Dear EarthLink Subscriber,
We're improving our network security as part of our ongoing efforts to fight spam -- so you can enjoy a hassle-free Internet experience.
We're committed to offering the highest level of protection against online nuisances and security threats. This upgrade will help us keep spammers from using our network to send you junk email.
As a result of our security upgrade, you must update your email settings to continue sending email on our network.
this is, of course, the day i have been dreading for a long time, our isp going with secure smtp, which no device/software we use is compatible with...
so far, i see only four options: get a new isp (they will change eventually, too), find an alternative smtp, or, sort of a sub-choice of that, see if i can set up smtp on our host (and i bet this is not really an option), or, of course, break down and get a desktop...
changing isp's and losing our old addresses would suck, paying for a seperate smtp service (eg. smtp.com) is not desirable at all, i have no idea where to start with running smtp on our host, and i am still clutching to my "you-don't-need-a-pc-for-the-'net" concept that i have spent so long shouting about, so, i am going to explore the pros and cons of all the other options first...
on top of all this, i have no idea when the change is taking place over at earthlink, i just got this notice, so, i have yet to do any info-collecting...
if anyone has any suggestions or an angle i am not considering, i am all ears, click on the comment link or the chatterbox link...
UPDATE - reply to comment - July 24, 12:00pm
i know earthlink has absorbed many many other isp's, maybe northstate is one of them?
anyway, secure smtp is something fairly new-ish, at least compared to the time of the dc software, so, the authentication step is not there, and impossible to fake... i suspect many a dc'er will have a problem with this, if your isp is also doing it, i fear many others will, too...
not good...
(hmmm, maybe if the call was sent out at dcbg, and it turns out many dc'ers are facing this, perhaps someone might have a suggestion of smtp for dc'ers to use...)
as for my own solution, i just got an email back from tech support at Zianet, a local, independently owned isp, the one my dad has used for years, and they said all the right things, including that they do not see ever going to secure smtp only... (though, they DON'T have a network status page and that is NOT a sign of a good isp...)
so, i may very well switch to them...
zianet only covers this region, but, i have gotten some useful info googling for things like "choosing an isp", and a few pages on findanisp.com...
switching isp's is a biatch, but, i have actually kind of meant to switch to a local isp anyway, and so this may very well be how i deal this...
(and, btw, damn, i need a different comments system... MUST be thin-client-friendly, MUST archive the comments to my own webspace, and MUST email me when a comment is made, and so far i can't find even one... which is why i have the chatterbox for everyone for whom these comments do not work... a very lame, very limited subsitute, i know, but, i am stuck... i have thought of going with an entirely different blogging package, like movable type or something...)
UPDATE - reply to comment - July 24, 6:08pm
yeah, our telephone company also does isp service, and i liked the idea of one bill, so, i went and checked them out, aaand...
the crummy bastards just have a deal with msn...
blah...
and speaking of web-based, for a few seconds we actually thought about yahoo, since their deal just improved immensely and i am pretty sure the deal includes smtp... i don't recall how much it is, but, whatever it is, i doubt it is justifiable when switching isp's is not a bad idea in our case anyway...
for anyone else with this problem, though, it may be a way to go, since they are a long-term, fairly reliable name... and i love their spam blocker, which counts occurances of an email over their network and therefore easily identifies and re-directs bulk mail, with excellent accuracy in my experience... works hella' better than earthlink's, which is only a white-list affair with a domain-blocking feature... after a few months of using it, i feel confident declaring it nearly useless...
UPDATE - reply to comment - July 24, 8:30pm
it is the thought that all isp's will do this soon that makes me wonder how much good just switching isp's will do... as i indicated in my original post, i have seen this coming a long way off as people kept encouraging it as the standard, and i have basically just been crossing my fingers about earthlink not doing it... for once, their reputation for doing little to nothing to stop spammers using their network was a good thing... plus, it means rendering useless so many devices and i assume isp's know that and i had hoped that they might wait until someone had a better idea...
but, it seems it is gaining the popularity i feared...
and the email promise from the guy at zianet does little to comfort me, he may have no knowledge about it...
i can't get over the coincidence in timing... makes me wonder if there was recently some official widespread agreement about it that i somehow missed in the internet news...
UPDATE - reply to comment - July 24, 10:00pm
wow, yet another great find, karl...
AND, they address the secure smtp issue...
this may change everything...
UPDATE - reply to comment - Sept 11, 2004, 10:30am
since the comments still do not work on dc, i posted a reply in the chatterbox...
limited, i know, but, the only easy choice i have...
and btw, see, this is why i don't switch comment providers... i got an email that a comment had been made here, no other service offers that and i never would have noticed this comment, since the post is buried...
at least the chatterbox is always on every page...
still need either a new comments provider (must permanently archive comments, hopefully in my own space, must work on dc and psion, must have email notification, and i am probably forgetting a couple requirements) or i need new blogging software...
Interesting....I got the same message almost word for word concerning my Northstate isp account. The new smtp setting changes slightly (basically the "secure" part is checking the user/pass before email can be sent out). Is there not an option for authentication on the DC? Time to delve into the DK settings. If not I'm screwed too....unless there's a work-a-round. (karl)
Actually Northstate is my telephone provider (and covers all of 40 miles or so) therefore I'm surprised they decided to go this route, although I did (at least) get a six week grace period to mull over the options.
I really like having everything on one bill though. Maybe a good webmail that allows pop access is gonna be the best way to go (for now). Something that's reliable, simple, and most importantly, in it for the long haul.
A bit of a hassle but then again I'm not really a "power user" when it comes to email these days. :)
And I quote...
North State will be implementing a protocol named SMTP Authentication on August 30th. SMTP Authentication has been adopted by many Internet providers and has been recommended as a standard protocol by many organizations. This email protocol allows our mail servers to verify your identification before sending out messages and will prevent others from sending messages using false identities. SMTP Authentication will help North State fight the rapidly growing volume of spam.
So I suppose in my little neck of the woods we have spammers too. And, unlike many major isp's mine is not part of a national backbone pool sharing dial-in numbers with a zillion other providers.
Point being if it can happen here I can certainly see a trend toward authenticated email being the norm.
Damn spammers.....
And finally...after checking Yahoo as an alternative SMTP option:
The Yahoo! Mail SMTP server requires authentication. Please choose from the following supported programs:
* Microsoft Outlook Express
* Entourage 2001 and higher
* Eudora 5.1 and higher
* IncrediMail build 618 and higher
* Netscape Mail - All Versions
Other programs and versions are not supported.
However HotPop seems to be a viable alternative. PDA/older browser friendly, full POP3 and SMTP access (in fact that's all that's offered..no webmail). And I believe you can have the "from" field set to an alias..all in the free version.
The paid version gives you a larger inbox and is ad free (the "ad", incidently, only shows in the header, NOT in the message field and is just a link back to HotPop).
All in all, worth a glance...
http://hotpop.com/index.jsp?LITE=1&
Just to verify...
Worked(s) on the DK client...no problem whatsoever....
Hopefully they will stick around and continue to be fully compatible with any/all devices...
Looking at the site in more detail I have no reason to fear otherwise at this time....
Dammit smtpauth sucks!
Seems as if I can send out only if the return address has a "@ northstate" to match the sending domain.
In other words it not only authenticicates the user/pass and log-in but also scans the from field in the headers.
Anything sent from any other domain is rejected. I had 6 accounts all using the Northstate server which are pretty much "read only".
It gets worse. I went the whole "set up my own server" route setting to port 2525. Problem is...this new Microsoft "Sender ID" already being adopted (ex AOL will reject any and all mail not meeting this protocol). MSN puts it in a junk folder (depending on the user settings) and soon the "Sender ID/Caller ID" could be a standard. (Another proposal is the less stringent Yahoo DomainKeys).
Spammers of course are actually taking advantage of all this (by getting a legit license, the mail is "cleared", so to speak, mail that would normally get "filtered"). The idea is to stop spoofing (which it will), not legit spamming.
Idiotic. I've never been "phished" "spoofed" or any other such nonsense. Those that follow blind links, input passwords in unsolicited pop-up boxes, richly get what they deserve.
I miss the days when in five minutes you could set up the smtp client and send a freakin email.
Sorry about the rave :0
-karl
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