Eugene's observations

This is really the sort of information better suited to my biannual newsletter, but as that is not due to roll off the presses until early December, here is where I place this pearl.

If you are sending or receiving email to/from anyone with an address that ends @BTxxxxxxx.com  be aware that for several weeks (yes, weeks) they have been having intermittent problems judging by the very frequent automated bounce messages I receive.

Typically a message is not able to be delivered within a few minutes of it being sent.  Usually (but not always) they are clearing the backlog within 4 days, but if you need a message to go faster than that you are best advised to switch to a provider that concentrates on email.  In my opinion Google do a fantastic job.

The usual reasons for this are:

• Temporary network or Internet connection issues in the destination domain.
• Aggressive anti-spam settings in the destination domain that block legitimate senders.
• Sending too many messages over a given time-frame to a particular email service provider.

While here, those who receive broadband connections and possibly phone line rental from BT should check that they are receiving close to the speed you are paying for (which will probably be more than most other providers).  Find out the estimated speed you should be enjoying at

https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html

Measure your current speed at

http://speedtest.btwholesale.com/

Or if you have a browser that will not work with that BT site then use

http://speedof.me/

EDIT 4 Sep 16:  I just sent a circular to 231 addresses.  30 bounced - all from BT domains.

EDIT 17 Sep 16: Hard to believe that the issue remains unresolved after so long.  It seems that BT are very inflexible when handling spam abuse and recovery from it.  I received the following advice from another ISP: "We have contacted BT internet to resolve this issue. However BT internet it not ready to share any information with us and they expect one of their users to contact them."  So BT expect their users to know when they do not receive something then send the transaction log of the sender's ISP to them.  Amazing.