were right, SBC had started blocking port 25 on me. I have gotten this issue resolved, and can now connect using telnet. . . as you suggested above.

I'm still not getting my messages out, but the error has changed.

====================================
12/13/2004 12:54:27 PM Start connection to carrier: SMTP
12/13/2004 12:54:27 PM Sending via SMTP
12/13/2004 12:54:27 PM ------------------------------------------------
12/13/2004 12:54:27 PM Working on message to: GregsCell from: MFH
12/13/2004 12:54:28 PM Formatting message
12/13/2004 12:54:28 PM Message contained in single packet
12/13/2004 12:54:28 PM Looking up mailserver for mobile.mycingular.com
12/13/2004 12:54:28 PM Trying host: mx.mycingular.net
12/13/2004 12:54:28 PM Connected to: mx.mycingular.net
12/13/2004 12:54:29 PM Closing connection
12/13/2004 12:54:29 PM Disconnected
12/13/2004 12:54:29 PM Message not accepted
12/13/2004 12:54:29 PM Permanent failure. Message will not be retried
12/13/2004 12:54:29 PM FAILED To:GregsCell Frm:MFH Msg:Please give me a call when you can- Greg

When port 25 was blocked it paused after it "connected". Now the whole thing happens almost instantaniously.

I have looked around this forum for a while this morning, and have tried the suggestions that I have seen, and so far it seems that everything is set up correctly. I'm sure I'm making a stupid mistake, but can't figure out what it is. Can you help?

[Tech Support]

Can you turn on connection debugging for NotePager Pro?
(directions here: http://www.notepage.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=532)

Once the detailed information is turned on, send a test message.
Then copy and paste that attempt in a post.

Please remember to obscure the recipient ID/Pin in the post and remove the message content.

[MFH]

Here is the log.

====================================
12/13/2004 1:14:55 PM Start connection to carrier: SMTP
12/13/2004 1:14:55 PM Sending via SMTP
12/13/2004 1:14:55 PM ------------------------------------------------
12/13/2004 1:14:55 PM Working on message to: GregsCell from: MFH
12/13/2004 1:14:55 PM Formatting message
12/13/2004 1:14:55 PM Message contained in single packet
12/13/2004 1:14:55 PM Looking up mailserver for mobile.mycingular.com
12/13/2004 1:14:55 PM Trying host: mx.mycingular.net
12/13/2004 1:14:56 PM Connected to: mx.mycingular.net
12/13/2004 1:14:57 PM Received:220 atlmta2.mycingular.net ESMTP Mail Server Ready

12/13/2004 1:14:57 PM Sent:Ehlo mfh.com

12/13/2004 1:14:57 PM Received:250-atlmta2.mycingular.net Hello adsl-67-66-87-229.dsl.okcyok.swbell.net [67.66.87.229], pleased to meet you

12/13/2004 1:14:57 PM Received:250 ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES

12/13/2004 1:14:57 PM Sent:Mail From:<MFH@mfh.com>

12/13/2004 1:14:57 PM Received:553 5.3.0 Rejected - see http://njabl.org/lookup? 67.66.87.229

12/13/2004 1:14:57 PM Closing connection
12/13/2004 1:14:57 PM Sent:Quit

12/13/2004 1:14:57 PM Disconnected
12/13/2004 1:14:57 PM Message not accepted
12/13/2004 1:14:57 PM Permanent failure. Message will not be retried
12/13/2004 1:14:57 PM FAILED To:GregsCell Frm:MFH Msg:test

[Tech Support]

It looks like Cingular is checking IP addresses against a blacklist and rejecting mail based on the results (your log is entry below).

12/13/2004 1:14:57 PM Received:553 5.3.0 Rejected - see http://njabl.org/lookup? 67.66.87.229


When a query is done on your IP address at that URL, this is what comes up:

Here is the result of your query:

67.66.87.229 is listed in dynablock.njabl.org.

67.66.87.229 resolves to adsl-67-66-87-229.dsl.okcyok.swbell.net

You have several choices:

A: Send messages to Cingular recipients via TAP (analog modem/phone line)

B: Contact either SBC to see if there is a SMTP server that you can relay through

C: Contact Cingular to discuss the blocking.

[MFH]

Since it seems that I'm not the only person having this problem, I'll update everyone on what has happened.

After going through many tech support people Cingular 100% denied that they check IP addresses. I think that is a load of *&%$, but that's neither here or there at this point.

I talked to my provider (SBC Yahoo!) and after being bumped to the second tier of tech support, they admitted that they have had a lot of trouble recently with spammers using their system to send. Because of this they blocked port 25 for everyone, but the will let individual users opt out if they ask.

He also said that because their system has been abused, they have a few IP addresses that have been "black listed" (my word not his). He suggested that I reboot my router so that I would be assigned a different IP address. I did that and it fixed all my problems. It seems that I just had the dumb luck of getting one of the handfull of IP addresses that were used by spammers in the past, and that was what was causing my problems. Have not had a problem at all since rebooting the router.

Hope this helps.

Greg

[MFH]

It seems that I should have kept my mouth shut. I have tried two different IP's from SBCglobal today and both have been black listed. I'm working with their tech support, but I don't hold out much hope.

They do allow to send though their smpt, but it requires authentication. As far as I understand you can't authenticate using notepager pro, so I guess I'll have to find a workaround with SBC or find a pager program that authenticates. (SBC is my only highspeed option, and I don't have a dial-up modem in the computer or wish to install one unless it's my only option.)

I'd love to hear any suggestions or options that I'm missing.

Greg

[Tech Support]

Currently, SMTP authentication is not an available option. Development is looking at it for possible inclusion for a future release.

The only option at this point is to install a modem and deliver Cingular messages via TAP.

Or you could contact Cingular again, and send them a copy of your dialer log. The IP address lookup/rejection by their SMTP server is there in "black and white".