According to iiNet's support web page,
iiNet? ;-)
Oops, sorry, I'd just been dealing with iiNet support :-)
According to Westnet's Global Roaming page
http://www.westnet.com.au/internet/additional/global.aspx
Mac might need to be using the iPass Dial Wizard.
The iPass Dial Wizard appears to be for dial-up access from locations
other than WA or Aus?
iPass is for outside Australia -- you can use your Westnet dial-up
Australia wide, through their single telephone number.
Isn't Mac trying to gain access from Internet Cafes? Won't these
generally be on broadband?
If he is going through a cafe's broadband shouldn't he be using
mail.westnet.com.au?
Each different ISP will have a different SMTP server associated with
it. So with each location that Malcolm drives the Motor Home to in
Canada, he'll most likely need to use a few different SMTP servers.
Westnet seems to be saying that mailr.westnet.com.au is only for use
through the iPass software:
Oh yes, a good point, you're correct. It does appear to work for
normal senders of Mail too though. YMMV.
I am on WN broadband and mailr.westnet.com.au doesn't respond to any
pings, only mail.westnet.com.au
does.
Don't bother trying to ping common addresses, or to use this as a
gauge of whether an address is alive or not. You're wasting your
time, as it's not a true representation as to whether the server is
alive or not. Most ISPs turn off ping responses from their common
servers (from example DNS servers, many Mail servers etc.). I asked
iiNet about this practice a few years ago, and they gave a few
responses. They said they either don't like the extra traffic (=
performance hit), or their firewall blocks the pings (helps reduce
attacks if people can't see your server easily), or they don't like
to advertise their server is available to use as a test to see if
it's alive. All stands to good reason.
So, pinging is a less than reliable measure these days. Perhaps
instead, you could try telnetting to the server on say port 25, and
sending a few raw SMTP commands instead. (There are web pages
dedicated to this). Or, do a DNS lookup (local or web-based), which
might provide some info as to it's alive status.
I cant see why Westnet themselves haven't sorted this out for Mac.
One long-distance call to support should fix this I reckon.
The problem doesn't affect Westnet customers in general, it affects
ALL mobile users. Malcolm has already been on the right track, which
he described as grabbing the domain part of local email address of
the service provider his particular location has been using. While
not full-proof, he's on the right path. It's just some ISP's might
have an email address of [EMAIL PROTECTED], and their SMTP
address might be smtp.superisp.com.au, and others might use
mail.superisp.com.au. It will vary each time Malcolm changes ISP or
location. :-)
Dare I ask; what is wrong with using Westnet's webmail to access your
emails while abroad?
Malcolm could use Westnet's webmail; this avoids the SMTP changing
routine. BUT I'm sure it's down to the convenience of being able to
use Malcolm's default Mail application, without having to make too
many changes to his routine, access to his address book etc.
When I'm on the road, I much prefer to use my default Mail app where
possible, so that I have easy access and tracking to previous threads
of messages etc. :-). But if my laptop is not convenient, or if I
can't work out the SMTP address of a particular service provider, or
similar, I'll use my particular webmail client instead.
Hope this info helps,
Cheers,
Derek
