Gmail SMTP problems

[MythosaAkira]

Anyone else having issues sending mail with Google Mail SMTP?

I switched to using the GMail SMTP server from Comcast's when the latter was giving me problems sending to Hotmail accounts. But in the past couple of days I've been having problems - I often have to re-enter my password when I'm sending a message (which I didn't have to do until now) and sometimes outgoing messages timeout before they're sent. They always go if I try a second or third time, but it's rather annoying.

I've checked the SMTP settings I'm using (in Thunderbird) against what's shown on the GMail site and they're the same. Nothing has changed overall on my side, and things were working fine up to Thursday. I was out of town from then until Sunday so I don't know if this manifested earlier for other people (or if it's just me).

 

[Morrus]

I'm having EXACTLY the same problem. Just started a couple of days ago for no reason. Except it doesn't work on my second and third times, either.

Anyone who finds the solution to this, I'd be grateful!

 

[Chris Tavares]

There's an excellent chance that Comcast is blocking all SMTP traffic that isn't going to their own servers. If that's the case, you're SOL.

Don't expect tech support to admit to blocking traffic either.

 

[MythosaAkira]

Sounds like that may be the case, according to this site:

http://support.netfirms.com/article.php?id=009

"Our most recent research has revealed that the following ISP's require their customers to use their own ISP's SMTP servers: Earthlink, Comcast, Sympatico, AT&T, Charter Communications, NetZero/Juno, MSN, and RCN."

I ended up switching back to Comcast in any case. Should work fine until they start blocking Hotmail again...

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

One of many reasons not to use Comcast. I used to run a closed relay on a non-standard port for me and my friends/co-workers to use, as a smart sysadmin will block outbound SMTP on his corporate network, too.

 

[Morrus]

I'm not using Comcast, and the problem solved itself for a day and came back again - so it's intermittent in some way. There must be another explanation.

 

[MythosaAkira]

I'm not using Comcast, and the problem solved itself for a day and came back again - so it's intermittent in some way. There must be another explanation.

Quite likely, though that doesn't mean Comcast (or the other listed ISPs) might still not be making it an issue.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find anything recent on-line concerning this problem...

 

[Morrus]

Gah! It was OK for a couple of days, and now it's doing it again. This is really annoying!

 

[Simplicity]

Someone fixed a similar problem here:

http://groups.google.com/group/Gmail-POP-and-Forwarding/browse_thread/thread/8f6db32277715a5a/9f46873f2bf3d94a?q=Google+Mail+SMTP+re-enter+password&rnum=1

If that doesn't work, you can try the Google "Help" link in the upper portion of the gmail page. And if you can't find anything there, you can try contacting Gmail support by clicking the link at the bottom of that page.