Can you set up an email router? (I hate Adelphia!!)

[BaDaBooM]

Ok, Adelphia sucks monkey nuts. They are the worst cable internet provider I have ever had (I've had 3). Anyway, they can't keep their own email system working correctly and I'm sick of it. I tried to setup my own email server for personal use only and I come to find out they block incoming port 25 (SMTP). I also found out they block some other incoming ports like 80 and 443. :| Well there are ways around the web server blocking but I want to find a way around the SMTP blocking. Can I point my MX record to another server that is not on adelphia's network and then have that server forward the SMTP to my server on a different port? What kind of software would I need on the other server? Any help is appreciated. Fight the power!

 

[n0cmonkey]

Get webhosting or purchase an email account with a company that does just that. Its cheap, does not break your TOS, and does not involve you potentially circumventing seccurity measures.

 

[BaDaBooM]

Cheap is still more money when I am already paying for an ISP. I refuse to pay any more money when I can do it better myself. As they have the monopoly on broadband in my area, I can't go somewhere else. They are breaking their own TOS by not reliably providing it so they can take their TOS and shove it up their A$$. Still asking for a technical solution.

 

[randal]

well, honestly, if you read their fine print, they probably guarantee you absolutely nothing. oOoOooh, is your $75/mo not netting you 3mpbs down, 384kbps up and the ability to host your own servers? You do know that a T1, which is much less bandwidth, will run you $1000+ per month.

I have adelphia as well (in Colorado), and I'm a network guy. Believe me, I am thankful as hell that I get my insane speeds (with the caveat of no servers) for "only" $60/mo. It's a lot better than the $2200 that we would pay for an equivalent-speed DS3.

In short, don't whine. And if you do work around their system, I'll be the first to bless them for permanently disabling your service.

randal

 

[BaDaBooM]

Oh god, STFU. No ISPs should be blocking ports when they can't provide their own email service. Yea, I'm a network guy too and they obviously don't know their ass from a hole in the ground when they can't even route email within their own network. I said nothing about bandwidth. My small amount of emails would not harm their network, nor would they even notice I was doing it. Right, I should be sooo thankful that they take my $60 for something that hasn't worked in the slightest for 6 months because they paid off local government to not allow any decent companies in to compete. This is the networking forum, not the moral forum so keep your opinions to yourself please and only post networking solutions.

 

[alrox]

If you were a 'network guy' you wouldn't be asking this question.

You also never clarified how adelphia's email servers were not 'working correctly'.

ISP's usually block incoming connection attempts because the servers that customers run(against the TOS) eat up most of the bandwidth and cause the most problems(exploits, misuse, complaints to the abuse dept., etc).

Buy a shell on one of the million shell providers out there, and you'll get email access and a whole lot more.

 

[JackMDS]

You seem to be angrier with Adelphia then trying to find a solution for you email.


You are a big network guy, then behave like one and run a real Web Site

Inexpensive Web Hosting.

Top Right ((8.95 x 2 = 17.90) + $15 (Domain fee per year) = $32.90) / 12 = $2.74 a month.

Imagine your own email bigguy@I _hate_Adelphia.com + ftp server, and other goodies.

 

[BaDaBooM]

Ah yes, you must be the omnicient network guy who has never had to ask anyone anything.

- Just never had to do this before.

Fine, I will clarify. People here locally send me an email... I never get it. People on other networks send me email... it gets bounced back. Their email servers are down... ALOT! My piddly email would never cause any of those problems. I'm not buying anything so please don't post unless you know how to do this.

Man, never knew there were so many panzies here. "Oh god! don't violate the TOS even though it wouldn't hurt a damn thing!"

 

[BaDaBooM]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
You seem to be angrier with Adelphia then trying to find a solution for you email.


You are a big network guy, then behave like one and run a real Web Site

Inexpensive Web Hosting.

Top Right ((8.95 x 2 = 17.90) + $15 (Domain fee per year) = $32.90) / 12 = $2.74 a month.

Imagine your own email bigguy@I _hate_Adelphia.com + ftp server, and other goodies.

Yes, I am mad at them. Since when does behaving like a network guy have anything to do with personal opinion? It's a career. but I do want to find an answer. And No, no, no, and no...... not paying any more. Only posts answers to the technical question or don't post at all.

 

[alrox]

There is no way to get around the tcp port 25 filter.

You also didn't clarify 'bounced back'. What error message was attatched to the bounced email?

There are also many free shell providers out there, one of them will surely let you do email as well.

 

[BaDaBooM]

You must not be a network guy either as you are wrong, it can be done. It's a simple process, you have your MX record pointing to a server off their network then you have some software that accepts port 25 and then acts like a smart host by then sending it to my server, only over a different port. Just a matter which software does this.

 

[randal]

yahoo.com, hotmail.com, email.com, usa.net, any of a bazillion others?

have you never considered the idea using something else that is free and globally accessible, without trying to get around your ToS?

I mean, hell, it's not hard to get free email accounts that allow POP3, IMAP & SMTP. Call your local ISP and ask nicely. Hell, ask somebody on the forum; I know I could spare 10 boxes without blinking.

randal

 

[BaDaBooM]

Size limitations, attachment limitations, the fact that you can't sign up to these forums with those addresses, and that many people block those addresses to avoid spam.

What are you? The TOS police? Speakeh dey english? Stop crapping on my thread.

 

[alrox]

I never said you couldn't run a mail daemon, I only said you couldn't get around the tcp port 25 filter.

So basically what you're saying is, you need a box on the internet(without paying any extra) that will accept mail for a domain and forward it to your home computer's smtp daemon.

Where do you think you'll get a box that lets you control the forwarding and reverse DNS for an IP and that lets you run your own mail daemon, for free?

Software isn't the problem here. If you were a 'network guy' you'd know which manpage you should be reading already.

 

[BaDaBooM]

I have a friend who can keep an app up from another network. I'm not a Unix/Linux guy so no, I wouldn't know what man page to look it up. Knowing unix/linux is not the same as knowing networking.

Well, you almost started to answer the question but then you went back to the crapping.

 

[alrox]

I don't want to help you too much, but since you claim to know nothing about the OS's the internet(a network mind you) is ran on, I figure this can't hurt.

Sendmail will do what you want.

 

[BaDaBooM]

Yay, actually got an answer... see, it wasn't that hard. BTW, I didn't say I knew nothing about it, just that I am far from an authority on it. Also it is not completely run on Unix as certianly you have to consider the routers as the backbone. And while it does run DNS, you don't have to know about it to know about TCP/IP. Also I guarantee that there are far more Winbloze machines that are networked than unix/linux. I have Unix guy who can figure it out for me, so you did more damage than you thought.

 

[Garion]

A few things..

You're really not doing any favors by dissing people that are trying to help and offer suggestions. Remember that we're all here to help out. Most of us run networks of our own and understand very clearly that the reason that rules and TOSes are put in place is for the greater public good, not to serve the random desires of the individual. Sounds very trekkie, but it's true.

When you call up to report a service problem and a bounced e-mail, what do they do? Fix it, or just take note? If you keep complaining and can demonstrate a history of problems with a service you have every right to escalate it within their support organization until it's working properly. You're paying for the service, they have an obligation to provide it to you.

If all else fails and you don't like their service, it's a free country. Cancel your subscription and get a DSL line or go back to dial-up.

In any case, if you really what to do what you're trying to do, here's the ONLY way to make it work.

1: Get yourself a domain registered.
2: Find someone to host the DNS record for you
3: Get someone to setup the MX records for that domain to their mail servers or mail relay hosts
4: Get that mail server configured to forward all e-mail to your own SMTP server that you build on your own network.

#4 is optional. If someone else is going to host your domain and route your e-mail, you might as well have them store it for you and you just grab it via POP3 from your client(s), unless there's a reason you need to have a mail server locally. If you skip step 4, you're not doing anything against your TOS - You're just choosing another mail provider besides your ISP.

This all will, of course, cost money. Nobody is going to do your DNS, MX records and mail routing unless you either know them or pay them.

- G

 

[alrox]

I didn't mean to do any damage.

If you know someone who you think is knowledgeable about this type of thing, why didn't you ask them first? Only makes sense since you would have to use his knowledge and computers/net connection to do it anyway.

IMO it's a waste to forward mail to your home machine. Just read it on the server your friend will let you use.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: BaDaBooM
Ah yes, you must be the omnicient network guy who has never had to ask anyone anything.

- Just never had to do this before.

Fine, I will clarify. People here locally send me an email... I never get it. People on other networks send me email... it gets bounced back. Their email servers are down... ALOT! My piddly email would never cause any of those problems. I'm not buying anything so please don't post unless you know how to do this.

Man, never knew there were so many panzies here. "Oh god! don't violate the TOS even though it wouldn't hurt a damn thing!"

Its not that we are pansies, its that some of us like the rules of this forum. There is a rule (or atleast there was at one time) about giving out information on circumventing security measures.

Anyhow, use the source dumbass. qmail, postfix, exim, sendmail... These are all semi-open source (qmail) or open source mail daemons. You can modify them to forward the mail to your machine on another port, if there isnt a way to do it already. Sure as hell beats spending $15/month or less.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: BaDaBooM
Yay, actually got an answer... see, it wasn't that hard. BTW, I didn't say I knew nothing about it, just that I am far from an authority on it. Also it is not completely run on Unix as certianly you have to consider the routers as the backbone. And while it does run DNS, you don't have to know about it to know about TCP/IP. Also I guarantee that there are far more Winbloze machines that are networked than unix/linux. I have Unix guy who can figure it out for me, so you did more damage than you thought.

I bet there are more idiots walking the streets of Washington DC than there are intelligent people, but what does that mean? Not a whole lot. We get the same amount of work done each day. There are more Windows machines? Uhhhh, ok. Apache on a Unix-like system is still #1. BIND is still the standard. Sendmail is still the standard.

Remember, TCP/IP started on a BSD

 

[BaDaBooM]

Garion,

I was only dissing the people who were dissing me and trying to lecture me instead of addressing the question. I give what I get. Yes, I have become very familiar with calling in to their tech support. I call in and they usually send my account an email and then it gets there, so they say, "No, it's working." as if the only person I want to be able to get emails from is them. Anyway, it's a pattern problem as someone else I know is constantly calling in about horrible ping times and then they fix it for a few days but then it goes back after a while. Like I said earlier, there are no other broadband around here and that includes DSL and seriously, go back to dialup? You're kidding, right? Anyway, I hate monopolies.

Alrox,

Like I said before, I don't know that much about Unix/Linux so I didn't know that was something built-in it could do or I would have asked him first.

n0cmonkey,

Again, don't know Unix so why would I know to look that up? Doesn't make me a dumbass. Unix/Linux is still on my to learn list. It was just kind of lame that I got this much flame for something that isn't that big of a deal. If I want to risk getting my service shut off (though it is hardly a risk as they will never notice) then it's my decision. Also I never said anything about servers, I said machines that are networked. That includes clients and you know there are multiple times more Winbloze boxes on the net than any other. Last I heard they were gaining ground in the server area too, but I don't know the stats. I'm no Microsoft propagandist as there is nothing wrong with Unix/Linux, just not what I chose to learn first.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: BaDaBooM
Garion,

I was only dissing the people who were dissing me and trying to lecture me instead of addressing the question. I give what I get. Yes, I have become very familiar with calling in to their tech support. I call in and they usually send my account an email and then it gets there, so they say, "No, it's working." as if the only person I want to be able to get emails from is them. Anyway, it's a pattern problem as someone else I know is constantly calling in about horrible ping times and then they fix it for a few days but then it goes back after a while. Like I said earlier, there are no other broadband around here and that includes DSL and seriously, go back to dialup? You're kidding, right? Anyway, I hate monopolies.

If you hate monopolies, stop sending them money. Record the times (you and your friend) that you cannot get email or the pings are unacceptable and start a lawsuit.

Alrox,

Like I said before, I don't know that much about Unix/Linux so I didn't know that was something built-in it could do or I would have asked him first.

n0cmonkey,

Again, don't know Unix so why would I know to look that up? Doesn't make me a dumbass.

I know, returning the heat.

Unix/Linux is still on my to learn list. It was just kind of lame that I got this much flame for something that isn't that big of a deal.

It is a big deal. Many of us work for a living. In fact, many of us work in the networking field. We have to put up with idiots putting little blue boxes on our networks, and wanting to install wifi in areas we dont want wifi, and all sorts of other crazy stupid crap. And when someone does something that is against our rules, it breaks something, or we find out by other means. And that person gets in trouble. If we support you in breaking the TOS with Adelphia, we have no leg to stand on when trying to get a situation rectified on our networks. Hypocrits suck (about as much as my spelling ).

If I want to risk getting my service shut off (though it is hardly a risk as they will never notice) then it's my decision.

Agreed. But like I said, there was, at one time, a rule against these types of questions.

Also I never said anything about servers, I said machines that are networked. That includes clients and you know there are multiple times more Winbloze boxes on the net than any other. Last I heard they were gaining ground in the server area too, but I don't know the stats. I'm no Microsoft propagandist as there is nothing wrong with Unix/Linux, just not what I chose to learn first.

I wont comment on this part because it goes more into OS flamage than I feel like delving into at this moment.

Anyhow, like I said, the source is there. Use it. Or, take things up the American way. Sue.

 

[JackMDS]

oops!

 

[BaDaBooM]

I don't have time or money for a lawsuit so I'll use it. (they're already bankrupt anyway). I know all about why the rules are there, and yes, I've had to deal with people screwing stuff up. I just know I won't do that so I won't hurt anything. I take all the security precautions they do... virus protection, security patches, etc. I guess I make an exception for me particularly since I'm not on a corporate network as an employee, but on an ISP as a paying customer... right or wrong, it's how I feel.