As many of you already know we use Callout Computers for IT support. They’ve been fixing clients computers for nearly 15 years now so when this latest BT email problem surfaced I asked them to put together a report for our clients. Hopefully this sheds some more light on the email problems many of you are suffering
Email report
There is a common problem with sending mail through BT, which several of our customers have encountered. This issue is caused by BT implementing a system to prevent spam from being sent through their system. These anti-spam features built into the server which are designed to stop you from sending mail through third party addresses until you verify the address with their server. This would include any emails set up on domains which we manage for you.
Unfortunately BT do not actually tell you this, nor do the tech support people at BT explain and will simply blame the owner of the mail service you are attempting to use. It takes some searching on the internet to find the solution to this problem BT actually do list the solution themselves, but don’t make it obvious.
It is also a problem that can occur without warning. BT seem to select domains at random to block, without notification. Although there is an official little known way to authenticate your domain, this very often doesn’t work and means you end up having to pay for an additional outgoing mail service.
Forwarders
BT, in a lot of cases, are rejecting whole domain forwarders whereby you own a website but instead of having a mailbox for your email, it just gets forwarded to your BT (or Hotmail / outlook / live) mailbox, we have seen many times this mail getting completely or partially blocked, very serious problem if you don’t realise it is happening. Although there are workarounds to resolve this, they are not ideal.
UPDATE
Hotmail and many other mail providers are now blocking email forwarding accounts suspected of spam activity. Due to the shared IP address this affects many other users
Password problems
We have had on average one person a week ringing up to say their BT account has stopped working and is either rejecting the password or just no error but no email coming in. When you go to log in through their webmail you will see a message asking you to change your password or that your account may have been compromised, this can cause immense stress as the links to change your password direct you to ring 08001234150 and ringing that number brings you to an automated voice recognition system asking to to describe your problem, you say change password and the automated voice tells you you cannot do this over the phone and instead to go to www.bt.com/passwords which then tells you to ring the same number again.
Spam
Many customers report that their BT or Yahoo email accounts contain so much spam that they have become unusable or that important emails from random domains are being blocked, again there is sometimes no logical explanation and I have had some people complain that they cannot send email to customers with an @btinternet.com / btopenworld.com / btconnect.com email address as it disappears even though all SPF information is up to date.
Andrew Eve
www.calloutcomputers.org :: 07919 310017
If you are worried about losing business because some emails are not making it you your device(s) contact Callout Computer directly and mention this report and your relationship with Oast House Media
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