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Verizon is blocking my outgoing email

This has happened to me on numerous occasions. From my review of the forums, this is not an isolated incident. I have tried, in vain, to get any kind of help from FiOS support to fix the problem; the reps I talked with didn't seem to understand the problem let alone know how to fix it. I was infuriated by the rep asking me, "Do you think Verizon is singling out your email to block?" like I thought is was a conspiracy. Until the bitter end of that call, he continued to claim that Verizon does not block email. It's not a conspiracy, it's a reality. I have already changed the outgoing port to 587 from 25. Some of my email does go through. I want it all to go through.

Over the past week, I have tried to send email to friends and family, directing them to a blog I established on livejournal.com. ANY link to LJ was being bounced as spam by Verizon. I sent just the link via verizon.net web mail and got the same error. I also sent the link as plain text via verizon.net web mail and got the same error. I sent the message to between 1 and about 15 addresses. Nothing, other than a link that might resemble spam. I could live with sending the link as plain text that recipients would have to copy and paste into a browser. Even that doesn't work.

The message I receive, almost instantaneously is:

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.

Subject: Blog is up and running

Sent: 5/19/2010 10:06 AM

The following recipient(s) cannot be reached:

'<email address omitted>' on 5/19/2010 10:06 AM

550 5.7.1 The message you attempted to send was determined to be spam. Please visit http://www.verizon.net/spamfaq for more information.

<email address omitted>) on 5/19/2010 10:06 AM

550 5.7.1 The message you attempted to send was determined to be spam. Please visit http://www.verizon.net/spamfaq for more information.

Following the verizon.net link above, I discovered spamdetector.update@verizon.net, an address that is hidden in a bunch of text on the page, not shown as a link. You are supposed to be able to forward emial that was blocked to them for review. Don't hold your breath waiting for a response. I've been waiting a week.

This is not just a problem with embedded links, either. I sent a plain text file, it was rejected. I have had my attached resume rejected.

What can be done to fix this problem?

Comments

somegirl

As stated in the Spam FAQ page, you will not get any response when sending the message to spamdetector.update@verizon.net for review. You attach the message that you are unable to send, and they review it. Depending on the outcome of the investigation, the filter will either be updated to allow the content that was previously blocked, or it will be determined to be a legitimate block and no changes will be made.

Since you already know specifically what is causing the block, there's not much else that can be done. Remove the link, or use a different SMTP server. (I suggest Gmail, as a free alternative, but there are several out there.) You can set up your pop3 client to send mail with a 3rd party SMTP server and still have it look like it's coming from your verizon.net address. Let me know if you need help with configuration.

Hope this helps.

FixMyEmail

If it were just the LJ links, I might agree with your assessment. But, the mail getting blocked is happening under different conditions:

live link
link as text
text file attachment
doc attachment

Different things are blocked at different times.

As to VZ's assessment of whether or not what I send is spam, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect them to advise users of what is causing their problem. The "we won't respond" statement in the FAQ, obvious or not, is crap. I pay enough money for the service to expect email I send to get to be delivered or I should be told why it wasn't.

I understand what VZ is trying to do. I have a problem with their implementation and lack of open communications on the issue. Yes, there are work arounds. Do you pay for phone service that "might" put your calls through? Do you pay for gas or electric that "usually" provides the service you pay to receive? Would you think plumbing your waste line into your neighbor's sewer system is an acceptable work around? Of course not. While these are extreme cases, the point is valid. You pay for a service. If that service is not provided, you deserve an explanation. Forcing clients to jump through hoops to use your service is not a solid business model. Lying to your customers and giving them misinformation is not an effective method of retaining satisfied, returning customers.

Lastly, why is text, no live links, just plain text, causing email to be blocked? I can understand the reasoning (but, again, not the implementation,) of a process that blocks emails with certain types of attachments or hypertext links. But a link inserted as plain text? PLease explain that decision to me.

somegirl

If Verizon told you what was causing the block, then spammers would use that knowledge to get around the filtering system. Not saying it's right for them to not tell you, just giving the logic behind it.

Also, it's a technicality, but you don't pay for the email. You pay for the internet service, and Verizon gives you email for free.

I can't explain Verizon's decisions for them. That would take an understanding of their internal workings that I simply do not have. Complain to Verizon if you want change. With enough complaints, they just might see their error. Since these forums are peer-to-peer, about the best you can hope for here is "I feel your pain," and maybe a workaround.

pingdavid

Verizon appears to be blocking all port 25 outgoing traffic from residential customers. I am a FIOS customer, and I noticed that as of a couple of days ago, all port 25 traffic is being dropped. I called customer support to request that they open port 25 outgoing for me. I am not a spammer.

Last week, I was able to send email to my email server. Last night, I was not able to send any more emails. I confirmed that all port 25 connections are being denied or dropped.

When Comcast was having a problem with spammers, they did the same thing. But, I was able to call customer support and have them open port 25 for me. The tech support guy opened a trouble ticket for me with the network guys, but no promises were made about getting port 25 opened for me.

David

viafax999

@pingdavid wrote:
Verizon appears to be blocking all port 25 outgoing traffic from residential customers. I am a FIOS customer, and I noticed that as of a couple of days ago, all port 25 traffic is being dropped. I called customer support to request that they open port 25 outgoing for me. I am not a spammer.
Last week, I was able to send email to my email server. Last night, I was not able to send any more emails. I confirmed that all port 25 connections are being denied or dropped.
When Comcast was having a problem with spammers, they did the same thing. But, I was able to call customer support and have them open port 25 for me. The tech support guy opened a trouble ticket for me with the network guys, but no promises were made about getting port 25 opened for me.
David

I believe you will find that you are meant to be using port 587 for outgoing mail, if using OE it's in the advanced tab of the mail account properties. I've been using that for a year or so with no issues. VZ recently sent out a reminder that that was the outgoing smtp port.

viafax999

@pingdavid wrote:
Last week, I was able to send email to my email server. Last night, I was not able to send any more emails. I confirmed that all port 25 connections are being denied or dropped.
David

What is your email server? It should be

outgoing.verizon.net

If not you risk mail getting rejected for relaying. I use several email accounts and for all outbound traffic use outgoing.verizon.net and port 587 except for gmail where I use smtp.gmail.com and port 465.

Brian641

I too have had this same problem (outgoing emails being blocked) off and on for a few years. I finally isolated the problem to text in my outgoing email that mentions the URL to my blog. If I remove this URL the email goes through. The problem is that I often need to email people this URL, in fact I need to do it a lot. The strange thing is I can email links to other blogs from the same server, just not mine. I have spent hours with VZ tech support and we couldn't fix it. The only thing we discovered is that it is blocked reguardless of whether I send the email directly from my Verizon account or from Outlook. Also I cannot forward the offending email to the spamfaq because Verizon blocks that too. I am at the point where I have to get new internet service because I have subscibers and I cannot send them this link, even if I just try to send out 1 email at a time. Smiley Sad

kcutting

please unbok my out going e-mails

lance15

cannot send emails

tns2

You are talking to peers. You might get a occassional administrator to help escalate a problem you opened but could not get support for, but you really need to try and open a support report first. Try one of the "contact us" options listed on all of the Verizon pages.

Lynner1

I too am having difficulty configuring Windows Live Mail. I got it so the mail comes in, but outgoing doesn't work and the verizon support was not helpful, and in fact said they couldn't help because Live Windows Mail was not theirs. Veirzon website says users can use other email programs but gives no help in solving outgoing problems. Does anyone have any suggestions.

Ken20141

Hello to All:

Hope this helps. Just transferred to Verizon and having trouble with email and subaccounts, but I also was trying to send my contacts my new Verizon email address, only to receive the same error message you all received. Verizon blocked the outgoing as spam. I read all your responses & tried to change some settings but it did not work. My original email was with Brighthouse & I'm stll receiving those, my new email with Verizon and am receiving, both working through Incredimail, but none sending outgoing. I read where you changed the outgoing number, so I went into advanced. Verizon's is 587, but my Incredimail was 25. I changed it to 100, but no results. THEN, CHANGED IT TO 587 AND ALL THE EMAILS IN MY OUTBOX WENT THROUGH INSTANTLY!!!!!!!! It works! Hope this helps!!! Have a wonderful day. I've been on the phone with Verizon all day. They can't get my subaccounts to work.

coffeefrog

If enough of us FIOS customers quit Verizon and go to another provider, say Comcast, Verizon may get the message that we are unhappy with them. Or, do you think Comcast may be behind all of Verizon's roubles?

blueteam1234

why block my out going mail when its not spam

mystique1829

please stop blocking my out going e- mails.

stanleydog

So Verizon allows someone to send me spam but i can not forward it to the proper place to report it ? That makes alot of sense , send me spam , but do not report it . I am referring to Paypal.

treborsci

I sent an innocent email and Verizon rejected it as SPAM!!! Fix this STUPIDITY!!!!!!!!!

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