I can"t connect to my ISP with Thunderbird

Last weekend my ISP, Bigpond , made some
changes to their mail such that I can no longer reliably send mail
using Thunderbird. It occasionally works but usually gives the
message:

"Sending of message failed.
The message could not be sent because connecting to SMTP server
mail.bigpond.com failed. The server may be unavailable or refusing
SMTP connections. Please verify that your SMTP server setting is
correct and try again, or else contact your network administrator."

SMTP does work if I use Outlook Express or if I send a message using
JavaMail.

The service is operated by the Australian phone company, Telstra, and
they refuse to help anyone who is not using Outlook or Outlook
Express. They really believe the old line from "Laugh In" - “We Don’t
Care. We’re the Phone Company. We Don’t Have To”. It would be very
difficult for me to change ISPs and I am reluctant to change my email
client.

Is there some way of tweaking Thunderbird to make it work or is there
an SMTP client that is simple to install and that does not rely on
using Port 25. Bigpond blocks Port 25 although they do support "Smart
Hosting".

Re: I can"t connect to my ISP with Thunderbird

David Segall wrote:

>Last weekend my ISP, Bigpond , made some
>changes to their mail such that I can no longer reliably send mail
>using Thunderbird. It occasionally works but usually gives the
>message:
>
>"Sending of message failed.
>The message could not be sent because connecting to SMTP server
>mail.bigpond.com failed. The server may be unavailable or refusing
>SMTP connections. Please verify that your SMTP server setting is
>correct and try again, or else contact your network administrator."
>
>SMTP does work if I use Outlook Express or if I send a message using
>JavaMail.
>
>The service is operated by the Australian phone company, Telstra, and
>they refuse to help anyone who is not using Outlook or Outlook
>Express. They really believe the old line from "Laugh In" - “We Don’t
>Care. We’re the Phone Company. We Don’t Have To”. It would be very
>difficult for me to change ISPs and I am reluctant to change my email
>client.
>
>Is there some way of tweaking Thunderbird to make it work or is there
>an SMTP client
That should read "is there an SMTP _server_...
> that is simple to install and that does not rely on
>using Port 25. Bigpond blocks Port 25 although they do support "Smart
>Hosting".

Re: I can"t connect to my ISP with Thunderbird

David Segall wrote:

>Last weekend my ISP, Bigpond , made some
>changes to their mail such that I can no longer reliably send mail
>using Thunderbird. It occasionally works but usually gives the
>message:
>
>"Sending of message failed.

Do you have any details about what changes they made? It would be
easier to come up with an explanation if we knew what they'd done. Do
you know that they actually did something or are you assuming it ust
be them who have changed something because that's when your software
stopped working? Are you sure it isn't something you have done?

If they have changed something then my guess would be that they've
changed the authentication system in some way. ISPs don't want just
anyone to be able to send mail through their outgoing mail server so
they check in some way that you are authorised to use it. Checking
that you connected to one of their range of IP numbers would seem like
a good check but for some reason it is not often used. Instead they
use either "check before send" or they require a password on send.

With the check before send method, they will allow clients on your IP
number to send mail provide you have successfully checked a POP3
mailbox in the previous 10 minutes, (or 2 minutes, or 20 minutes, or
whatever interval they deem acceptable). If you've checked a POP3
mailbox then your client must have supplied a password to do it. If
you are only trying to send a message using Thunderbird then this may
explain why it works intermittently. Sometimes it will work because
you are still within the authorisation window from a previous check
mail. If you can do "Check before send" on Thunderbird, that would
help solve this problem.

Looking at Big Pond's help pages, they do require authentication for
"Internet Direct Customers". Are you an Internet Direct customer? If
so, you should be setting up your mail program to use SMTP
Authentication, and it uses the same username and password as your
POP3 mailbox.

Re: I can"t connect to my ISP with Thunderbird

In article ,
David Segall wrote:
:>Is there some way of tweaking Thunderbird to make it work or is there
:>an SMTP client
:That should read "is there an SMTP _server_...
:> that is simple to install and that does not rely on
:>using Port 25.

Maybe some of the really obscure ones like sendmail, postfix, etc.

Seriously, where did you find an SMTP server that _cannot_ be configured
to listen on an arbitrary port?

--
Bob Nichols AT comcast.net I am "RNichols42"