How come my mail won't send when I'm on a different network?

[Jay42]

This is probably (hopefully) a simple question. I configured Apple mail to work with my gmail and comcast accounts, which works great when I am at home. But if I go other places, like to a friends house or a different wifi network, the mail bounces back when I try to send it and I get a message like this. Is there a configuration I can change so this won't happen?

 

[mad jew]

To keep an eye on possible spammers from their own network, some ISPs will not let you send mail through anything other than their own SMTP address. The best workaround is to either try using port 587 instead, or to use the ISP's own SMTP address.

 

[AlBDamned]

This is probably (hopefully) a simple question. I configured Apple mail to work with my gmail and comcast accounts, which works great when I am at home. But if I go other places, like to a friends house or a different wifi network, the mail bounces back when I try to send it and I get a message like this. Is there a configuration I can change so this won't happen?

You probably need a different outgoing mail server. So instead of comcast, it could be smtp.xnetwork.com.

 

[Nugget]

mad jew is correct, the proper solution is to use a port other than port 25. That is, assuming your ISP offers SMTP relay services on an alternative port. The submission port (587) is what is most commonly used for this purpose, but sometimes you might find it on the ssmtp port (465) or even some totally off-the-wall port like 8025.

Try those and if none of them work, call Comcast and ask if they have any suggestions.

 

[skybolt]

When I travel and have this problem, I just switch to the gmail server and mail goes just fine. Could work for you!

 

[mkrishnan]

One caveat is that a lot of the ISP SMTPs (not sure about Comcast) don't allow for authentication or external access to their SMTPs (except maybe for their own accounts?). This complicates things because, if you're using the comcast SMTP right now, it may not work when you're elsewhere to switch it to port 587. The GMail one should work fine. I think, but I'm not sure, that if you set it up so that GMail uses Google's SMTP on 587, and Comcast uses Comcast's SMTP on 587, you'll be good.