SMTP-Friendly ISPs?

alanpage asks: "My ISP got out of the dial-up business and sold my account to Earthlink. They do not allow me to send e-mail (via port 25) on behalf of the web sites that I maintain. Are any of the major players in broadband or dial-up port 25 friendly?"

t-online

[kzadot]

With my $50 per month, uncapped, flat rate TDSL line, port 25 is unfirewalled both directions. I can send directly to most places, but sometimes have trouble as the dynamic IPs given to dialup users, are on spam lists. The solution:
They provide 2 outgoing smtp servers, the first one, rewrites any From: header with your official t-online email address.
The second one, which one has to register for, relays and preserves the From: address.
Both these servers only accept connections from ip numbers they own.
This is ideal, as it is flexible, and prevents against spammers. The only thing is the fact I now rely on the t-online server, which hasn't been a problem so far.

Re:"mostly" justifiable

[shamino0]

Just some counters to your counterpoints:

1) I also own my own domain. I have my local mail clients set to send out mail with my domain in the From: line. It goes out through Earthlink's server. The From: line is not rewritten. Yes, there is an Earthlink Received: header, but that really shouldn't be a big deal. I can't imagine how this would hurt your business's credibility.

Of course, this may not be the same for all ISPs, but the original message was talking about Earthlink.

2) While I have seen many free-mail systems insert ads in outgoing messages, mail from my Earthlink account has never been altered. But not all ISPs are the same here, of course.

3) E-mail is never secure, no matter what server(s) you use. You are no more at risk using an ISP's server than using your own. Encryption of sensitive information is always a requirement, no matter what your network uses.

IMO, you may be more at risk using your own, because it is an attractive target for your competitors (and others who may wish you harm.) It is less likely that someone will attempt to hack a major ISP in order to get access to one customer.

Finally, there are plenty of broadband services that don't filter. But you may have to get a business line (which will cost more) if you require that level of service. For quite some time, my employer was paying for a business DSL line into my home - there was no filtering of any kind, but it cost about $150/mo for 256K SDSL. My current Earthlink line is much less expensive ($65/mo for 1.5M/128K ADSL and a static IP), but there are restrictions. That's the way things are - if you don't want any restrictions, you can get it, but it will cost more.

(This, of course, doesn't even discuss the wisdom of direct port-25 access over a dial-up line, which IMO is completely unsuitable for business purposes, even if it isn't blocked by an ISP.)