jlupien
Premium,VIP
join:2001-02-20
Ladysmith, BC
clubs:
| Spam?
I have to wonder, are the long delays shown here caused by the volume of spam on the internet? Email servers are getting choked to death. Until we come up with some sort of reliable authentication process for receiving mail, I don't thin kthis can be corrected...
--
Check out my gallery here! Remember, vote early and vote often! |
|
Brianv5
Low Level Functionary
Premium
join:2001-01-20
Keyser, WV
|  That's why I log everything!
Running corporate mail servers, I want accountability. Sure they said they sent it, but did they really? Going to the logs is the best way to trace a message. Once I can show that it got to the customers gateway, then its out of my hands. Getting it there is my responsibility, nothing on the other side.
Once they find they spelled hotmail as hotmial, then they quit complaining about "the stupid email thing" that doesn't work.
Of course with Verisign's DNS settings now, god only knows where misspelled domain emails are going!
--
Anything can be tweaked! |
|
Sarah
Premium,ExMod 2002-05
join:2001-01-09
Cambridge, MA
clubs:
| Reliable? E-mail? Ha...
I have found it to be nearly impossible to get a reliable e-mail provider for my office.
We just switched our e-mail for the 5th or 6th time in about four years. Verizon was the worst offender, with e-mails disappearing for weeks at a time, multi-hour hold times for tech support who would tell me there was no problem, etc. Atrocious - and that's with a business account! I'd hate to see what residential customers got.
Our latest provider blamed Sobig.F for the 24-hour delays we were having, but when the delays popped up again in November, they didn't have any excuses except that "no one else is having a problem, just you." That combined with the loss of 24 hours worth of my boss's e-mails, plus the fact that their server got blacklisted by AOL, and the lack of spam filtering... it was enough for me to switch, AGAIN. Wish me luck this time. 
--
Got an idle CPU? Check out Team Helix! |
|
DSLDawg23
join:2003-08-08
| Secondary Mail Server/MX Record
If you want to be sure you will get e-mails when your primary e-mail server is down, then get a secondary (backup) mail server and place it in the MX record for your domain. There are plenty of services on the Net that can do this for you, or if you are a techie, you can set one up yourself. Of course, this won't help much if you don't have your own domain name, but it is relatively inexpensive and works for most businesses. |
|
KeysCapt
Premium,Mod
join:2001-07-11
Keys Exile
clubs:
Host:
Time Warner Cable ..
Weather
Ham Radio
Sports Chat
| No hurry ....
Wow.
Time-Warner would have better luck putting a postage stamp on their email and walking it to the nearest Post Office.
It would be nice to see some other providers included in this scorecard. It would also be nice to see them take email as a serious issue, rather than treat it as a "perk" of their service. |
|
oldnick
join:2000-09-30
Dallas, TX
| I hate to do it but...
(b) SBC YAHOO! MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT (i) THE SERVICE AND/OR SOFTWARE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, (ii) THE SERVICE AND/OR SOFTWARE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE (FOR EXAMPLE BUT WITHOUT LIMITATION, SBC YAHOO! DOES NOT WARRANT THAT YOU WILL ALWAYS RECEIVE EMAILS ADDRESSED TO YOU), (iii) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THE SERVICE AND/OR SOFTWARE WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE, (iv) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED OR OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH THE SERVICE AND/OR SOFTWARE WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS, AND ANY ERRORS IN THE SERVICE AND/OR SOFTWARE WILL BE CORRECTED.
This is from the SBC/Yahoo! TOS (simply because it is the one I have easy access to), but I'm sure the other providers have similar verbiage in their TOSes.
It would be nice if email were 100% reliable and error free, but its not. In other words, DON'T USE IT FOR LIFE OR DEATH COMMUNICATION, IMPORTANT CONTRACTS, ETC. |
|
Vamp
5c077
Premium
join:2003-01-28
MD | reply to DSLDawg23
Re: Secondary Mail Server/MX Record
Some of the email realiability problems are just from filters alone rather then bad mail servers. |
|
justin
Australian
join:1999-05-28
Brooklyn, NY
Host:
IPv6
Business Connectiv..
Home/Office setup ..
Console/Handheld g..
Console Tech
| reply to DSLDawg23
easydns does this for any domains you have with them. They provide the backup MX record (unless you wish to take that away), then when your mail server is down, they spool up the mail and deliver it to you when it is up again.
Very useful.
Only one down-side: if you are deny spamming IPs or whatever, the spammers will sometimes try the MX backup mail spool instead .. which may accept the spam, then pass it on to you, getting past your IP bans. |
|
clickwir
join:2001-06-21
Dickson City, PA | email sucks
Ok. So email sucks anyway. I try not to use it. I only use it cause I have to, not cause I want to.
DOWN WITH EMAIL!!!! |
|
Bobcat
Premium
join:2001-02-04
Bedminster, NJ
 ·Verizon Online DSL
|  OOL Email Sucks!
My ISP, Optimum Online, has really lousy email service. I frequently have emails delayed by 10 hours or more. I've also had emails sit on the server for 2 days then bounce back even though the destination address was valid; (see »Re: Fix the friggin' SMTP servers already!!! ) And I know that I've had emails disappear completely.
Also, OOL is on so many blacklists, there's a good chance your email will never be delivered. And, finally, there are lots of authentication errors trying to connect to their POP server.
In short, OOL Email Sucks! 
--
"We know where they are."
» Donald Rumsfeld on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, March 30, 2003. |
|
xmrocks
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-23
clubs:
 ·Comcast
| Use USPS
No, just kidding! I sometimes lose e-mail being sent to another party when using my school's e-mail account. I never get it bounced back or any kind of indication it never arrived. Sometimes, the incoming mail never arrives either. Of course talking to the IT Dept. here is almost useless. They'll blame it on the other ISP having problems and it will just turn into a big blame game with everyone blaming everyone else. |
|
Zertoss
Just Say No To Caps Lock
join:2001-08-01
Clute, TX
| Alternatives
For just keeping in touch with my friends, I usually just use Instant Messaging. Free web based email like Yahoo and Hotmail work well for me too. They aren't 100% reliable, but they get the job done.
It seems to me that software on the user's (sender or receiver) computer causes more problems than the actual email servers.
--
This lead apron will protect me from the gravity. |
|
ArchAngel21x
MacFan Pro
Premium
join:2001-10-28
Lincoln, NE | It's Just Another Reason
Why I am glad I don't depend on my ISP for e-mail. |
|
Brianv5
Low Level Functionary
Premium
join:2001-01-20
Keyser, WV | Yeah seriously, I'd rather run my own and not have anyone else to complain to.
--
Anything can be tweaked! |
|
Maxo
Your tax dollars at work.
Premium,VIP
join:2002-11-04
Tallahassee, FL
clubs:
| So...
So, we don't have a perfect system. What else is new? If your e-mail is reliable the other option is telephone or snail-mail. Both of these also are not 100% bullet proof.
--
Girls don't really like meThat's why I hate myselfMaybe it's cause of the way I lookOr maybe it's something elsehttp://maxolasersquad.com |
|
kstuart
Ken Stuart
Premium
join:2003-10-15
N California
| Yahoo was the best of those tested
quote:
I hate to do it but...
(b) SBC YAHOO! MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT...
Yeah, but note that on the Watch site, Yahoo was easily the best performing of all the tested servers.
--
SBC Yahoo DSL Standard+ - 1220/218->back-down-to-136 - Sp. 5100 - 8800 ft from CO - Netgear MR814v1 |
|
garagerock
Premium
join:2002-06-14
Louisville, KY
| reply to ArchAngel21x
Re: It's Just Another Reason
said by ArchAngel21x  :
Why I am glad I don't depend on my ISP for e-mail.
Of course you depend upon your ISP for email...everyone does, regardless of whether or not you run your own.
Unless of course you are your own ISP, that is...:) |
|
averagedude
join:2002-01-30
Mesa, AZ
·Cox HSI
| Fax a copy
For "business", I usually fax a copy of the email IF it is important. Why not just fax then? Good question. I do find myself faxing more because I know they will get it. Yes, everyone in their office will probably read it before it get to the sender, but when it really it is important - the more eyes that see it the better.
One company that I deal with has a office policy about emailing - snail mail a copy. Yea, it seems silly but CYA when it is business stuff. |
|
nekkidtruth
You fail at life.
Premium
join:2002-05-20
London, ON
| reply to Brianv5
Re: It's Just Another Reason
said by Brianv5 :
Yeah seriously, I'd rather run my own and not have anyone else to complain to.
Except that in most cases ISP's don't allow relaying which in return causes your mail to be bounced/blocked by several major ISP's. In a lot of ways, it just causes more headaches.
--
Never expect anything and never underestimate the unexpected. |
|
MsTerra
Completely Ridiculous
Premium
join:2002-08-20
Cambridge, MA
| Pobody's nerfect
I've been using email regularly since 1990, when most users were in the .edu and .gov domains and before spam, and I've never expected 100% reliability. It's unrealistic to expect anything to work right 100% of the time. Snail mail gets lost, phone calls get disconnected, fax machines jam, emails disappear into the aether. Stuff happens. I use Earthlink both at work and at home, and the success rate has been totally satisfactory. As always, YMMV.
--
Not a lot of people know this, but there is such a thing as recreational defibrillation. (Donald Fagan, in a recent interview on NPR) |
|
