please help networking noob!

footman · 12 Mar 2006 at 11:33

Hi
I share my business premises with an optical practice. We are close friends and I offered to share my broadband connection with them. I have done this by adding a wireless access point to my wired router and a USB dongle to one of their pcs (Win 2000 prof)
There is no problem in their web access, browsing is fine on the PC the USB dongle is installed. However they are unable to send/receive email using Outlook Express and their Tiscali account, there is simply an unknown error message and its baffling me.
They already have a LAN set up connecting their own 2 pcs together for file sharing. Could this be interfering with the email access on the wireless LAN?

thanks for looking

Laurence

modo77 · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:02

Is your internet Tiscali? Some mailservers require you to access the pop and smtp servers from the same isp.

footman · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:48

my own connection is BT ADSL with Nildram.

Mikey1280 · 12 Mar 2006 at 14:20

It is most likely because they have Tiscali email and you are using Nildram. Their mail settings need to be changed.

footman · 12 Mar 2006 at 15:49

Thats what I dont understand. Surely if the correct POP and SMTP settings are used toether with username and password it shouldnt matter what connection is used.

csmager · 12 Mar 2006 at 16:06

footman said:
Thats what I dont understand. Surely if the correct POP and SMTP settings are used toether with username and password it shouldnt matter what connection is used.

For POP3, that is ordinarily the case, as it's authenticated.

SMTP servers on most ISPs don't require authentication - but they're not daft enough to run open relays, so they limit relaying to people on their network (by IP adress). You will almost certainly have to change your SMTP server to that of the ISP you are connected through.

benjo plz. · 12 Mar 2006 at 16:08

Is the tiscali service dial-up? its possible that the email account is set to use the tiscali dialup connection on the computer. To change that, go into outlook , goto the accounts menu and then set it to use any available connection.

footman · 12 Mar 2006 at 16:28

The dial up has been deleted so that should be out of the way. The SMTP issue will be looked into....cheers.

benjo plz. · 12 Mar 2006 at 16:29

footman said:
The dial up has been deleted so that should be out of the way. The SMTP issue will be looked into....cheers.

Yep, but Outlook is still set to use the connection, even though its been deleted. It therefore won't finf the connection, and won't get the email.

MAllen · 12 Mar 2006 at 16:42

footman - it is worth contacting Tiscali as I think you are going to find that they will only allow their SMTP server to be used when you are connected to the Tiscali network. (Though you probally won't get a useful answer from their support monkeys as their call centre is pretty hopeless)

A simple way of testing if the PC and Outlook is configured correctly is to pop your own BT settings in there. POP3/SMTP and your login name and password. If you can send and receieve your own email on the PC, then it is pretty likely Tiscali is blocking things. (I know Wanadoo do this)

footman · 12 Mar 2006 at 20:44

I suppose the easiest thing to do would be to restore the Tiscali dial up and use that for emails

MAllen · 13 Mar 2006 at 09:03

footman said:
I suppose the easiest thing to do would be to restore the Tiscali dial up and use that for emails

You could setup the outgoing mail as Tiscali. As collection is usually fine.

Even better would be for your neighbour to register their own domain, then they will have full control over their mail. (Cheaper than their own broadband deal)

csmager · 13 Mar 2006 at 10:13

As tiscali (probably) don't use SPF, you can setup outgoing smtp as the isp you're using for broadband. Should work fine, and no need to dial-up just to send emails.

MAllen · 13 Mar 2006 at 10:19

csmager said:
As tiscali (probably) don't use SPF, you can setup outgoing smtp as the isp you're using for broadband. Should work fine, and no need to dial-up just to send emails.

So which SPF is that?

Google gave me "Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF)" and "SPF: A Sender Policy Framework to Prevent Email Forgery" so I guess it is the latter.

(Never seen that TLA before)

You have a sensible suggestion. I have found that this will sometimes work. Set the SMTP Server to the BT one and then autenticate with footman's account details. This is will sometimes get round the relay rules.

csmager · 13 Mar 2006 at 10:21

MAllen said:
So which SPF is that?

Google gave me "Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF)" and "SPF: A Sender Policy Framework to Prevent Email Forgery" so I guess it is the latter. (Never seen that TLA before)

Yes, it's the latter. It specifies that only certain IPs are allowed to send email on behalf of a domain - most people don't implement it, so even if Tiscali did use it, your email would probably get through...

You have a sensible suggestion. I have found that this will sometimes work. Set the SMTP Server to the BT one and then autenticate with footman's account details. This is will sometimes get round the relay rules.

Don't know about the BT SMTP server, but most ISPs don't require authentication for outgoing mail.

MAllen · 13 Mar 2006 at 10:26

csmager said:
Don't know about the BT SMTP server, but most ISPs don't require authentication for outgoing mail.

I think the BT Mail Server needs authetication when you want it to forward someone else's email. (I am fairly sure I have seen that setup on my travels....)