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  • Frustrating tech support!

    Okay, every now and then when I phone my ISP's tech support, I get someone knowledgeable who doesn't presume I'm stupid (mainly because I can express myself coherently with the appropriate terminology and not get confused LOL).

    The rest of the time, I swear, I don't know where they hire these people from, but if they don't have a script for it, then I'm stupid and don't know what I'm talking about. usual instance being that my ISP regularly lowers the bandwidth allowances on their unlimited usage accounts, and I have to phone to get it popped back up again, which pisses me off, but hey, the good techs just say "sure, we'll do that" and the crappy techs go "there's nothing wrong with the bandwidth at our end..." type type type type type - and suddenly it's *fixed* (oooh it must be MAGIC).

    My situation: My computer died back in August and I recently got a new hard drive and reinstalled WinXP and got everything back up and running. It was a beautiful thing, and being the not-terribly-technically-talented person I am, I was inordinately proud of myself. Had a bit of a hiccup setting up my 'net connection, but tech support was very helpful and we got it all done (issue was that my video card needs to be replaced and the driver was causing conflicts, etc. so until I could get online to get a current one, I could only boot up in safe mode, and there's no connection wizard in safe mode *sigh*).

    Everything is lovely until I try to set up my OTHER e-mail address as a pop3 account - I help run an online database and have an e-mail with that domain, but I hate webmail, so anyway... I put in all the settings, and tested it out, and I managed to receive the last 6 months' worth of my e-mail with no trouble at all. Tried to send an e-mail from that account.... and hit a brick wall. *sigh* All my techier friends have informed me that ISPs routinely block the standard outgoing port from sending from other domains or what have you. I vaguely remember having to phone to get them to unblock it last time, so okay. I'll call and get them to unblock it again.

    Except THIS time, I run into wonder-dummy who won't listen to me and is determined to blame her lack of knowledge of the issue to my stupidity. *sigh* So I'm telling her that I suspect that port 25 is blocked from sending anything other than sympatico mail, and ask if that might possibly be the case and can we unblock it if it is. Without even checking anything, she says "We never block ports, there must be something wrong with the way you entered the settings, and we don't support third-party e-mail.".... errrr okayyyyyy. That wasn't at all what I asked. It's conceivably possible that i messed up the settings, but I had three people check them to make SURE I had them in properly, and EVERYTHING (including the error message I get from Outlook Express) points to this port being blocked. Can we just CHECK please? Apparently not. She got really belligerent with me, and told me that if I wasn't even willing to entertain tech support's suggestions, then she wasn't going to help me further with my THIRD PARTY problem, and went into her closing spiel. I tried to get a word in, but she just kept doing her closing spiel over me and disconnected the call *sigh*

    What did I do to offend the gods of technology and intarwebness?
    GK/Kara/Jester fangirl.

  • #2
    SC behavior from an employee, who would've thought.

    I get this sort of thing alot with my ISP. I used to do tech support for cable internet so when things break I can usually fix them without a problem. Hell I networked my own house as well as my parents. Anyway, I generally don't call my ISP unless I've exhausted all possibilities on my end first. I reset my router, I power cycle my modem etc etc, usually everything they ask you to do on the script I've already done by the time I call. Usually I start with, heres my name, heres my problem, this is what i have already done. Most times the tech on the other end right away starts checking their end for problems. Sometimes I missed something, and other times I get a tech that wants to make it out to be my fault and that nothing I did matters. I feel for ya on this one Tollbaby I really do.

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    • #3
      What burns me is that I *KNOW* they're blocking the port, and all I want them to do is unblock it, or give me the number of another port I can use, and she just WOULD NOT BELIEVE that I might possibly know what I'm talking about *sigh*

      It's incredibly frustrating, because her stubbornness is preventing me from doing business for the site I work on. *grumble*
      GK/Kara/Jester fangirl.

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      • #4
        Verizon broadband does not allow you to send emails through their SMTP server with a domain other than "verizon.net"...I know that for a fact
        DJ Particle

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        • #5
          FYI, Clearwire *ROCKS*. Just switched from Earthlink DSL. The account rep to whom I spoke to cancel Earthlink couldn't believe it when I said the reason was Clearwire was way faster, cheaper, and much more reliable.
          Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the restraints...
          TASTE THE LIME JELLO OF DEFEAT! -Gravekeeper

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          • #6
            im having problems myself with quest

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            • #7
              Tolly,

              You wont be able to use another port...Besides Port 25.

              Because Port 25 is SMTP, simple mail transfer protocol.
              your mail software whatever it is, is programmed and set to SHOVE OUT thru Port 25.

              Now, unless the recieving mail server has different settings (Gmail does, by the way), using a seperate port, you have to communicate with all mail servers by Port 25.


              If you call back to ISP Whatever, get right in and say, I need to speak to a Tier 2 or Tier 3 rep, regarding port and mail issues. Once you're there, explain your problem :
              cant send email using port 25 and other domain names.
              Please open port 25 for me.

              They'll prolly have to escalate it to a network guru, and tie an OK on your notes to have 25 open. I dont know if they'd authorize it and authenticate by MAC addy of modem OR IP address...hmm.

              Just get to tier2, skip #1, and get the name of WhineyBytch who helped you first time, and explain to T2 what she did. Le Suckette.

              good luck:
              heres a link you might like.

              http://www.postcastserver.com/help/P..._Blocking.aspx

              cutenoob
              In my heart, in my soul, I'm a woman for rock & roll.
              She's as fast as slugs on barbituates.

              Comment


              • #8
                Our mail servers require different port settings and turning on secure password authentication if trying to send/recieve email when off the network, ie using a hotels wifi connection on the road. I can honestly say my ISP/employer does not block any ports, atleast no common ones.
                This goes along with the christian organization that called to ask if we had filtering software so the young boys couldn't get to those bad websites. I'm so glad we don't, now if we could just stop offering internet security software, and wireless networking plans, I could tow my line of support back.

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                • #9
                  Where I work, we don't block port 25 unless we detect some kind of spam activity. We can unblock it, but I've never actually seen it happen. The user would need a compelling reason... and there may be such a reason, but I haven't heard it yet.

                  If an ISP blocks port 25, then sending mail through another domain does become a third party issue. The company providing the email service needs to have an SMTP server of their own and they need to open a port that you can use.
                  I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it. -- Raymond Chandler

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                  • #10
                    I guess every ISP does it differently. Where I work, port 25 is blocked for residential customers but open for businesses. I think for extenuating circumstances, they will unblock 25 for a residence but I don't think it happens often. And if you use my employer for your internet connection and want to get mail from a different provider set up in a mail client, you have to send through the ISP's outgoing server with the username and password provided by the ISP. It's such a pain in the butt to explain it to callers who use like three different ISPs at different locations.

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