Enabling SMTP Authentication
Enabling SMTP Authentication
SMTP Authentication (SMTP AUTH) is required when sending email using most major ISP mail servers and corporate mail servers. SMTP Authentication is a username+password system which ensures only authorised senders (i.e: the ISP’s customers) can use the outgoing email server.
If SMTP Authentication is not enabled in the user’s email program or App (e.g: Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, etc.), or if the SMTP Authentication process fails (such as due to a wrong or mistyped username or password) most ISP email servers will not accept outbound email from the connection.
Unfortunately, mail servers are not very good at explaining why they have refused a connection, and because the Spamhaus PBL is used by mail servers to determine what to do with ‘unauthenticated’ connections, when Authentication fails, the error/reject messages (over which we have no control) tend to say “Blah blah, blocked… blah blah …Spamhaus” without explaining that all the user actually needs to do is turn SMTP Authentication on.
Things to double check if enabling SMTP Authentication does not work as expected:
- Is the information provided for the outgoing email server hostname, username, and password correct?
- Is SMTP Authentication working correctly on the email server? This may be a question for your ISP.
- Is the port number in use correct? For SMTP Authentication to function correctly, the port should be 587 or 465, not 25.
For help with configuring specific email software for SMTP Authentication, please consult your ISP user manuals or help webpages. Most companies publish a user portal with instructions that can be easily found with a websearch.
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