On 10/30/04 7:47 PM, William D. Bandes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > It appears that chris, [EMAIL PROTECTED], wrote: > >>> I was talking to my ISP's tech support, and he told me that >>> they might soon be going to "SMTP off," and that I might >>> have to switch from Emailer if it won't handle it. >> >> I'm sure they meant SMTP Auth (which when pronounced sounds like SMTP >> Off). >> >> Emailer does not handle this directly, but you could use Baton Mail to >> add this support. > > I'm sure that's it. I'd rather fight than switch.
Why? > Who can tell me what ISP to use if I need to? There's a lot more to choosing an ISP than this one little detail. > What is this "SMTP auth" and will all ISP's be using it? It's SMTP authentication. You have to log into the outgoing SMTP server, much as you have to log into the incoming POP3 server. Back in the innocent days of the Internet, you didn't have to have an account to send email, only to receive it -- just as you don't have to have an address to send postal mail, only to receive it. Of course that openness has since been abused by junk email and viruses to the point that it's no longer acceptable for SMTP servers to not have *some* kind of protection. There are many methods an SMTP server can have to protect itself from abuse, the most common of which is to not let non-local users use it. You can use your provider's SMTP server when you're dialed into them, but strangers can't use it if they're not. The problem with this is that people who travel, or use their account from multiple locations, have to keep changing their SMTP server to match the provider they're currently connected with. SMTP Auth is a little more elegant, because it generally goes hand-in-hand with the SMTP server being accessible no matter how you're connected to the Internet -- provided you have the proper login for it. Will all ISPs be using it? No. But more and more they are, and IMHO this is a good thing. Emailer does not natively support SMTP authentication, but there are various add-ons -- including the aforementioned Baton Mail -- that will handle it for you transparently. -- Adam Bailey | Chicago, Illinois [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Finger/Web for PGP & S/MIME [EMAIL PROTECTED] | http://www.lull.org/adam/ ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe send a mail message with a SUBJECT line of "unsubscribe" to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
