# Unlocked iPhone SMTP problems...



## iandesign (Jul 17, 2004)

Hey guys, new here. I've got an unlocked first gen. iPhone on Fido. I've been using it with my existing basic phone service for about 6 months now and just last week I finally got myself a data plan. Everything is working properly except for outgoing emails. What I mean is, I can use internet/maps/youtube and all that but as far as emails, I can receive from anyone but I can only send to a very few. I can send to all my own various accounts and my wifes too. I can even send to my mother for some reason but I can't send to the majority of people in my address book. I get a message saying "Cannot send mail. Connection to the outgoing server smtp.cogeco.ca failed."

Any ideas?


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## whatiwant (Feb 21, 2008)

iandesign said:


> Hey guys, new here. I've got an unlocked first gen. iPhone on Fido. I've been using it with my existing basic phone service for about 6 months now and just last week I finally got myself a data plan. Everything is working properly except for outgoing emails. What I mean is, I can use internet/maps/youtube and all that but as far as emails, I can receive from anyone but I can only send to a very few. I can send to all my own various accounts and my wifes too. I can even send to my mother for some reason but I can't send to the majority of people in my address book. I get a message saying "Cannot send mail. Connection to the outgoing server smtp.cogeco.ca failed."
> 
> Any ideas?


perhaps the SMTP port isn't correct. I realize some are getting through while others aren't. The only problem I ever had with mail was due to the outgoing port being blocked by my work's firewall. Maybe google to find cogeco's port? Or perhaps Rogers port is blocking it to certain domains. Hrmm. Sorry I couldn't be more help.


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

Chances are the problem isn't WHO you're sending to but WHERE you are when you try to send.

Most ISPs block outgoing mail if you're on a different network than theirs. The only solution I've found that is guaranteed to work is to use an iPhone-supported mail carrier (ie Google, Yahoo, AOL or .Mac).


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## kb244 (Apr 23, 2002)

chas_m said:


> Chances are the problem isn't WHO you're sending to but WHERE you are when you try to send.
> 
> Most ISPs block outgoing mail if you're on a different network than theirs. The only solution I've found that is guaranteed to work is to use an iPhone-supported mail carrier (ie Google, Yahoo, AOL or .Mac).


Depending on your ISP as you said, port 25 is usually blocked to any SMTP server other than the one your ISP provides (ie: all outgoing mail needs to go thru the ISP they tell ya). However switching to a secure port (554 I think , it depends on your mail server) usually works, some hosting providers just use the next number up such as port 26.


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## whatiwant (Feb 21, 2008)

chas_m said:


> Chances are the problem isn't WHO you're sending to but WHERE you are when you try to send.
> 
> Most ISPs block outgoing mail if you're on a different network than theirs. The only solution I've found that is guaranteed to work is to use an iPhone-supported mail carrier (ie Google, Yahoo, AOL or .Mac).


Which is what I was trying to say in a roundabout way... hehe


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## kb244 (Apr 23, 2002)

According to Cogeco's own support website (it usually helps to check your providers website once in a while)

"Click on the Advanced tab. The Outgoing mail must be set to 25 and the Incoming mail must be set to 
110. The rest of the settings should be as they are in the image below."

from Cogeco - Internet Support - User Guides - Ontario

Can you verify that the outgoing port is 25, and if so check with your internet service providers to see if they block port 25 at all. Or you can ask Cogeco if they have secured ports (which are not always blocked by the ISP).


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## iandesign (Jul 17, 2004)

OK. So I've spent almost my entire night looking into this. And yes, I had checked out the Cogeco site and I had already talked to their tech support. They actually told me that Fido should have provided me with a special outgoing mail address. Also, changing the port numbers for Cogeco did nothing. 

So, I called Fido and after a _very_ lengthy wait and a lot of patience on my part I was finally given gprs.fido.ca and told to use that. It didn't work at first. It appeared to send but never showed up. However, after walking away for a while to watch a little telly I just came back and found my messages waiting for me. Not sure how long it took but I'll keep testing it I guess. The scary thing is that Fido CS told me that it wouldn't work because it wasn't a supported phone, however, I told him it was almost exactly the same as the phone they will be supporting in about 7 days. He said no, the new 3G is being made specifically for Rogers by Apple and would be entirely different. WTF??????? At that point I gave up and called it a night. It's just not worth the argument sometimes. It'll be here soon and hopefully we'll al have more answers then.


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## iandesign (Jul 17, 2004)

So, in case anyone else is having this issue, the GPRS.fido.ca setting seems to be working. It takes about 45 minutes for messages to show up though.


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

This is where using a small 'boutique' hoster and a private email server pays off. When this SMTP blocking issue first reared its ugly head my hoster and I reconfigured my server to run on 8080 and since then I have had zero problem sending email from anywhere. My understanding is the running email under SSL will also get round the port block.


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## iandesign (Jul 17, 2004)

I heard that mentioned before but I think I tried to change the SSL setting and it still didn't work. I'm not familiar though so I might not have done it correctly. 

What worries me is that I'm actually very proficient with my macs and now my iPhone. What would a normal user do in this situation? I really had to do a lot of searching here and Fido was no help at all. I really had to pull that info out of them. So, once the new ones are on sale, will this get taken care of during the in-store activation? Will they apply these settings for you? I have a feeling we're gonna hear a lot of complaints pretty soon. They don't seem to knowledgeable yet. I know it's not out yet but the 2G has been out for over a year and the training should be about 90% the same. They've known they'll be selling it for quite a few months. Why didn't they start training sooner? I smell trouble.


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

iandesign said:


> I heard that mentioned before but I think I tried to change the SSL setting and it still didn't work. I'm not familiar though so I might not have done it correctly.


You can't do this on your own unless you run your own mail server. You need the co-operation of your host. This is why I try to use a small, local host.


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## iandesign (Jul 17, 2004)

But isn't there an option in the mail settings to just turn on SSL? Again, I'm not sure what it does but I've seen it there.


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

iandesign said:


> But isn't there an option in the mail settings to just turn on SSL? Again, I'm not sure what it does but I've seen it there.


Yeah there is, but it only talks to your machine. You have to tell the server your are coming in that way and your server has to provide that service. It should be, but often isn't, an option of your service these days.


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## kb244 (Apr 23, 2002)

rgray said:


> Yeah there is, but it only talks to your machine. You have to tell the server your are coming in that way and your server has to provide that service. It should be, but often isn't, an option of your service these days.


Depends on the hosting provider, almost all of them provide SSL (tho some like hostgator makes it pointless cuz the SSL certificate would never match your mail server name anyways but you could tell it to download anyways). Some others let you do it thru their internal mail servers name (dreamhost for example) and the certificates do match on those. but as far as SSL to your own domain, you need a unique ip address, and a yearly SSL certificate that your hosting provider can add to the account. 

But the option of either SSL or even the more comon TLS secured ports are not as scarse as you may think, you just have to ask for em. 

But as far as the iPhone and Rogers, its quite possible they may block every port except the ones authorized by Rogers to use, and even then on specific ports may only allow you to connect to specific servers. But this is Roger's were talking bout.


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