Out of the blue, can't send email

meatpia

Hello, In the last few hours I have been unable to send email while connected through PIA. (I use the California gateway.) I can receive email OK, and if I disconnect from PIA sending works fine again.

The error message I get from Thunderbird is :

"An error occurred while sending mail: The mail server sent an incorrect greeting:  Cannot connect to SMTP server 203.0.178.192 (203.0.178.192:587), connect error 10060."

I'm using Thunderbird 52.8 (the latest as far as I know), Windows 8.1 and PIA through OpenVPN on my ASUS-Merlin router. Everything seemed fine yesterday, and I'm not aware that anything changed overnight. No windows updates etc.

Anybody know what I can do?

PIAJayson

Due to an ongoing and persistent and extensive spamming issue by a customer, we've had to remove all servers from our whitelists. Due to our no logging policy, we cannot identify the customer responsible and as such we've had to bring in a new policy.

By default, Private Internet Access blocks port 25 to prevent our service being abused to send spam email. Customers may request to be placed on the whitelist in order to send email.

As part of the whitelisting process, you will be required to verify once per month that the contact email is valid. This is done by an automated single message per month containing a link which will need to be clicked.

In order to be placed on the SMTP whitelist, a user must:

• Contact Customer Support requesting SMTP whitelisting
• Provide the hostname/IP address for the SMTP Server requesting whitelisting
• Ensure that the SMTP server is not an open relay
• Provide a point of contact name
• Provide a contact email address
• Be a customer 6 months or longer
• Click the once per month verification email
  
  

Our systems will send an email once per month to ensure the contact email address is valid. If the link within the email is not clicked, your IP will be automatically removed from the SMTP whitelist.

For clarity, we automatically whitelist the following mail providers (due to spam filtering within the host provider):

• AOL
• Google
• Mail.com
• Outlook (Hotmail)
• Yahoo

I hope this explains the cause of the issue as well as how to resolve it.

meatpia

Thanks for the info.

Shouldn't you have given us some warning that you were effectively disabling our email?

toflo99

You are also blocking port 465 (SSL + verification) on the largest UK host 123-reg that has much better anti-spam protection than AOL or Yahoo. They do not (and never have) provided an open relay… something is not right here. Why can’t you just block the server that’s generating the spam?

A company claiming to offer privacy now wants to keep additional records of customers name, email settings and ongoing monthly verification info :smh: Luckily I don’t have long to run on my subscription.

toflo99

https://www.123-reg.co.uk/terms/aup.shtml

Customers may not have ‘open mail relays’. 123 Reg will close the relay or connection of any customer found with an open mail relay.

meatpia

PIAJayson said:

in order to be placed on the SMTP whitelist, a user must:

• Contact Customer Support requesting SMTP whitelisting

I've submitted a ticket through PIA help desk, but have received no response. How do I get this fixed?

Alseo

meatpia said:

PIAJayson said:

in order to be placed on the SMTP whitelist, a user must:

• Contact Customer Support requesting SMTP whitelisting

I've submitted a ticket through PIA help desk, but have received no response. How do I get this fixed?

Good luck on this. I've submitted tickets to this company previously in the 3 years I have been a customer and the response is either very slooow or non-existent. They don't offer phone support which pretty much shows how interested they are in speedily assisting you and your problem (which often,like this one, is caused by PIA, not you).

toflo99 said:

You are also blocking port 465 (SSL + verification) on the largest UK host 123-reg that has much better anti-spam protection than AOL or Yahoo. They do not (and never have) provided an open relay… something is not right here. Why can’t you just block the server that’s generating the spam?

A company claiming to offer privacy now wants to keep additional records of customers name, email settings and ongoing monthly verification info :smh: Luckily I don’t have long to run on my subscription.

Ditto here as for Port 465 ( I use a different company's SMTP server which surely isn't and "open mail relay" since I pay for the use of it). Are they planning to force me into the same bag as people using Port 25?

I think our best solution is to look for a different, more professional and reliable VPN provider who has the knowledge and technical capability to track down spammers without punishing it's entire customer base.

blopplop

Port 587 blocked as well.

So I guess this basically means no VPN protection on emails when traveling. Bummer.

I too hope for a more viable solution instead having to jump through hoops of fire to make sure my email goes through each month. And yes, letting the customer base know this was being done would have been nice.

Omnibus_IV

In order for PIA to "track down spammers" would mean monitoring everything that we do. Is that what you REALLY want? I much prefer to just address the situation one on one with PIA instead of having them monitor my activity. My ISP is doing very well, thank you, as well as Google and Yahoo and a host of other social media companies.

meatpia

Alseo said:

Good luck on this. I've submitted tickets to this company previously in the 3 years I have been a customer and the response is either very slooow or non-existent. They don't offer phone support which pretty much shows how interested they are in speedily assisting you and your problem (which often,like this one, is caused by PIA, not you).

To be fair, they have now responded and whitelisted my server. (After some annoying patronising back and forth.)

I think our best solution is to look for a different, more professional and reliable VPN provider who has the knowledge and technical capability to track down spammers without punishing it's entire customer base.

This is what I will be doing. I've been with them about three or four years as well, but won't be staying after this. To not even warn us that they will be blocking a service like email is unacceptable.

And, as toflo99 said, now I will be required by a privacy service to provide monthly verification of my email etc.? I don't think so.

meatpia

blopplop said:

Port 587 blocked as well.

So I guess this basically means no VPN protection on emails when traveling. Bummer.

In my ticket to request the whitelisting of my server, I asked for port 587, and it is now working with that port. So I guess you can request it, but you shouldn't have to.

blopplop

meatpia said:

blopplop said:

Port 587 blocked as well.

So I guess this basically means no VPN protection on emails when traveling. Bummer.

In my ticket to request the whitelisting of my server, I asked for port 587, and it is now working with that port. So I guess you can request it, but you shouldn't have to.

Thanks for the heads up.  I'll go check it.

blopplop

Hmm.. nope, still not working.

meatpia

blopplop said:

Hmm.. nope, still not working.

Did you open a ticket to request it? I'm guessing it is on an server-by-server basis.

blopplop

meatpia said:

blopplop said:

Hmm.. nope, still not working.

Did you open a ticket to request it? I'm guessing it is on an server-by-server basis.

No I haven't yet.

Alseo

Omnibus_IV said:

In order for PIA to "track down spammers" would mean monitoring everything that we do. Is that what you REALLY want? I much prefer to just address the situation one on one with PIA instead of having them monitor my activity. My ISP is doing very well, thank you, as well as Google and Yahoo and a host of other social media companies.

You may know more about the technology than I, but it seems there must be an easy way to distinguish between someone who sends 10 to 25 emails per day vs. someone sending 5,000 of them, without necessarily logging (and keeping the log) everyone's activity. Besides, isn't bowing down to their monthly email confirmation policy a more or less form of monitoring? And if they can't control spammers, how can they guarantee they won't give out your contract name and email info to the first bureaucrat with a badge who asks for it? In shopping around for alternative providers, I see that many companies also offer no-logging policies.

I too, would rather stay with PIA. Changing providers for several devices running on 4 different platforms would be a PITA. But I really need to see a bit more care and concern for customers from the company or I will pull the plug.

toflo99

They can’t have it both ways. PIA have no idea where the spam is coming from, but they are somehow OK with Google, Mail.com, Outlook, Yahoo (lol) and AOL (lmfao) servers?

Something else is going on here. I wonder what will happen with this extra customer info under the GDPR?

toflo99

Also not true that's it's just port 25. Why lie about something that's so easily tested?

Omnibus_IV

This is why so many web sites block VPN IP addresses. Because there will always be someone who needs to violate rules and laws. A VPN that monitors or logs is not really a VPN but a data collection agency.

The email servers listed in toflo99 posts have protections against aggressive mailings habits. So they police their own. But then there are email servers out there that don't care what you send as long as you pay them. So this is where PIA is clamping down. I use Fastmail for my business. As far as I know they are not an Open Relay Mail Server, but PIA has blocked them. I have submitted a request to whitelist that service.

Protection is a two way street here. PIA needs to protect you as well as themselves. Just like we need to protect ourselves. I think this blocking of questionable email servers is a wise move. Even though it has temporarily hindered me, I can work around it until my Service is whitelisted.

toflo99

I would love to hear from the person (and their evidence) who decided AOL servers are incapable of being used to send spam and that Yahoo servers are safer than ones provided by top tier hosting companies. Seeing as you’re a moderator Omnibus, maybe you know who to ask for an explanation?

No prior warning and only one server per account. This also alters the contract (services provided) so will PIA be happy to refund subs for customers not happy with this?

p0587440

I too am not thrilled with the "no notice" and my emails being hung up ... sent in my whitelisting request ... waiting, waiting, waiting

Omnibus_IV

You can contact PIAJayson above. As for my Moderator status, it is very limited to spam removal only. I have very little interaction with the PIA Staff. I was the squeaky wheel that got oiled, so to speak. LOL

Antipasto

I'm disappointed they didn't inform us of their change of policy. I spent considerable time yesterday on the phone with two different representatives from my ISP trying to find out why I couldn't send email. It was extremely stressful. Up until now I have been happy with PIA, but now I'm feeling let down. I had a really bad day yesterday, and part of it was due to PIA deciding to block the sending of emails and not even tell their customers. I think their lack of care will cost them. I understand their decision and their policy, but it is their lack of communication that is the problem.

MrSpecial

PIAJayson said:

 

For clarity, we automatically whitelist the following mail providers (due to spam filtering within the host provider):

• AOL
• Google
• Mail.com
• Outlook (Hotmail)
• Yahoo
  

I'm unable to send email from Thunderbird to Gmail's SMTP server. Should be whitelisted, yes?

Using smtp.gmail.com and tried all ports (25, 587, 465). Can anyone suggest a solution/correct settings?

Thanks.

roopoh

Hello,
I am unable to send gmail using Windows Live Mail client,
and receive the following error:

The connection to the server has failed.
Subject 'PIA Support Request'
Server: 'smtp.gmail.com'
Windows Live Mail Error ID: 0x800CCC0E
Protocol: SMTP
Port: 465
Secure(SSL): Yes
Socket Error: 10060

What to do?

roopoh

VLH

Dear Jason, yesterday I opened a ticket and asked for whitelisting a VOIP server again. My ticket was very clear, mentioning a VOIP.xxx.yyy server. A colleague of yours answered asking if my question was related to a SMTP server (!), though it was quite obvious that something starting by VOIP is related to a VOIP service, isn't it? Also, in my ticket I pointed out it is a VOIP server, there's no chance for misunderstandings then. I was given generic and totally useless info on how to get a SMTP server whitelisted, meanwhile I couldn't work properly since cannot use VOIP with PIA. Several hours have passed and still no answer from the support staff, why is it taking so long? You just have to whitelist that server once more!

toflo99

Gmail wasn’t blocked for me so have you recently done a Google security check-up roopoh? Google “less secure apps” and make sure they are enabled otherwise Live Mail will timeout.

roopoh said:

Hello,
I am unable to send gmail using Windows Live Mail client,
and receive the following error:

The connection to the server has failed.
Subject 'PIA Support Request'
Server: 'smtp.gmail.com'
Windows Live Mail Error ID: 0x800CCC0E
Protocol: SMTP
Port: 465
Secure(SSL): Yes
Socket Error: 10060

What to do?

roopoh

roopoh

toflo99 said:

have you recently done a Google security check-up roopoh?

Hello,
The issue arose "out of the blue" and I've not done any security check-ups.
Issue also disappears when PIA client is dis-engaged.

Thanks all the same.

roopoh

roopoh said:

Hello,
I am unable to send gmail using Windows Live Mail client,
and receive the following error:

The connection to the server has failed.
Subject 'PIA Support Request'
Server: 'smtp.gmail.com'
Windows Live Mail Error ID: 0x800CCC0E
Protocol: SMTP
Port: 465
Secure(SSL): Yes
Socket Error: 10060

What to do?

roopoh

p0587440

I am getting no response so far on my support tickets ... very disappointed ... starting to look for alternatives to PIA ... anyone with recommendations?

Omnibus_IV

Mine started working. I did not get a reply but I tested this morning with Outlook and a test message was sent along with a few other email that were in my queue. So PIA has whitelisted the email server I use, which is Fastmail.

Did you try running a test message? Are you using a mail client and if so, which one. If you do not feel comfortable answering that I understand.

[Deleted User]

As one might expect, this change has led to a very heavy load on support. We're working through tickets as quickly as we can, but we are a little (approximately 20h) behind at the moment. Your tickets will be answered, and servers will be whitelisted as soon as possible. 

Thanks all for your patience. 

@VLH, I just took a look at your ticket and sent a response.