Why can I receive but not send email?
Has this ever happened to you? Your desktop email application is working fine and then one day you’re just unable to send email but yet you can still receive it? I did a Google search on “can receive but not send in (name of email program)” and quickly found out this is not a rare occurrence. In fact, one site called it the “biggest email configuration issue around”.
Here’s a common error message:
The connection to the server has failed. account ‘mail.xxxxx.us’, Server: ‘mail.xxxxx.us’, Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10060, Error Number: 0×800CCC0E
What does that mean? It means your ISP is blocking their users using any SMTP server other than their own. So if you’re hosting a website with a different company/ISP and have an email address from that hosting setup, if you try to use a desktop email application you’re likely to run into not being able to send emails but can receive them. What’s the solution? Thanks to the folks at propersupport.com, here’s the answer:
- To set up your ISP’s SMTP servers for your outgoing email you must click on your account settings in the email client you are using (Outlook Express, Eudora, Netscape etc.)
- In the SMTP (outgoing mail server) field you will enter smtp.earthlink.net (or whatever your dial up or direct access ISP’s SMTP server is) as your SMTP server. You must then enter your ISP’s username and password for that mail server.
- In Outlook Express it is at the bottom of that same tab. You must uncheck ‘My server requires authentication’ and click on ‘settings’ to enter your Earthlink (or your ISP’s) username and password.
“Your email will still be from your own domain name, the only difference is in the way it is routed throughout the Internet. Instead of being sent through our servers it is processed through Earthlink (or your ISP’s) servers. This allows Earthlink (or your ISP) to monitor its users.”
Visit powersupport.com to view some of the other common error messages and how to resolve them.