Strange problem with GoDaddy SMTP.

[Ichinisan]

I work for a small, local cable ISP. On Thursday, I spoke with a commercial customer with an email issue. Suddenly, all users were unable to send mail. They don't use our own email (which is hosted by Google). Their outgoing server is smtpout.secureserver.net (GoDaddy).

They all use port 80 instead of the standard 25. It appears that smtpout.secureserver.net supports both ports, but their site recommends 80.

From the customer's computer, I used telnet to connect to the server over ports 25 and 80. It connects immediately, but there's no "220" prompt. My home system is on the same ISP. When I perform the same TELNET command, I get a proper "220" response. Customer uses McAffee antivirus on all systems.

I have been out of the office until today. When I came in, another customer was having the same issue.

- Also a GoDaddy customer w/ the same outgoing server
- Also doesn't get the "220" response when using the telnet command
- One user took his laptop to his home AT&T connection and was able to send.
- Customer uses Kaspersky antivirus.

The first customer said it only started when his modem was swapped for one that has built-in wireless capability. This would have caused the public IP address to change. When they swapped back to a standard modem, the problem went away (customer would probably get the same IP they originally had). To me, it sounds like GoDaddy has blocked the IP addresses of these customers; probably after incorrect passwords attempts from a user on the network.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

[UPDATE]
Verified that GoDaddy was blocking the customer by IP address. When I forced the customer's IP address to change, I'm suddenly able to get a response through telnet. Outlook is able to send.

VERY strange that the last two customers I've dealt with are both being IP-blocked by GoDaddy.

 

[somethingsketchy]

It could be a number of things...

1) Are these customers sending out high volumes of emails (i.e. Auto Dealerships sending out emails to perspective customers)?

2) Are they using Outlook webmail access or the actual Outlook client?

Chances are, GoDaddy (though I'm not sure why they would block the customers' email accesses) maybe be preventing a spam incident from happening. Whetever it is the fault of the customer or not, that would sound like a possible problem.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I wonder how large godaddy's ip block is though...or what would cause it to trigger.

 

[Ichinisan]

It could be a number of things...

1) Are these customers sending out high volumes of emails (i.e. Auto Dealerships sending out emails to perspective customers)?

Probably not. The first customer had the problem immediately after their public IP changed, which means GoDaddy would have blocked that IP while it was in use by some other customer.

2) Are they using Outlook webmail access or the actual Outlook client?

Just the client. I think they're using POP3 to access their mail from GoDaddy.

Chances are, GoDaddy (though I'm not sure why they would block the customers' email accesses) maybe be preventing a spam incident from happening. Whetever it is the fault of the customer or not, that would sound like a possible problem.

It's pretty obvious (now) that GoDaddy is blocking specific IP addresses. I believe GoDaddy must have become more active in banning IPs recently, because I encountered two customers in 2 work days that had the same issue.