Unable to send emails

[Lindajane59]

I've been unable to send or reply to emails for a couple of days.  I've checked my outgoing details and there is no server connection.  Incoming is fine.

I tried a chat on virgin media last night, was in a queue for a couple of hours then chose to transfer to whatsapp. No response until this morning, was told changing my password would sort it.  I questioned how that would fix a server issue but was assured it would.  Changed it and of course it didn't solve the problem.  I went back onto the thread, reply received around 7.30 when I was in a zoom meeting and couldn't reply so back in the queue.

Fed up been trying to sort this with them for a day and I still can't send emails

[用心棒]

It would be helpful to see what, if any, VM error code is returned by the SMTP server in this situation. Either for:

Windows
Open a Command Shell and enter the following where username:password is replaced with your email address and password, i.e. richard.branson@virginmedia.com:Y54kpX5g:

curl -sv smtps://smtp.virginmedia.com -u username:password 2>&1 | findstr "214 VM"

BSD, Linux, MacOS, etc.
Open a Terminal and enter the following where username:password is replaced with your email address and password, i.e. richard.branson@virginmedia.com:Y54kpX5g:

curl -sv smtps://smtp.virginmedia.com -u username:password 2>&1 | grep "214\\|VM" 

Post just the VM error code returned here or that authentication succeeded, for example, result of unsuccessful authentication would return something similar to:

< 535 5.7.8 Authentication Credentials Invalid (VM300)

whereas success would return::

⋮
214-2.0.0 This is cmsmtp ESMTP service help
214-2.0.0 To contact postmaster send email to postmaster@virginmedia.com.
214-2.0.0 For local information send email to Postmaster at your site.
214 2.0.0 end of HELP info

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[Lindajane59]

Sorry that's a bit too technical for me.

I have an android phone/tablet so assume its the second option but I have no idea what a terminal is.

If I check my outgoing settings, everything looks as it should:

Smtp server: smtp@blueyonder.co.uk

Security: ssl

Port: 465

But when I click on done, 8 get an error message:

Unable to connect to outgoing smtp server.

Unable to open server connection

[用心棒]

---

@Lindajane59 wrote:

⋮
I have an android phone/tablet so assume its the second option but I have no idea what a terminal is.
⋮

---

Unfortunately no as it lacks a terminal and likely the curl command.

To confirm if the issue is due to your settings try sending an email whilst connected to another network or via your mobile network.

[Lindajane59]

I'm with Virgin so it's their mobile network.

I don't know how to send using another network??

Tried again this morning but same result, cant connect to the server.

[用心棒]

Mobile network refers to use of the same network used to make voice calls to also carry data.

Try disabling Wi-Fi access on your mobile device and see if  able to send, then re-enable Wi-Fi and see if able to send. What was the result and what error messages were shown?

[Lindajane59]

So I disabled wifi on my phone and was able to send a test email.

But when I enabled again and tried to send I'm getting A message saying:

There was a problem connecting to your server.  Your email will be sent as soon as the connection is restored.

[用心棒]

For completeness, when the Wi-Fi was re-enabled were you able to browse the internet, i.e. go to My Virgin Media, etc?
Are you able to sign into webmail?

It does appear the public IP Address of your Wi-Fi connection is being denied access to Virgin Media's email service; possible cause include observed spamming activity, too many bad emails sent, etc. To try and determine the cause try:

1. browse to https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ip&ia=answer and note the Your IP address is value
2. go to https://www.spamhaus.org/lookup/
3. enter the Your IP address is value (from step 1) in the Search single IP, domain or hash field and select Lookup
4. what issues are reported; do not post the results here without redacting your public IP address from text and the underlying URLs?

Should that not reveal the cause then the next step would be to see if the forum team can check Virgin Media's blocklist.

[Lindajane59]

I've been unable to reply to or send emails for the past week.  I've changed my password, checked the outgoing settings, rebooting my wifi hub etc. but every time I try to send I get a message saying it can't connect to the server.  I can receive emails no problem and can send if I log into My Virgin Meda but I can't send from my phone, pad or laptop normally.  The emails just sit in my outbox,

I tried a chat with Virgin but after waiting for 2 hours transferred to whatsapp. That took me 2 days and the only advice I got was to change my password and they gave me a number for their helpline which I called today.  They told me to log out of my devices, log on to My Virgin Media and it should be fine as they'd checked and everything was ok.  I've done that but I still can't send from any of my devices.  I'm at a loss what to do next.  I don't want to have to log into Virgin every time I want to quickly reply to an email.

Weirdly, I was staying with a friend at the weekend and log on to her wifi when I'm there.    The emails that had been sitting in my outbox since last week then sent so I though the issue was sorted.  However, when I've come home and back on my virgin wifi I'm back to being told it can't connect to the server.

I did post a few days ago and someone kindly came back to me but to be honest it was all a bit too technical for me to follow.

[用心棒]

It does appear that Virgin Media's SMTP server is blocking access to your home network's public IP Address. Issue has been flagged to the forum team who will hopefully be able to: (a) determine reason for denied access and clear it; (b) advise what further action maybe required