Email

[Softbalance]

Hi,

Anyone come across this situation and if so did you resolve it?

using a hotel based WiFi network connection to the internet - supplier is WifiPass (www.passman.fr)

No issues accessing the web etc or receiving email but.....

with ALL the correct settings in Outlook 2007 (pop3.btconnect.com / smtp.btconnect.com), if I try to send email I get "relay not allowed" unless I set SMTP authentication on using same settings as the incomming mail server in which case I get "None of the authentication methods supported by this client are supported by your server"

So basically I cannot send mail

Ian.

[BharatPMistry]

I've had the same problem where at home (BT Internet) I do not need to have the box checked but when I use the (non BT) internet at work I must check the box. I guess BT "trusts" you when connect their servers via their network ('cos they know you) but from any non-BT network you must authenticate.

[njwsolutions]

BharatPMistry is correct.  I have had the same experience and, after much trial and error, found out that the "My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication" box needs to be unchecked when on the BT system but checked when on any other system.  I also understand the rationale but it would not hurt BT if they received and granted an authentication request even from someone they know and trust.  This has only started for me when I changed to Outlook 2007 so Microsoft are not entirely blameless here.

Its a bind having to change everytime I connect somewhere other than my own (BT's) system.

[John1170]

I fell into this trap this morning and after reading this thread finally got mail sending agian, despite support taking 30 minutes and still not knowing the answer. The issue still remains that i have to reconfigure my mail settings when i am working in the office to when i am at home, this is an intollerable situation and there is no logical reason why BT servers should not accept authentication whether i am connected to a known BT IP address or not.

come on BT sort this OUT!

[chris]

Assuming that you are all using your @btconnect.com email address then SMTP authentication should be enabled using the primary email address and password on your account.

If you are using @yourdomain.com address then as well as the above it must be setup on your BT Business account as Mail Relay, if not hosted by BT Business that is.

You should be able to leave on SMTP authentication wether connected to your BT Business connection or not, it should still send.

If you are doing all of the above and it is still not working then it may be a fault and you should report it to the Technical Helpdesk.

Chris.

Message Edited by chris on 03-26-2008 01:20 PM

[John1170]

Chris i think you missunderstood the thread

This problem seems as though it is specific to Vista and Outlook 2007

If you are connected to a known BT IP address i.e. your home DSL connection then BT recommend that outbound authentication (SMTP) is turned off

If you are connected to a known non BT IP address i.e. work or a hotel connection then BT recommend that outbound authentication (SMTP) is turned on

IF you do not follow this approach then you get the following errors:

"None of the authentication methods supported by this client are supported by your server"

This happens if you have outbound authentication (SMTP) is turned on and you are connected to a BT IP address i.e. your home DSL

"relay not allowed"

This happens of you have outbound authentication (SMTP) is turned off and you are connected to a non BT IP address i.e. your office/hotel/WiFi hotspot

so the upshot is BT are recommending you reconfigure the mail security settings each time you check your mail away from home, which is a pain for those of us that have laptops and travel a lot, i use office/hotel/WiFi connections on a daily basis and then when i come home at night and want to check my mail i have to reconfigure the settings agian. which isnt an acceptable solution.

[chris]

Thanks for the information.

As BT Business supplies Microsoft Outlook 2007 as part of their paid for email packages then the BT Business Mail Server should be fully Outlook 2007 compatible, if it is not then it should be reported to BT Business to be resolved.

But on Reading your post it seems you may have already done this and it has been acknowledged as a known issue by BT Business and a workaround has been supplied as described above.

On speaking to the BT Business Email Team they seem to be blissfully unaware of this issue and it is not reported on any of the BT Business service status boards.

Unfortunately I do not use the BT Business mail server for outgoing mail so I can not say I have personally been affected by this issue, but I do recommend that if you want this issue resolved that you report it to the Technical Helpdesk and insist on a solution rather that a workaround.

Once reported I don't expect it will be fixed overnight but at least you will have piece of mind that the issue is being dealt with and a solution is around the corner, also the more people that report this issue the higher the priority will be to fix this.

Chris.

[John1170]

Yes i have reported this as unsatisfactory and that i would like a proper resolution rather than a work around, additionally it would be helpful if they updated there configuration guide webpage to reflect this work around, but on suggesting this you can just feel that glazed look coming over them as they say "yes we will take you feedback on board, glad we could be of service" </sarcasm>

[chris]

My best advice when reporting any fault is to log the date and time of the call as well as the agents name and ALWAYS get a reference number.

Any fault that gets reported such as an email fault should be getting dealt with by an agent that will take full ownership of the case for you and call you back with regular updates until resolution.

If this is not the process then they are not doing their job correctly.

BT Business from what I have seen, is trying to improve their customer service experience and full ownership is one of these improvements.

John it sounds as if you have just been "fobbed off" as the agent either does not know how to escalate your issue or worst too lazy and does not care.

Should you decide to report your issue again I would be interested in the outcome as your experience is not what I have come to expect from BT Business these days.

Chris.

[lyonssolutions]

The only way you can use BT's SMTP server to send email while outside BT network is to enable SMTP authentication. This is BT's measure to reduce spam so that no unauthorised senders are using the servers to send spam emails.

Does it make sense? Well there is a lot of ISP's out there who use this method and not just BT.

Even for smaller clients we deal with their mail servers do not allow open relay to reduce unwanted traffic and spammers.