CTC - Wireless Internet (Support

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Q. Why do I get SPAM, JunkMail, UCE? What can I do?

Since the Internet has become popular in the mainstream, many people have looked to exploit it as a cheap way to advertise.
We filter for Junk eMail and are constantly trying to improve this ability. Even though a large amount of Junkmail is removed, some still gets through. The reason for this is that there are a lot of people trying to circumvent the recipients ability to filter it. To this means they do things like using random names, random e-mail addresses, random subjects and text, links to random websites, and sometimes use viruses to send e-mail from compromised systems world wide.

One very important point is to never post your e-mail address in a public place with out obfuscation. For example, if you post your email address in a news group or on your website, spammers will almost certainly "havest" your e-mail address using an automated bot.
Some alternatives, are to encode your message in a human readable way, that computers may not be programed to decode. For example: myname at mymailserver dot com, or you can also use html special characters to encode it (described in more detail in the article linked to below.) Another approach, as you may have seen on some sites in signup forms, to do whois lookups and such, is to use a code in a graphic. This is intended to prevent computers being able to read the addresses by requiring that a human read the text, type it into a box, and submit it before being able to view the content.

Another important point is when you sign up for any service, mailing list or similar means of submitting your e-mail address. Always be aware of any check boxes asking if you wish to subscribe to their mail lists. Always be sure you trust the company or site you are submitting the form with. Some people make a point of reading the sites privacy policies before submitting any information.

You may never have signed up for anything using your email address and never submitted your email address online, and still receive spam? This is usually from a spammer who does a "brute force" attack. Where they attempt to send emails using a dictionaly attack, or huge variety of common names to a mail server. This tends to be more of a problem for shorter and more common names in e-mail addresses.

There are temporary email addresses available online that can be used to avoid giving out your real email address for a one time use submission, that may result in spam.

To give you a little more insight into spam, why you get spam, and some of the things you can do about it view the following link to a 3rd party study on spam. CDT Spam Study.

Q. I never received an e-mail, I think it got filtered as spam, what can I do?

We implement spam filtering. "Spammers" are constantly trying to evade our ability to filter their messages. As a result, some times the rules intended to keep your mailbox free of unwanted messages catch legitimate messages.

There are a few things you can do about this. First, keep in mind that sometimes e-mail can take a while to go through on a busy sending or receiving server. The simplest thing to do is login to your webmail and look in the folder called JunkMail, this folder has the messages marked as most likely spam filtered and dumped into it. If you find a message in your JunkMail folder, you can move it back to your inbox & view it or download it, you can also add the senders e-mail address to your CTC webmail address book which will "auto-whitelist" it, preventing it from being filtered.

If you find it a hassle to login and check your JunkMail folder every few days, or want an easier way to do it... You can setup your mail client to pop out your JunkMail folder. You do this by setting up another mail account just like your first only you modify your email address / login name to something like myusername}JunkMail@myserver.ext (that's the part of your e-mail address before the @ symbol, with a curly right bracket and the folder name JunkMail inserted after it.) this will download your JunkMail.
In clients like Thunderbird you can have it download to a different account, and optionally setup a rule to move it to a JunkMail folder in your mail client. In some clients like MS Outlook, you need to setup a rule to move all mail coming from that account to a specific folder.
Another very neat thing you can do with most major mail clients, is setup a filter that compares the JunkMail messages downloaded with your address book in your mail client. Then automatically move those messages to a folder for false positives, or to your Inbox. So that messages filtered as JunkMail from people you know are found automatically. Keep in mind that some spam maybe sent using your e-mail address, which would be let through.
At a later time we will setup a guide on how to make these changes in some common mail clients, your mail clients help file can probably explain some things about filters.

Spam is filtered with a weighting system using a series of tests, meaning higher rated messages get filtered. Extremely blatent spam is filtered and held for a short time on the server. If you have checked your JunkMail folder and a message you know was sent has not shown up there you can call us to check the logs for the missing message. Due to the size of the log files and the number of messages we process, this process takes some time and should be considered after you've checked the other options.
When calling us to track down a message, you should gather as much information as possible, specifically: senders email, recipients email, date and time of message.
Also note, logs and spool files are stored for a limited amount of time, if you discover a missing message you need to track it down promptly.

Q. How do I setup my mail client?

First you will need to know your e-mail address, your password, and your pop/smtp servers (Pop3 is for getting/inbound e-mail, and SMTP is for sending/outbound e-mail). Typically if your mail server is hosted with us, you can figure out your e-mail servers from your address. By taking the last part of your e-mail address and adding mail. to the front of it, both Pop3 and SMTP servers are typically set the same.
So, if your e-mail address was test_account@homeisp.com, your pop and smtp servers would be mail.homeisp.com
You will then need to add a new account to your e-mail client using these settings, specific instructions for common e-mail clients will be added later.
NOTE: If your ISP blocks SMTP traffic you will need to use their SMTP server, not ours.

The above generic instructions should point you in the right direction, however the following items should be added in the near future.
How to setup your e-mail account in Outlook Express
How to setup your e-mail account in Mozilla Thunderbird
How to setup your e-mail account in Outlook

Q. How do I login to webmail?

First you will need to know your e-mail address and your password. To get to the login page take the last part of your e-mail address, add http://mail. to the front of it, and :8383/ to the end of it.
So if your e-mail account is test_account@homeisp.com, open your web browser (IE Internet Explorer), and go to the address http://mail.homeisp.com:8383/.
This should bring up the login page, then put your e-mail address and your password in, and click login, that should take you to the webmail interface.

Q. Should I use Webmail or a mail client?

Webmail and e-mail clients each have advantages and disadvantages.
Generally an e-mail client installed on your computer performs faster, and is more robust. This is usually the preferable way to go.
Webmail, while the interface is slightly clunkier, allows you to access your e-mail from any where you have internet access.

Q. I can't receive e-mail (POP3 / Incoming), help?

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Server Echos:
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telnet <hostname> 110<CR>
Connecting To <hostname>...
+OK X1 NT-POP3 Server homeisp.com...
user <username> <CR>
+OK send your password.
pass <password> <CR>
+OK maildrop locked and ready.
stat <CR>
+OK a b
quit <CR>
+OK POP3 Server saying Good-Bye

In the reply to the stat command, a is the number of messages (emails) waiting to be sent to you and b is the size in bytes of all the messages.
If you enter an unknown command you will see:
-ERR Invalid command.
If you enter an invalid username or the wrong password you will see:
-ERR Login failed.
Just repeat the user and pass commands using the correct information.
That should verify that you can connect to the server, or indicate another problem.

Q. I can't send e-mail (SMTP / Outgoing), help?

First, make sure your internet connection is working. Often Anti-Virus e-mail scanners (such as Norton AV) can cause problems, try disabling them, if that works try re-installing your AV software.
Double check all your settings, check your e-mail address for login, your SMTP/Outbound server address, and make sure you are entering your password correctly.

Note:The following are slightly more advanced trouble shooting instructions.
The server used to send email out to other email addresses is called an SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) server. Your email client performs a similar activity to these instructions to send out mail. Connection to an SMTP server is normally done on port 25, we will use Telnet to test the connection to the server on port 25.
The following instructions will create and send a simple email message. All echoed messages from the SMTP server will start with a number, all other text you should type - except the <CR> is an Enter key, the text in [] is just FYI, and the text in <>'s is variables - for example <hostname> is the last part of your e-mail address after the @ symbol (IE test_email@homeisp.com would be homeisp.com).
For testing purposes you will most likely want to send an e-mail to yourself.
Also note, this is a slightly complicated process, to simply verify port / IP connectivity to the server, you can skip the steps between helo, and quit.
Type the first command at a command prompt, or by going to your Start Menu, and Run.

Encode your CTC e-mail address and password in Base64 below for the following instructions.

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telnet <mail.hostname> 25<CR>
Connecting to <mail.hostname>...
220 mail.homeisp.com (IMail ...) NT-ESMTP Server X1
helo <hostname><CR>
250 Hello <hostname>
auth login          [Base64 Encoder required, see below.]
334 VXNlcm5hbWU6          [Username: / Base64 Encoded prompt]
<Base64 Encoded sender e-mail address><CR>
334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6          [Password: / Base64 Encoded prompt]
<Base64 Encoded password><CR>
235 authenticated
mail from: <sender e-mail><CR>
250 OK
rcpt to: <recipient e-mail><CR>
250 ok its for <recipient e-mail>
data <CR>          [start data (email text) entry]
354 ok, send it; end with <CRLF>.<CRLF>
Date: 1 Jan 05 12:00:00<CR>
Subject: Test email from SMTP telnet session.<CR>
From: <sender e-mail><CR>
To: <recipient e-mail><CR>
<CR>          [Send a blank line to seperate headers from message]
This is a test mail to verify that my connection to the mail server works.<CR>
<CR>
.<CR>          [single dot on it's own, after return, terminates message text]
250 Message queued
quit<CR>
221 Goodbye

To authenticate before sending a test e-mail you will need a Base64 encoder, one is included on this page. If you don't have one, you can still send a test e-mail to a local account (IE your own address), although authenticating is prefered. To skip authentication Skip lines from "auth login", to "235 authenticated".

If you enter a command that is not supported you will get:
500 unrecognized command
Just check the command syntax and re-enter it correctly.
If you get stuck the following sequence of commands will reset and terminate the connection:
<CR>
.<CR>
RSET<CR>
Quit<CR>

That should allow you to test your SMTP connection with telnet. You should be able to see your message count increment with the POP3 test, or you should receive the message in your Webmail or reqular mail client.

Q. 550 Error. Not a local host, Not a gateway?

Our mail server requires authentication. This error is caused when your e-mail client is not set to use your username and password when sending e-mails.
To set this, open your e-mail account properties, on the server settings TAB, check the box that says "My Server Requires Authentication".
Note do NOT check "My Server Requires Secure Password Authentication".
The location of this setting varies from client to client, in Outlook Express look under Tools, Accounts, select your account, and click Properties.

Q. Blocked SMTP?

Some ISPs (Internet Service Providors, such as SW Bell, or Road Runner) do not allow SMTP traffic. We tend to think requiring authentication for e-mail is the best way to go. They tend to allow anyone on their network to use their server, and do not allow you to use an alternate mail server.
This means that to send e-mail from one of their networks, you need to contact them and find out what their SMTP or Out Bound e-mail server is. After changing your SMTP Server Address to their address you should be able to send e-mail.

Q. I think an e-mail is being filtered as SPAM, can I whitelist it?

If someone is trying to send you a message and you're not receiving it, there are a number of possible causes. One is that it's being filtered by our server as spam (I.E. a news letter that has certain features common to spam). One way to test / resolve this issue is to whitelist it.
Any e-mail addresses added to your web based address book are auto-whitelisted, a whitelisted e-mail comes through even if it is spam.
To do this, login to web mail, click the Contacts button, type in a name and then the e-mail address, then click add.
If you don't know how to login, see "How do I login to webmail?".

If you still have problems with messages from a particular e-mail server, the problem could be on their end or our end. The next step would probably be to contact us, and have us look at the logs to see if the message is showing up, and if it is why is it being filtered. This is usually due to a poor configuration, IE no RDNS entry, or MX entry for the sending server, etc.
Occasionally it is due to a detected vulnerability in the e-mail message, anything caught by the virus scanning software is filtered, even if it is whitelisted.

Q. How do I change my email password?

Log into the web mail interface (See the How do I login to webmail help section.).
Once logged in, click the Options and Styles drop down box, and under the My Options... section, click - Password.
That should bring up a dialog box with three fields, type in your old password, and type in your new password once in each of the other two fields, then click Save.
The box should say, Password has been successfully changed. Close the window, and you should be set.

Q. How do I change my webmail settings, styles etc.?

Log into the web mail interface (See the How do I login to webmail help section.).
Once logged in, click the Options and Styles drop down box, all of your preferences are accessed here.
Your general e-mail preferences, are of course under Preferences, there are a number of other options.
You can also pick your preferred style under Pick A Style... (that changes the appearance of your web mail interface).
There are a number of other options including, Signature, Vacation Message, Forwarding, etc.

Q. How do I send complete e-mail headers? (IE from a SPAM message)

When you receive an e-mail that has been marked falsely as spam, or is spam and should have been filtered, you can send or view the complete e-mail headers to help in diagnosing the issue. See our Contact section for e-mail addresses / phone numbers.
In WebMail
...Once logged in, Click Options and Styles..., -Preferences, under Message Display Options section, click Display Message Headers - Full, Click Save.
When viewing a message, click the Headers link, this will pop up a message displaying the e-mail headers (You can select and copy them).
In Outlook Express (This may vary from version to version.) Select or open the message, click the file menu at the top, click Properties, click the Details TAB, the headers are displayed there.
You can also view the complete message source, by clicking on the Message Source button.
In Outlook (This may vary from version to version.)
--Not yet added--
In Thunderbird
Click the View menu at the top, go to Headers, Click All. This will show the headers at the top, to hide them, go back and click Normal.
If you want to be able to copy the headers, you can view the entire message source by going to: the View menu at the top, then click Message Source. This will open up a notepad window with the message contents.