Common Email Issues & How to Resolve Them
While maintaining or operating a website, many of us will eventually experience a problem with sending or receiving email. When faced with these various issues, we will need to differentiate between Webmail (via Horde) problems and mail server problems. Webmail’s ease-of-use and reliability can act as a backup if you’re having the problem when sending through your email client (such as Outlook/Outlook Express, Windows Mail, or Thunderbird). For this article, we will assume that we are not experiencing difficulties through Webmail, but rather through your mail server in an email client.
Sending Email
There are several reasons why you may be having difficulty sending your email. First, be aware that web hosts require up to 72 hours to propagate your account. This means that after opening your hosting account and obtaining your domain through IXwebhosting.com, your mail server may not be available for a few days. We all hate the waiting game, but if you are within this time period, simply wait out the 72 hours and all should be up and running smoothly!
If propagation is not the cause of your headaches, be sure that your DNS info is correct… if your domain is not registered through us, you will need to have your current registrar point to our nameservers . If you need to check to see if your nameservers are correct, a simple WHOIS Lookup should do the trick. Now that we know propagation and DNS settings are ok, we typically have two causes:
- You may have a firewall on your local computer/router that is blocking the connection
- Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) may be blocking the mail server’s outbound port (port 25)
Firewalls can be a bit annoying at times, as they may prevent access to programs or functions that we want to use! Simply turn off the firewall in question or allow privileges to a particular program, and you’re ready to get back to your emailing routine.
Many ISP’s are now blocking port 25, which is the port that is used when sending from an email client to your mail server. As malicious as this may seem, ISP’s actually do this to prevent the amount of spam coming from their own servers. It is recommended that you contact your individual ISP to obtain their outgoing server information. This change will need to be reflected in your email client’s outgoing (SMTP) settings. A quick google search will be of assistance, but for your convenience I’ve collected a few tutorials on this step for common email clients: Thunderbird SMTP setup, Microsoft Outlook, Windows Mail
If you are able to send through some, but not all of your email accounts, the most likely cause of the issue is that you may have exceeded the assigned quota of emails (300/day or 5000/mo). You can either contact us to temporarily correct this or create a mailing list. To create a mailing list through your IXwebhosting account, follow these steps:
- Login to your hosting account
- Click on the Manage button under your hosting plan
- Click on the Email icon
- Click on (add) New Mailing list
- Fill in the required information
- Create your mailing list
Receiving Email
Be sure that you have allowed the necessary 72 hours for propagation and that your nameservers are correct (see above, Sending Email). If your DNS information is correct and your account has fully propagated, we are again left with two common reasons for the issue:
- You may have a firewall or antivirus that is blocking access to the email client
- Your mail client is not configured correctly
The firewall problem can again be solved by allowing the software in your firewall program or disabling it altogether. This issue most commonly occurs with XP firewalls and Outlook/Outlook Express, as well as with Norton Antivirus and Outlook Express.
When setting up an email client, you will be asked for your incoming and outgoing server information. Your incoming and outgoing servers will most likely be mail.<yourdomainname>.com (.net, .org, etc). The server information can also be found within the Email icon in your H-Sphere control panel.
If any of you are still experiencing difficulties or need clarification, you are always welcome to reach me via phone, live chat, or a help ticket! If I’m not in the office, our awesome tech support people are available 24/7. I look forward to getting to know each of you!
