Hotmail blocking OTE!

[EvasVlakas]

Hello,

I don't write Greek, I only speak it, badly.

As of 30.08.2010 Hotmail (Microsoft) and Live.com (" ") are blocking all emails coming out of the OTE domain. Below is the message.

Anybody else experience this? I will call OTE today.

EV

SMTP error from remote mail server after MAIL FROM:<> SIZE=2627:
host mx1.hotmail.com [65.55.37.120]: 550 SC-001 Mail rejected by Windows Live Hotmail for policy reasons. Reasons for rejection may be related to content with spam-like characteristics or IP/domain reputation problems. If you are not an email/network admin please contact your E-mail/Internet Service Provider for help. Email/network admins, please visit http://postmaster.live.com for email delivery information and support

........Auto merged post: EvasVlakas πρόσθεσε 5 λεπτά και 40 δευτερόλεπτα αργότερα ........

I also want to point out that the email message sent was business related, not spam. The same email sent to Yahoo was not bounced.

EV

........Auto merged post: EvasVlakas πρόσθεσε 3 λεπτά και 21 δευτερόλεπτα αργότερα ........

Further, this is happening for all my emails going to Hotmail or Live.com as of yesterday.

I run an online business here in Greece, and if this continues I will have to move back to the USA...oh well, perhaps it's true what expats say about Greece: great place to visit for vacation but not good for most foreigners doing serious business.

[wesker]

Hello friend. I do not know why do you have this problem, i just tested it by sending an e-mail from my otenet acount to my hotmail and everything went fine. The Test e-mail was sent to my inbox in hotmail without anything blocking it. Sometimes Hotmail blocks and has serious issues that's why it is considered to me as completely useless to anything else but MSN. You should better call OTE for further investigation.

[EvasVlakas]

Yasou friend,

Thank you for your reply. I investigated more:

1) Go here: http://www.senderbase.org/senderbase_queries/rep_lookup , enter your IP address (found from here: http://whatismyipaddress.com/ )

2) you will see that OTE has a poor reputation? Notice the red marks (bad reputation). Is this true for you too? I tried various IP addresses (from different days when I log in, as I recorded my IP addresses every day), and everytime two red marks, sometimes five red marks for my IP addresses.

Now I see why it was blocked. But my question is: why has this not happened before to me? I have been living in Greece since 2004. Yesterday is the first time I was blocked by Microsoft. I do not send out spam, only regular email to friends and business email. I checked to see if my hard drive has a webroot virus or spambot virus but Kaspersky anti-virus says it is clean.

Also, you say this is common for Microsoft. Why do you say that? Have you been blocked before by Microsoft? Have you heard of others in Greece being blocked? If this is a Microsoft only problem of course I will stop using them, but I need more information.

OTE says it is not their problem, but they may be lying. Perhaps they know something but don't want to admit it. I want to see if I am the only person being blocked or if it's everybody using OTE. This is my question.

Efxaristo,

AV

[anon]

OTE (and Forthnet too) had (and still have) issues from spamming from time to time. OTE had very serious problem, not only with hotmail but also with other providers in USA and Canada. In fact it had more problems with the ISP's and not so many with hotmail and other webmail services. We had a lot of problems (and most of the time till now have) with Shaw Canada.

The problem is aroused because of the relatively low/late respond to action of spamming of their subscribers, but also of the use of spamblock services which do not work as expected. There are some RBL (spam block services), which they offer their services for free, but the block some domains and subnets very easily and they require a hefty amount of money to remove their spam block. As a result, if a provider or service use their services, essentially the let these assumed spamblockers to blackmail others. They offer you a remove in one week or more for free, or immediately for some money (until they enlist you again), or an immunization on a subscription basis. Go guess....

It is quite embarrasing that even large ISP's or webmail services are using these "free" services. Perhaps, in my dirty mind, there are not only free, but royalties are collected in return of the favor...

[EvilHawk]

Yasou friend,

Thank you for your reply. I investigated more:

1) Go here: http://www.senderbase.org/senderbase_queries/rep_lookup , enter your IP address (found from here: http://whatismyipaddress.com/ )

2) you will see that OTE has a poor reputation? Notice the red marks (bad reputation). Is this true for you too? I tried various IP addresses (from different days when I log in, as I recorded my IP addresses every day), and everytime two red marks, sometimes five red marks for my IP addresses.


That's normal, dynamic ips will always get a bad reputation, mailgate.otenet.gr, which you have to use as your outgoing email server(SMTP), has a neutral reputation and will not get blocked ...

........Auto merged post: EvilHawk πρόσθεσε 3 λεπτά και 38 δευτερόλεπτα αργότερα ........


OTE (and Forthnet too) had (and still have) issues from spamming from time to time.

That's not the case here Sava, i think he is trying to use his own mail server over a dynamic ip ... ;)

[anon]

if he is trying to use a dynamic ip as a mail server, then it is not peculiar that he may have issues. In that case, he may use as a mail gateway the mail server of his provider, so he can circumvent the use of his own ip address speaking directly with the other mail servers. In that scenario you are using the providers mail server, kinda like a proxy / gateway. In sendmail configuration it's easy, you either define the providers mail server as smarthost in sendmail.mc or you use a default mail route to providers mail server in mailertable file.

[cca]

if he is trying to use a dynamic ip as a mail server, then it is not peculiar that he may have issues. In that case, he may use as a mail gateway the mail server of his provider, so he can circumvent the use of his own ip address speaking directly with the other mail servers. In that scenario you are using the providers mail server, kinda like a proxy / gateway. In sendmail configuration it's easy, you either define the providers mail server as smarthost in sendmail.mc or you use a default mail route to providers mail server in mailertable file.
I concur, it is the only way not to have issues like this, I do the same with postfix in Linux, using mailgate.otenet.gr as a relay host.

[EvasVlakas]

I concur, it is the only way not to have issues like this, I do the same with postfix in Linux, using mailgate.otenet.gr as a relay host.

'Parathesi' means quote. I'm learning to read Greek, this is great. After another 25 years of practice I'll be able to read like a first grader! :-)

What I do is use OTEnet for my pass through internet provider (that is, I use their ADSL modem connected to my telephone wire to connect to the internet), then I use, as my mail server, a company called Earthlink.net in the USA, and their SMTP email servers.

BTW this problem 'went away' after I complained to OTE. Maybe they fiddled something?

I'd also like to discuss--maybe in another thread--why OTE practices "throttling" of internet connection speeds. I notice every afternoon I lose my internet connections (or they slow down). I don't lose Skype (since it's the first to log on, and it stays persistent) but it slows down and drops calls sometimes. Too many people online? Yet I paid for the 1024 Mbps (I believe), the highest internet access. And I don't send out lots of data--just routine internet surfing, with maybe 5 to 10 windows open at a time (tabs on browsers).

Very frustrating. You cannot do business in Greece via the internet I've concluded. "Luckily" my business is down, due to the American recession, so I don't have that much business to do! But if it picks up again I might have to relocate back to the USA. This place, sadly, is only good for tourists not locals.

Yasou,

AV

[sdikr]

'Parathesi' means quote. I'm learning to read Greek, this is great. After another 25 years of practice I'll be able to read like a first grader! :-)

What I do is use OTEnet for my pass through internet provider (that is, I use their ADSL modem connected to my telephone wire to connect to the internet), then I use, as my mail server, a company called Earthlink.net in the USA, and their SMTP email servers.

BTW this problem 'went away' after I complained to OTE. Maybe they fiddled something?

I'd also like to discuss--maybe in another thread--why OTE practices "throttling" of internet connection speeds. I notice every afternoon I lose my internet connections (or they slow down). I don't lose Skype (since it's the first to log on, and it stays persistent) but it slows down and drops calls sometimes. Too many people online? Yet I paid for the 1024 Mbps (I believe), the highest internet access. And I don't send out lots of data--just routine internet surfing, with maybe 5 to 10 windows open at a time (tabs on browsers).

Very frustrating. You cannot do business in Greece via the internet I've concluded. "Luckily" my business is down, due to the American recession, so I don't have that much business to do! But if it picks up again I might have to relocate back to the USA. This place, sadly, is only good for tourists not locals.

Yasou,

AV

If you use earthlink as your smtp server, then it has nothing to do with your connection to Otenet, hotmail is having trouble with the smtp server of earthlink
perhaps you should try to use mailgate.otenet.gr to do business

[Georgevtr]

Pls tell me the story of your nickname:p

[silegav]

Except from mail servers, several times spam lists place specific accounts or specific mail providers in black lists and frequently this can be fixed with an email to the entity that owns the spam list. I suppose that this is what happened in your case and the problem was fixed. You informed OTE, OTE informed the provider (hotmail?) and hotmail removed your mail account from the black list.


I'd also like to discuss--maybe in another thread--why OTE practices "throttling" of internet connection speeds. I notice every afternoon I lose my internet connections (or they slow down). I don't lose Skype (since it's the first to log on, and it stays persistent) but it slows down and drops calls sometimes. Too many people online? Yet I paid for the 1024 Mbps (I believe), the highest internet access. And I don't send out lots of data--just routine internet surfing, with maybe 5 to 10 windows open at a time (tabs on browsers).

For this one, you should complain directly and explicitly to OTE.It is obvious that you have an issue with your land line. Unfortunately you are right about the quality of greek ISPs but we all hope that competition will boost development and generate investments in this sector.

[EvasVlakas]

If you use earthlink as your smtp server, then it has nothing to do with your connection to Otenet, hotmail is having trouble with the smtp server of earthlink
perhaps you should try to use mailgate.otenet.gr to do business

But that cannot be true my friend. Using OTE has "nothing to do" with the Hotmail problem I agree (and anyway that problem happened once in the 6 years I've lived here in Athens--besides it went away after I complained), but "throttling" (Google this) is an OTE problem and practice. And this "throttling" happens on afternoons--always. I thought it might be my house only, but I've concluded it is OTE's practice (and I've seen it practiced in other developing countries too).

No, I say again: Greece is not for serious business, as the Chinese have found out in Pireaus recently, but only for foreign tourists to come once in their life to visit the ruins, get drunk on the beach, and drink ouzo shots. OPA!

http://www.adslgr.com/forum/images/smilies/lol.gif

Now...Kataxurisi apantisis means 'proceed reply' so that must mean GO!
EV

[cca]

If you refer to network throttling, I see no such thing in my own ADSL. BUT! There is a big "but" here. I don't live anywhere near Athens or any big city.

What you experience is at 99% network congestion, which, and this is NOT a coincidence, starts to happen in ther afternoon after the state and public services are closed and schools are over too. Many of those people go directly home and and turn on their PCs. No mystery behind this, also varies greatly by region.

[EvasVlakas]

If you refer to network throttling, I see no such thing in my own ADSL. BUT! There is a big "but" here. I don't live anywhere near Athens or any big city.

What you experience is at 99% network congestion, which, and this is NOT a coincidence, starts to happen in ther afternoon after the state and public services are closed and schools are over too. Many of those people go directly home and and turn on their PCs. No mystery behind this, also varies greatly by region.

Yes, network congestion, but it also happens at 13:00 not just 17:00! Very bad network connection. So bad, I probably will move back to the USA when business picks up. That bad. It's very very annoying, and I have lost clients since even Skype will sometimes fail when such network congestion hits. I had a big client tell me (who used me once): "I would use you again, but since you are working from Greece I notice when talking to you sometimes my call gets dropped--and I don't like that". That was a very big client--cost me probably USD $100000 in lost future revenue.

Goodbye Greece. Now I see why people say...it's a great place to visit, but not to live there unless retired. And of course these are Greek speaking people, not tourists.

EV...now hit 'kataxoprsi apavtisis' -- proceed with reply--I have no idea what the proemiskopisi message means--must mean 'preview message'! :-D

[emeliss]

Bad business choices. You shouldn't use skype to talk to a $100000 client. The bad decision isn't the country. It's that you use free tools for home to do business.

[mephisto]

Bad business choices. You shouldn't use skype to talk to a $100000 client. The bad decision isn't the country. It's that you use free tools for home to do business.

i think that you have a point there.;)

[EvasVlakas]

"Bad business choices. You shouldn't use skype to talk to a $100000 client. The bad decision isn't the country. It's that you use free tools for home to do business."

No. You don't know business. Many businesses use Skype, even corporations. In the USA I had no problems using Skype. And this client called me using my Skype number, which I advertise, I did not call him.

BTW, I am leaving Greece next year because of the bad internet connections. I am going to relocate to Singapore, which has US-style superior infrastructure. And BTW I am not a "spammer" who sends out thousands of emails--I send out maybe 10 emails a day. But I need a fast internet connection to operate (I do heavy research online as well as talk via Skype). Many fellow professional Greeks have left Greece for the same reason--no professional services in Greece. It's become a nation of small shopkeepers and those that cater to the tourist trade (and of course the 'epourgia', government workers).

I was warned against relocating to Greece by fellow professional class Greeks who live outside now. They were right, I was wrong.

Of course I still intend to come here on holiday, like many expats do.

Xponia Polla, kales giortes,

EvasVlakas
(pou xeri kaletera gia tnv Ellada apo tiv nomezes, athefe)

[Seitman]

Nice...
But you didn't tell us where you came from to Greece ;)

[PGouv]

BTW, I am leaving Greece next year because of the bad internet connections.

This excuse is childish.... Buy a leased line if internet is your problem and you have a lot of money.
Use phone,email in case skype isnt working for you.

[psyxakias]

Good to hear that you figured the hotmail blacklist issue. Good luck to your new location and ISP. :hello