Error Message

[John Graham]

Using Outlook Express 6, Windows XP Home, MS IE 7

Receive below listed error message for all outgoing messages even when
sending a one-line email to myself. Able to receive emails O.K. Other
identity on same server account is OK (sending and receiving)

The message could not be sent because its size exceeded the server's limit.
You can use the option, located in Tools | Accounts | Properties | Advanced,
to break messages into smaller parts. Subject 'Test', Account:
'pop.east.cox.net', Server: 'smtp.east.cox.net', Protocol: SMTP, Server
Response: '552 5.2.0 NeG81b00B5Rmqh802eG8FF This message was undeliverable.
This message has been found to be a potential spam message, and has
therefore been blocked. Please visit http://coxagainstspam.cox.net for more
information.', Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 552, Error Number:
0x800CCC6D

Have contacted ISP and confirmed that acct settings and info is correct. POP
setting is 110 and SMTP setting is 25. Was able to ping service provider
O.K. Tried testing access to Port 25 by using telnet command. i.e. "telnet
25" received the following message..."could not open connection to host, on
port "23". connect failed."
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
John

[VanguardLH]

John Graham wrote:

Well, did port 25 to their SMTP server *ever* work for you before? Or
did you just start trying to use their e-mail service and this is a
first-time setup problem?

My guess is that Cox switched to using port 587 for end-user connects to
their SMTP server. Port 25 was supposed to be used only between SMTP
hosts, not by end-point clients which were supposed to use port 587
(since 1998 per RFC 2476; http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2476.txt).

When I run:

telnet smtp.east.cox.net 25

there is no connection. That is probably because their server no longer
listens on that port. When I run:

telnet smtp.east.cox.net 587

there is an immediate connect and I see their welcome line. So try port
587. Their tech support should have known about the port change but
sometimes support reps aren't told (or their database of scripted
responses aren't updated) if the change was recent (which could be
anywhere up to several months after the change).

Port 25 has been used by e-mail clients for 30 years and only recently
(in last 5 years) have they begun to comply with RFC 2476 that was
ratified in 1998. Primarily the change to is to thwart mail trojans
running on their infected customers' hosts and only distantly secondly
to comply with the RFC. Complying with the RFC was merely an easy
change to assist in reducing spam spewing from their customers' hosts.

Cox's web help pages are overly terse and omit showing what you should
use for other settings than the minimum needed (which was before they
changed ports). They don't show setting the port number. The old web
help pages assumed the defaults typical of most e-mail clients (of using
port 25 for SMTP). Well, yeah, that's to what e-mail clients still
default but that's not valid now.

Call Cox back and ask their tech rep if they changed from port 25 for
SMTP to port 587. If true, update your account in Outlook - and tell
the tech rep to issue a trouble ticket to get their web help pages
updated!

There is also the possibility that Cox simply terminated your use of
their SMTP server by blocking any port 25 (SMTP) traffic for your
account. If they think you have been spamming, they may have killed
port 25 traffic to keep you from further spamming. However, my IP
address wouldn't be for any of their accounts and I could not telnet
using port 25 but could get connected using port 587. I think they
switched ports for SMTP.

Apparently the port switch isn't really that new. See:

http://www.oit.ucsb.edu/CHSI.asp

That started back in 2003.

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Despite what your ISP says, the message is coming from their server, not OE.

How large was the message (total size, including any attachments)?

Did you "visit http://coxagainstspam.cox.net for more information" before
you called your ISP??
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002
AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
DTS-L http://dts-l.net/

[Michael Santovec]

Your ISP's spam filters have flagged a message that your are trying to
send as spam. You must go to the Outbox folder, select that message and
delete it. You will not be able to send any other messages until you do
that.

--

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm

"John Graham" <jm...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:pkbrl.54523$2O4....@newsfe03.iad...

[John Graham]

Thanks for the help. The problem was resolved by changing the identity name
on the account from John to John Graham. All other settings and email id
remained the same. Not sure how or why this worked. Would one word vs. two
make a difference? Anyway, the ISP technician continued to maintain that
their spam filters were not involved with the problem, as I was able to send
mail O.K. on their Webmail system. Also, Cox is still using Port 25 in my
area. Thank you again for your input.
John

"John Graham" <jm...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:pkbrl.54523$2O4....@newsfe03.iad...

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Tools | Accounts | Mail | [account] | Properties | General | Name (box) =>
Had the account ever worked with "John" selected here?

John Graham wrote:
> Thanks for the help. The problem was resolved by changing the identity
> name
> on the account from John to John Graham. All other settings and email id
> remained the same. Not sure how or why this worked. Would one word vs. two
> make a difference? Anyway, the ISP technician continued to maintain that
> their spam filters were not involved with the problem, as I was able to
> send
> mail O.K. on their Webmail system. Also, Cox is still using Port 25 in my
> area. Thank you again for your input.
>

[John Graham]

Yes, it had worked for many years with "John".

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Thank you. Did Cox Support tell you that this was a new requirement? (I
ask because I'm dealing with another Cox subscriber in another OE newsgroup
who posted essentially the same error message.)

[John Graham]

No, the guy that helped me was from a Cox Security Office in San Diego. He
spent a lot of time trying different things and said he had never seen this
problem before. He couldn't figure out how changing the identity made a
difference, unless maybe something had changed in OE with the original
"John" identity. He did not think the Cox Spam filters were involved.

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Wait, are you referring to your OE identity (i.e., File | Identities |
Manage identities) or the NAME box found at Tools | Accounts | Mail |
[na...@cox.net account] | Properties | General?

[John Graham]

Yes, the OE identity. i.e. File/Identities/Manage Identities/Add New
Identity

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Ah! And have you managed to import your messages from the old identity into
the new one?

To avoid such problems in the future, strictly adhere to the following
caveats:

- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

- Frequently perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working
offline". More at http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

- Do not cancel Automatic Compacting, should it occur, and do not attempt to
close OE via Task Manager or shutdown your machine if Automatic Compacting
is taking place.

- Disable email scanning by your anti-virus application. It can cause
corruption (i.e., loss of messages) and provides no additional protection:

Why you don't need your anti-virus to scan your email
http://thundercloud.net/infoave/tutorials/email-scanning/index.htm

--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002
AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
DTS-L http://dts-l.net/