Comments for Why can't I send mail from my hotel room?

Comment from Catherine on 2011-08-25

2011-08-26T06:53:34Z

Ive left that hotel. Ive even left the island. im in Greece. and i still cant receive email, though i can send it. the last three entries in my in box are

Welcome!
To access the network, please open up your browser and connect to a web site.
Or, you may click here to access the login page.

i never even logged into this server, but sense then i cant get email.

please help.

ps. i can still get it on my phone and ipads but not my macbook

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Comment from Victorious on 2011-03-24

2011-03-24T17:26:03Z

i did the login to mail server before sending email and wham! i'm sending mail again! thanks!

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Comment from suzie b on 2010-06-30

2010-06-30T19:58:17Z

thanks for that i set up new home wifi with different supplier and my e mails wouldnt work with aol router joined smtp2go worked straight away

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Comment from Terry on 2010-02-28

2010-02-28T21:38:45Z

Thanks Matt, worked like a dream!!

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Comment from Dave on 2009-06-30

2009-07-01T06:45:38Z

I work at a hotel property management group and I might be able to provide some info. I think there are a few separate issues listed here.

1) The issue that I am most knowledgeable about is the hotel email server redirect which not every hotel does. In most cases if your business/outlook mail servers will not go through when you try to send you can just use web mail and it will be fine. However, this is not the only issue we encounter and web mail may be a pain because of your contacts/data being in your business email program.

2. Another issue is that the hotel may not have an outgoing email redirect but has an ISP that does not work with your email ISP. This started a few years back and it is linked to spam. The ISP AT&T was one of the first big companies to start doing this. The hotel does not have a lot of control over this if they don't have their own mail server. From what I understand, this is caused by smtp relay no longer performing the ISP's email relay handoff as it once did, and as Leo said this is due to spam (at least I think so). Certain ISPs (such as Comcast) have set-up email authentication to fix this and these users tend to have less email trouble from that point on. Your company or ISP may be able to set this authentication up and solve this issue as well.

3. Whether or not the hotel is redirecting your mail, the hotel�s ISP can blacklist outgoing mail servers for the ISP location due to excessive spam. This problem is more and more common. Unfortunately there has been very little progress made in this area as far as the hotels are concerned because they often cannot afford the expense/time to manage this properly. This is because most often the internet access is free. Or, the hotel staff cannot justify the cost because they do not itemize the mark-up on the rooms for the internet. So, they don't see the profit associated with the internet access. Only at large hotels who charge for access have I ever seen this handled better. Small hotel/motel owners generally do not understand the network set-up any better than you or I and therefore do not see the need unless there network techs tell them. And, even then they do not see this as a necessity. Internet service in general works much better at higher quality hotels as can be expected.

4. The last issue I have seen is with VPN access email not working. This is rarely a hotel or ISP issue but it can be sometimes. I have found that requesting a public static IP address from hotel tech support or getting one automatically at the terms and conditions page will more likely resolve any issues with VPNs at the hotel. However, there is a chance it is the remote VPN server or the company mail server that is the problem.

When in doubt, I would call hotel tech support. Using your web mail, which is on the same port (port 80) as the internet, is almost always the easiest solution if you can tolerate this. This is the information I know from working with the IT company at our hotels for years. I am sorry if this is not completely accurate technically as I am not a tech. I would like to see more posts here to get these issues addressed with our IT people.

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Comment from Oscar on 2009-06-18

2009-06-19T05:23:48Z

I signed up with a really nifty service, which is quick and easy to implement: Click here to check out smtp2go.
I used to spend many frustrating minutes (adding up to hours) first explaining to hotel staff what an smtp server is, and then persuading them to find the information for me. Some hotels (e.g. Ibis) don't allow any outgoing mail at all.

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Comment from Bruce Elniski on 2009-02-06

2009-02-06T19:14:12Z

We use alternate port 26 and also select "logon to mail server before sending mail" and it works for one of our email servers but not the other! I think this may depend on the alternate port settings the email server is using. Why is it so hard to find a universal set of email settings that work everywhere? We have to coach our users to change these outlook settings depending on which office or hotel they are in. Some users are OK with it but others find it all too technical. As IT support, I find this issue very frustating. Outlook 2000 setting behave differently than 2007 settings too, just to add some extra challenge to this issue.
Bruce E

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Comment from Puneet on 2008-06-16

2008-06-16T16:37:14Z

Matt's trick worked for me at one of the extended stay hotel, thanks matt
Puneet

I solved this problem by changing the email account settings in Outlook 2007. In the

Tools > Account Settings > Change > More settings > Outgoing Server

section just activate "Log on to incoming mail server before sending mail". I don't know if it will work for any email account, maybe it depends on the hotel, but it always works for my Hotmail and business accounts!
Hope this helps...

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Comment from Matt on 2008-06-01

2008-06-01T17:35:28Z

I solved this problem by changing the email account settings in Outlook 2007. In the

Tools > Account Settings > Change > More settings > Outgoing Server

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Comment from senia on 2007-12-07

2007-12-08T02:15:39Z

What I did to solve this problem is sign up with http://smtp.com, which listens on other ports like 2525, and so keeps working in any hotel room. I haven't had any issues with outbound email since, but the only downside is that it costs about $4 per month.

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Comment from Charlie Arehart on 2007-03-23

2007-03-24T03:45:10Z

Leo, as always, you're a font of valuable knowledge. Thanks. I'd like to share one more tip that may help others stuck in this situation. I just found that those of us with Gmail accounts, if setup for pop access, can configure our mail clients to use gmail as our SMTP server. Sweet. Just need to configure the correct servername, port, and login info. Interested folks should check out the blog entry that clued me in, at http://www.geekzone.co.nz/tonyhughes/599. Or for more info, see my own blog entry: http://carehart.org/blog/client/index.cfm/2007/3/23/get_around_blocked_smtp_email

Hope that helps someone.

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Comment from Ian Rudge on 2007-01-15

2007-01-15T19:48:03Z

Have met this issue with Egyptian and Middle East hotels. One concern is that under some countries' Company regulations there is a legal requirement for all business emails to be logged. Thus by diverting the email away from its intended path (and thus preventing its being logged at the site mailserver) whatever its intentions are, the hotel may be committing an offence, or causing an offence to be committed.

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Comment from Jerry on 2006-03-07

2006-03-07T14:14:13Z

As above...this is when I send from my hotmail account at home
thanks

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Comment from Jerry on 2006-03-07

2006-03-07T14:12:40Z

Don't know if you know about this one. When I send or reply to email from AOL...it always fails

thanks for any help

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Comment from Julian Smith on 2005-12-30

2005-12-31T00:58:04Z

Interestingly, I have this issue quite often also. However...

I am working through a corporate VPN tunnel!!!

This issue is real for me and only on certain connections. I do not understand how it could happen within the vpn infrastructure though.

BTW - If the message I send is VERY small (i.e. only few bytes), it may well get sent successfully.

Any ideas?

Jules

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A comment on: Why can't I send mail from my hotel room?

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Comment from yasir on 2005-12-20

2005-12-20T09:51:57Z

if you are un able to email from your hotel then ask to the hotels administration why are asking to us you bloody fool

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A comment on: Why can't I send mail from my hotel room?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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