45 Delay via Gmail SMTP

[StriderSEO]

I have a few clients using Google Apps. One is consistently
experiencing a 45 minute delay on sent messages. I can see this in a
couple ways:
1) Email sent to me appears in my inbox well down the list of today's
received emails. Viewing the email immediately when it arrives shows
the time in the top-right corner with "48 minutes ago" in brackets.
The actualy time varies from 46 to 48 minutes, but it's very
consistently in that neighbourhood.
2) Emails to the client from their ecommerce site arrive for the
client with the same delay.

Both myself and the client are using the web interface, no desktop
applications. All messages are being sent through the Gmail SMTP
server. There are no attachments.

With the delay being this consistent it seems to point to an issue
with the Gmail SMTP server. However, it seems to only be happening on
some accounts.

Anyone else seeing this behaviour?

[Zack (Doc)]

Are you sure the messages are actually delayed (as in confirm when
they hit send, and when you see it in your box), or more likely they
have the wrong time on their computer. Google takes the time from
your computer, so if they're off, it will timestamp all the messages
like they were from the other time.

Here's a thread in the official help group (with Google Employees)
explaining it for two different people:
http://groups.google.com/group/Gmail-Help-Reading-Messages-en/browse_thread/thread/5371f8923e1b4544/e1a6a2889d6c2d99?lnk=raot

--

Bill Vaughan - "A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight
for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national
election."

[StriderSEO]

Yes, I'm sure.

Also, remember there is an email being sent from the ecommerce site
via the SMTP server to the client. We see it being sent, then arrive
~45 minutes later.

All clocks are set correctly :)

Ryan

On Sep 12, 2:04 pm, "Zack (Doc)" <z...@tnan.net> wrote:
> Are you sure the messages are actually delayed (as in confirm when
> they hit send, and when you see it in your box), or more likely they
> have the wrong time on their computer.  Google takes the time from
> your computer, so if they're off, it will timestamp all the messages
> like they were from the other time.
>
> Here's a thread in the official help group (with Google Employees)

> explaining it for two different people:http://groups.google.com/group/Gmail-Help-Reading-Messages-en/browse_...

[StriderSEO]

Am I the only one who is experiencing this?

It's a consistent problem, has been for a few weeks.

Ryan

[Sean Murphy]

    I wouldn't know. I don't use any email for anything that is time-sensitive enough for 45 minutes to be noticeable, since email delivery times are basically random, depending as they do on how many servers they get routed through on the way, and if there are any delays on any of them. Odds are, if it took over a day for emails to arrive, I still might not notice...

--Like Syrup of Ipecac,
these are the days of our lives

[Julie]

You are not by any chance using GMail to POP the emails from another adress are you?

If you are then this can happen as Gmail only checks every now and again.  The more messages that are downloaded, the more often it checks, I think.

Julie Fisher

[StriderSEO]

Julie,

Sadly, no - that would have been a reasonable answer. However, the
emails in this case are being sent from the Gmail SMTP server to a
Gmail IMAP account that is using the web interface. What makes this so
strange is that the Gmail to Gmail messages are usually near to
instantaneous. To have some mail delayed so much, and only on one
account, seems very strange.

Of course, telling a client "that's weird" doesn't inspire a lot of
confidence :)

Ryan

[Nick Chirchirillo]

Is your client using the paid version of Google Apps?  If they are, then you can get phone support from Google directly.  This seems like something that they would be able to help you with more than fellow users.

--
-Nick