[UCLA-LUG] reliable broadband in Westwood/UCLA area?

[Giz]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: linux-bounces at linux.ucla.edu 
>[mailto:linux-bounces at linux.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Charles Wyble
>Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 4:26 PM
>To: UCLA Linux Users Group discussion
>Subject: Re: [UCLA-LUG] reliable broadband in Westwood/UCLA area?
>
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>Ben Clifford wrote:
>>   
>>> I used to use Verizon from 2001 up until about 15mo ago, 
>when I moved 
>>> out
>>> of their service area.
>>>
>>> They were OK - I'd probably use them again.
>>>
>>> A couple of times in 4y they went down for a weekend, I think.
>>>
>>> No static IP on the service I got from them (though maybe 
>with a more
>>> expensive plan, they would), and every month or so they'd 
>force me to get 
>>> a new IP address rather than letting me have the same 
>dynamically-assigned 
>>> one for 4y.
>>>     
>>
>> oh also the email address they gave me for free was completely lame, 
>> and
>> they wouldn't let me use their outbound SMTP server for any 
>other address. 
>> That wasn't an issue for me as I do my own mail handling.
>>
>>   
>Huh? Do you mean they wouldn't let you send e-mail out of 
>there network? 
>Or wouldn't let you use there SMTP server to process e-mail for other 
>domains?
>If your saying they wouldn't let you send e-mail to other domains 
>outside Verizon thats nonsense. I presume you mean it wouldn't let you 
>use it as an SMTP server
>for your domains. This isn't true. You simply have to 
>authenticate first 
>via POP before SMTP. Yes I know thats a hack. I do it with fetchmail 
>once a minute anyway,
>and it works fine.

I know a lot of ISP's during the big spam crackdown began doing interesting
things like blocking smtp or pop3 traffic outbound at the router, so if you
tried to run your own mail server, you could neither have it send mail, nor
could you set up your mail client to connect to a pop3 server that was
outside that ISP's network.  In essence many ISP's have made it so that
their customers must use that ISP's mail server.  Earthlink and pacbell are
two that come to mind, although I don't have anything like a complete list
of ISP's who have these rules in place, and Verizon could certainly be one
of them.

As for then using the ISP's mail server as a relay, you point out an
interesting workaround, that had never occurred to me.  I guess this assumes
that they then allow smtp connnections inbound if you have a domain, or you
would never receive any email.