PIA SMTP port blocking policy

3 weeks ago I found outgoing emails to my email host server at 1 and 1 were not being sent. I spent best part of a day pinging their servers and checking my router firewall even though I had not changed anything. Then after opening up a ticket with PIA I find that as an existing contract user PIA were black listing all SMTP ports ( I use port 465). They say I can whitelist the 1 and 1 mail server by IP address and repeatedly activate a link sent in a nag email each month (If I remember). I'm pretty certain 1 and 1 mail servers don't keep the same IP address all the time?

I've already had to check 3 days of emails I sent to find how far back my outgoing messages were being blocked. I'm puzzled that PIA have applied a blanket blacklisting policy to penalise customer fair use when they could have targeted the accounts of spammers?

Email is my most important traffic and I want 100% confidence and reliability, I'm now wondering if I should switch to another VPN provider? Has anybody else had issues with SMTP mail? Are you happy getting monthly emails to keep ports open to your  whitelisted email host server, assuming it doesn't change its IP address?

Is there anything else I can do to configure my email client ( It's not Outlook!) to restore the reliable email transfers I was getting before PIA introduced their blanket blacklisting of mail server ports? Why would I want to use the alternative webmail services of Google or Yahoo etc when I want security of service and privacy from a host service I already pay for?

Comments

  • I just spent hours trying to troubleshoot my email sending problems, only to finally realize it is PIA that is blocking me. Unacceptable. I will look into the whitelisting process a little, but if it takes regular maintenance then I will need to find a new VPN after about 5 happy years with PIA.
  • YES! This is infuriating. According to support ALL SMTP are blocked. You have to wait for 6 months prior to requesting it be whitelisted and then reply monthly to their email to continue. This is ridiculous since I paid up front for 1 year and have to wait 6 months before reaping the benefits of the software I PAID FOR. This is pretzel logic if I've ever seen it.
  • I am todays most frustrated PIA non fan this place has gone down hill and i will be requesting a refund for the card that i used today but cant get any support for .RIP PIA.
  • I sincerely apologize for the frustration this has caused! To provide some clarification on this I would recommend (if you haven't already) taking a look at our SMTP whitelisting policy. The 6 month period is only if you have just created your account, as long as you have been a customer for more than 6 months we'd be more than happy to whitelist the SMTP.
Sign In or Register to comment.