does smtp.btinternet.com now work for all email addresses?

I understand that bt's outgoing email server has moved from yahoo to critical path? Does this now allow you to send email in a regular way? Before you could only send from bt email addresses.

It has always rather put me off bt that you are limited from using your own email addresses to send email from your own email program. It would be nice if this era has passed and they were now as normal as the other isp's?

Is it so?

Thanks

SMTP via mail.btinternet.com can use any email address to send "from", the address just has to be validated first to ensure you own the email address in question (which seems fair).

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/38595

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

SMTP via mail.btinternet.com can use any email address to send "from", the address just has to be validated first to ensure you own the email address in question (which seems fair).

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/38595

Far too simplistic answer which while being true has a lot of gotchas. Firstly the validation process can take up to five days. Secondly the configuration of your email client is by no means straightforward, and more importantly ONLY works when connected to BT. All OK when using a desktop but if it is a laptop, it becomes an absolute disaster as those settings won't work if away from home. So sending out emails from, say, a hotel you are staying in, will fail in 99% of cases.

To add a level of complexity you can use your own domain name email address and forward incoming emails to your BT supplied email address and indeed despatch from there new emails, via BTs SMTP server that show your domain name, But again, don't expect it to work if not at home.

My statements relate to btinternet.com and not btconnect.com where most things are possible with cravats.

So if your ISP is BT and you want to use your own domain name with an email client using POP3 or IMAP and the hardware is portable, you are far better off with a hosted email service that provides an SMTP facility. But then we enter into the realm of reputations which is a ball game that can drive you nuts.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

Far too simplistic answer which while being true has a lot of gotchas.

It was a simplistic answer because it really is that simple.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

Firstly the validation process can take up to five days.

It takes seconds for BT Yahoo to send the email, and another few seconds to click the link and log in.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

Secondly the configuration of your email client is by no means straightforward, and more importantly ONLY works when connected to BT. All OK when using a desktop but if it is a laptop, it becomes an absolute disaster as those settings won't work if away from home. So sending out emails from, say, a hotel you are staying in, will fail in 99% of cases.

Completely wrong. BT Yahoo uses authenticated smtp which can be used from any connection, and if the network you are on blocks port 25, then port 587 can be used.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

Far too simplistic answer which while being true has a lot of gotchas.

It was a simplistic answer because it really is that simple.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

Firstly the validation process can take up to five days.

It takes seconds for BT Yahoo to send the email, and another few seconds to click the link and log in.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

Secondly the configuration of your email client is by no means straightforward, and more importantly ONLY works when connected to BT. All OK when using a desktop but if it is a laptop, it becomes an absolute disaster as those settings won't work if away from home. So sending out emails from, say, a hotel you are staying in, will fail in 99% of cases.

Completely wrong. BT Yahoo uses authenticated smtp which can be used from any connection, and if the network you are on blocks port 25, then port 587 can be used.

Well all I can say is that we must be living on a parallel universe because my claim to owning a domain name was verified through a manual process and because the whois information contained errors it took time to resolve the matter. Yes going to the web page and answering a few questions takes no time at all but what you are suggesting is verification of the information supplied is an automated process to get a response back so quickly, but I am very sceptical that was the case.

I hope we are on the same hymn sheet and thinking about email clients and not web mail. Do I assume that email forwarding to a BT supplied account is in the equation or hosting facilities are being used as the setup will be different for either case? What is unquestionable is the desire to despatch emails using BTs SMTP server.

The aim should be a set up that will work whether you are connected to BT or another provider. With an email address of say [email protected] you can use the SMTP server of smtp.btinternet.com in conjunction with authentication using a btinternet.com email address and all is fine. Port 25 with no encryption works but sometimes a different port number may be required. OK, I concede that for most computer users, the setup procedure is relatively simple.

But the same techniques are certainly NOT true where btconnect.com comes into the frame. Complexity rules the day in that environment only to discover that there is NO common configuration to allow [own domain name] emails to pass through
mail.btconnect.com irrespective of the ISP connection made.

The standard setup for a btconnect.com email address would be:
Incoming Mail Server: pop.outlook.com on port 995 with SSL
Outgoing Mail Server: smtp.outlook.com on port 587 with TLS encryption

With your own domain name email address the settings are:
Outgoing Mail Server: mail.btconnect.com with no authentication on port 25 with no encryption.
Twiddling with any combination of settings does not produce a configuration set that will work with BOTH BT or another provider.

So depending on whether you are a btinternet.com or btconnect.com customer makes a difference between something that is relatively straightforward setting up an email client using your own domain name that works irrespective to the ISP you connect to a much more complex setup that doesn't work everywhere.

Everything in the garden is not a bed of roses when BT is your ISP. It may be a pleasure to do a task sometimes quite easily but in some circumstances it is quite demanding and very frustrating. It's that simple.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

Well all I can say is that we must be living on a parallel universe because my claim to owning a domain name was verified through a manual process and because the whois information contained errors it took time to resolve the matter. Yes going to the web page and answering a few questions takes no time at all but what you are suggesting is verification of the information supplied is an automated process to get a response back so quickly, but I am very sceptical that was the case.

Since you mention "whois" information, what you describe sounds like something between you and your domain name host or domain name registrar. Nothing to do with BT Yahoo and their email facilities, or the verification method I provided in my link earlier which is fully automated and takes seconds.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

I hope we are on the same hymn sheet and thinking about email clients and not web mail. Do I assume that email forwarding to a BT supplied account is in the equation or hosting facilities are being used as the setup will be different for either case? What is unquestionable is the desire to despatch emails using BTs SMTP server.

Well if you use your own email host's smtp server, BT's servers don't come into play. If you forward email into the BT mailbox and want to send out using a custom domain then that works fine too. And yes, I'm talking about email clients.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

The aim should be a set up that will work whether you are connected to BT or another provider. With an email address of say [email protected] you can use the SMTP server of smtp.btinternet.com in conjunction with authentication using a btinternet.com email address and all is fine. Port 25 with no encryption works but sometimes a different port number may be required. OK, I concede that for most computer users, the setup procedure is relatively simple.

Yes, the BT Yahoo server works fine in that way.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

But the same techniques are certainly NOT true where btconnect.com comes into the frame

I've never used a btconnect.com email address. As I understand it, "normal" BT broadband users use either btinternet.com or btopenworld.com addresses.

Sorry I guess I put the question badly. I was not really meaning to stir up about how bt 's email has worked.

What I was wondering about was their migration to critical path away from yahoo and had it changed things?

I guess contrary to what I have read this has not actually happened. I had assumed people were no longer using the bt yahoo system but on a new bt only system. Now that I think about it typing in "tracert smtp.btinternet.com" still leads to yahoo so I guess things have not changed.

Reading threads like http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/bt/4253568-mail-via... suggested things had moved over and more conventional email sending was now in place.

Perhaps they changed their mind or the change just results in the procedures remaining the same despite bt/yahoo mail supposedly closing. Anyway I am clearly premature in asking the question. We will see what the future brings.

Thanks for replying though.

Yep, it hasn't happened yet. There was a period when mail.btinternet.com connected to CP servers.

I noticed here that this was allowing any "from" address: http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/bt/t/4253600-mail-v...

I suspect this was a mistake, and connections are now re-routed back to Yahoo with its associated verification system. The migration to CP seems to be taking longer than anticipated.

As to what system will be employed on the CP smtp server remains to be seen, but I suspect it will mirror the verification system as used on BT Yahoo to avoid arbitrary "from" addresses which are not owned by the sender.

Hi Oliver,

Sorry to jump in but do you know if it is possible to verify a domain as opposed to just an email address within a domain. Ask because things used to be nice and easy from o2 but they are shutting down their email.

Thanks

In reply to a post by anon1:

Sorry to jump in but do you know if it is possible to verify a domain as opposed to just an email address within a domain.

No, you can only verify one email address at a time, not a whole domain.