Free SMTP Server

  • Thread starter Thread starter jo
  • Start date Start date
J

jo

This seems to work... maybe i will be able to dump ADR at last. In the
few tests I have given this it seems much faster and more reliable than
ADR.
AOL on a laptop and you really need something that works and the crappy
new fangled smtp.aol.com is as bad as one would expect. when I have the
time I will push this app hard and see if i can make it fall over

http://www.softstack.com/
 
Hello,
This seems to work... maybe i will be able to dump ADR at last.
In the few tests I have given this it seems much faster and more
reliable than ADR.
Click to expand...
AOL on a laptop and you really need something that works and the
crappy new fangled smtp.aol.com is as bad as one would expect.
when I have the time I will push this app hard and see if i can
make it fall over

http://www.softstack.com/
Click to expand...

I don't think a local SMTP server is a solution for problems with
your providers server. I have seen many spam detection systems,
that do not trust mails send from dial-in IPs, sometimes even not
mails sent from another server than the server in sender adress.
Also problems may occur, when the server that should receive the
mails, is not available. The SMTP server should retry connection
later, and reject mail only days later. This is a bit difficult
on systems that are not connected 24-7, and even when page for
"Free SMTP Server" does not mention, but "Advanced" says, that
mails are not saved temporarry, just forwarded.

I only use a local SMTP for testing websystems (PHP etc.) locally.

Regards,
Thorsten
 
Thorsten said:
Hello,



I don't think a local SMTP server is a solution for problems with
your providers server.
Click to expand...

It is essential for those of us who use AOL and want freedom from
their useless software; they have recently started to try to improve
their position by introducing IMAP and SMTP (albeit on a non standard
port) But their SMTP is wholly unreliable and so a standalone server
is nice.
I have seen many spam detection systems,
that do not trust mails send from dial-in IPs, sometimes even not
mails sent from another server than the server in sender adress.
Also problems may occur, when the server that should receive the
mails, is not available. The SMTP server should retry connection
later, and reject mail only days later. This is a bit difficult
on systems that are not connected 24-7, and even when page for
"Free SMTP Server" does not mention, but "Advanced" says, that
mails are not saved temporarry, just forwarded.
Click to expand...

ADR triggers spam filters in some servers, noteably AOL's - LOL - ,
the app under discussion appears not to atm; I will put a bit of work
into it and see what happens
 
jo said:
It is essential for those of us who use AOL and want freedom from
their useless software; they have recently started to try to improve
their position by introducing IMAP and SMTP (albeit on a non standard
port) But their SMTP is wholly unreliable and so a standalone server
is nice.
Click to expand...

The best solution is to get a mail account which is independent from
your ISP.

Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is AOL, I guess.
AOL sells you a connection to internet.

You should not use their email servers, get email accounts elsewhere.
Search for free email accounts, find those which give you an SMTP server
also. Use it, and forget about the crappy service AOL has to offer.

You only need AOL to get connected, after that you decide what services
you want to use.
If you move or change your ISP you will have to change your address too,
if you do not get an email account which is independent from your way to
get connected to internet at the moment.
 
Roger said:
The best solution is to get a mail account which is independent from
your ISP.

Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is AOL, I guess.
AOL sells you a connection to internet.

You should not use their email servers, get email accounts elsewhere.
Search for free email accounts, find those which give you an SMTP server
also. Use it, and forget about the crappy service AOL has to offer.

You only need AOL to get connected, after that you decide what services
you want to use.
Click to expand...

Nope.

Sending a mail on an AOL dial up remains an interesting software
exercise.

Trust me on this :-)
 
Nope.

Sending a mail on an AOL dial up remains an interesting software
exercise.

Trust me on this :-)
Click to expand...

Ugh. Do they block connections to port 25?

A lot of mailservers accept ESMTP submissions to port 587, worth a try.
 
Search for free email accounts, find those which give you an SMTP server
also. Use it, and forget about the crappy service AOL has to offer.
Click to expand...

I can't speak for AOL (having always had enough sense to avoid them) but I
do know that many ISPs won't let you use any smtp server except for their
own, when sending email. This is a right royal pita for those of us who use
laptops at several locations, connecting through different ISPs, and
especially for those with many email accounts.
You only need AOL to get connected, after that you decide what services
you want to use.
Click to expand...

Ah, but AOL doesn't like that. Their installation gets in *everywhere*. (My
first reason for always avoiding them.)
If you move or change your ISP you will have to change your address too,
if you do not get an email account which is independent from your way to
get connected to internet at the moment.
Click to expand...

Agreed. It makes far more sense to have an email address you can keep. Best
way is to have a domain of your own, followed by a paid-for account
(because pay-fors don't disappear as regularly as free providers), but it's
possible to do it for free, even if it's only an address which doesn't
exist in its own right but forwards to your-address@your-isp.
 
I can't speak for AOL (having always had enough sense to avoid them) but I
do know that many ISPs won't let you use any smtp server except for their
own, when sending email. This is a right royal pita for those of us who use
laptops at several locations, connecting through different ISPs, and
especially for those with many email accounts.
Click to expand...

They often block smtp servers run by the users inside their local net,
but they do not block the use of external smtp servers, outside their
own local net.

I have always used independent mail accounts, smtp servers outside the
local area network of my ISP.

So, you may not be able to run your own smtp server, but you can use a
free mail account located outside the local ISP domain.

Find a free mail account which has an smtp server and try it.
 
They often block smtp servers run by the users inside their local net,
but they do not block the use of external smtp servers, outside their
own local net.
Click to expand...

Some do.
I have always used independent mail accounts, smtp servers outside the
local area network of my ISP.

So, you may not be able to run your own smtp server, but you can use a
free mail account located outside the local ISP domain.

Find a free mail account which has an smtp server and try it.
Click to expand...

I have. Some ISPs do block you from sending anything from your email
client using any smtp server other than their own. I've had email accounts
from several providers with smtp servers provided, and now most of my
email addresses are provided as part of my webhosting package, but some
ISPs still won't send using those. For example when I connected last year
through Bell Canada, I was only able to use their (very spotty) smtp
server. (They were completely clueless on tech support about this issue
too, and - interestingly - several months after I'd closed my account with
them, I was still able to send using their smtp server - so much for
security!)
 
»Q« said:
Ugh. Do they block connections to port 25?
Nope

A lot of mailservers accept ESMTP submissions to port 587, worth a try.
Click to expand...

I don't know what you mean.

The challenge with AOL is to send mail using an ordinary mail client.
Any normal SMTP servers I have access to require me to be dialled in
to use them. AOL have recently woken up to SMTP but their server is
useless. No surprise there. So I continue to need a standalone server.

Free SMTP Server really does look rather good. It loads really fast
and appears to send mail quicker than Advanced Direct Remailer which
has been my preferred app to date.
It won't minimise to the sys tray which is a nuisance, and its window
cannot be made really small (probably cos they want you to see the ad
for their mass mailer).
 
I don't know what you mean.
Click to expand...

It would only be useful if AOL was stopping you from connecting to
remote servers on port 25, the standard SMTP port. E.g., if I were
using an ISP which blocked port 25 (which is unfortunately a fairly
common practice now), I could just set my mail client to connect to
send mail through mail.gmx.net:587 rather than mail.gmx.net:25.
The challenge with AOL is to send mail using an ordinary mail
client. Any normal SMTP servers I have access to require me to be
dialled in to use them.
Click to expand...

Ah, now I see what the hurdle is. I wish servers would stop requiring
that and simply move to smtp-auth.
AOL have recently woken up to SMTP but
their server is useless. No surprise there. So I continue to need
a standalone server.

Free SMTP Server really does look rather good. It loads really
fast and appears to send mail quicker than Advanced Direct
Remailer which has been my preferred app to date.
It won't minimise to the sys tray which is a nuisance, and its
window cannot be made really small (probably cos they want you to
see the ad for their mass mailer).
Click to expand...

Hamster Playground might be worth a look as well. I don't need to
connect directly to recipients' servers, so I use Hamster Classic.
Classic can be made to connect directly, but it's a PiTA IMO. With
Playground, it's easy.

<http://www.elbiah.de/hamster/>

<http://www.elbiah.de/hamster/doc/howto/mailmx.htm>
 
jo said:
This seems to work... maybe i will be able to dump ADR at last. In the
few tests I have given this it seems much faster and more reliable than
ADR.
AOL on a laptop and you really need something that works and the crappy
new fangled smtp.aol.com is as bad as one would expect. when I have the
time I will push this app hard and see if i can make it fall over

http://www.softstack.com/
Click to expand...

OK. It's fallen over; the first time a server refuses it, it throws up
an error msg and goes to sleep.
ADR is totally aggressive and never stops... :-)

One day I will find a replacement for ADR. This is not it.
 
»Q« said:
Ah, now I see what the hurdle is. I wish servers would stop requiring
that and simply move to smtp-auth.
Click to expand...

I suppose there are a few abuse issues
Hamster Playground might be worth a look as well. I don't need to
connect directly to recipients' servers, so I use Hamster Classic.
Classic can be made to connect directly, but it's a PiTA IMO. With
Playground, it's easy.
Click to expand...

I must look at Hamster again, if only for this. Last time I used it
was a few yrs ago and it was described as 'buggy beta bananaware'
:-)
 
I must look at Hamster again, if only for this. Last time I used
it was a few yrs ago and it was described as 'buggy beta
bananaware'
:-)
Click to expand...

It's pretty solid now. But I think you may run into the same kind of
trouble you did with "Advanced SMTP Server". Ususally if a server
refuses an e-mail, Hamster Classic puts it in a mail.errors directory
and sends you a notification e-mail; I imagine Playground does the
same. Unfortunately, many mailservers will refuse messages from home
users who try to connect directly to them, because of the spam problem.
 
»Q« said:
Unfortunately, many mailservers will refuse messages from home
users who try to connect directly to them, because of the spam problem.
Click to expand...

The only mailserver I know that refuses mail from ADR is AOL...
 
Back
Top