Author Topic: Options on website providers  (Read 1061 times)

Options on website providers
« on: 28 September, 2021, 07:33:10 pm »
I know we have had threads in the past about this, but circumstances change, so I thought it worth starting a new one. The last one I found was over two years old.

I have been using TSOhost for some years, based on recommendations from here. In general they are pretty good. There has been the odd glitch or two, but these have usually been resolved fairly quickly and the one time they made an unrecoverable mistake I was offered compensation immediately.

However, I have been having problems receiving emails from BTinternet accounts. This has happened occasionally in the past, but is now almost a permanent feature. Sometimes the emails eventually arrive after a period of several days or a week. Sometimes they are bounced to the originator with 451 errors. TSO are blaming BT. I have no contract with BT so I can't really get at them. I have heard reports that we are not the only people this issue affects.
Regardless of who is at fault, if it isn't fixed, I need to move suppliers. I have been DM'ing with Jaded about this and he has recommended someone, but says he's not completely up to date with such things at the moment. (Thanks, Jaded, your suggestion did look as if it will suit my needs, but it's always worth getting more information).

I'm hosting about 15 sites at the moment. Some are Wordpress, some are home-brew hand coded. I need MySQL (for both the Wordpress and the ones I wrote).
As for price, I'm not looking for the cheapest option necessarily. Most of the sites are for voluntary organisations, but they all appreciate that these things cost.

Thanks in advance.

Steve
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

Re: Options on website providers
« Reply #1 on: 29 September, 2021, 08:21:18 am »
Regardless of who is at fault, if it isn't fixed, I need to move suppliers.

If it turns out to be BT's fault, then there's no guarantee that moving your host will make any difference.

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: Options on website providers
« Reply #2 on: 29 September, 2021, 08:45:56 am »
It won't be BT's 'fault'.

This provider is choosing to reject the mail from BT for whatever reason, and that's 100% their choice.

Sure, there may be something BT is doing that they are sniffy about, but what they choose to do about it is within their control.
Other ISPs are able to accept BT mail just fine.


Afasoas

Re: Options on website providers
« Reply #3 on: 29 September, 2021, 07:10:11 pm »
It won't be BT's 'fault'.

This provider is choosing to reject the mail from BT for whatever reason, and that's 100% their choice.

Sure, there may be something BT is doing that they are sniffy about, but what they choose to do about it is within their control.
Other ISPs are able to accept BT mail just fine.

I'm not so sure. Just because BT are a large provider and other ISPs accept their mail, doesn't mean they are immune to problems with their SMTP configuration.

$MS had a problem for a long time receiving mail, where they would treat mail as SPF failed due to a problem with the DNS service their SMTP servers relied on. I was hitting this and so were a lot of other people at the same time.

<snip>
Sometimes they are bounced to the originator with 451 errors.
</snip>

This is the a significant clue. 451 means "Requested action aborted: local error in processing". So that is either a problem with TSOs mail infrastructure or, as 451 can be used for things like SPF failure/anti-spam/TLS problems, something wrong on the sending side. The bounce email should have another set of numbers or a description following the 451 error code. It would be useful to see that description/error code before solidly advising that you should move to a new host.

The last time I hosted a website not on my own servers, back in 2019, I used Krystal Hosting. I experience no problems - I think it took a day or so between handing them money and being able to host the site. I think I made one technical support enquiry and it was addressed almost immediately. I cancelled the hosting within a few months (it was a short-term project) and that went smoothly too.

They are not the cheapest option, but by no means exorbitantly expensive either.

Re: Options on website providers
« Reply #4 on: 29 September, 2021, 08:43:23 pm »
Thanks Afasoas

More of the error report

Status: 5.2.0
Remote-MTA: dns; <my domain>
Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 451 Temporarily unable to process your email. Please try again later.

I shall add Krystal Hosting to the (very short) list to be investigated
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

Afasoas

Re: Options on website providers
« Reply #5 on: 30 September, 2021, 09:36:56 am »
Thanks Afasoas

More of the error report

Status: 5.2.0
Remote-MTA: dns; <my domain>
Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 451 Temporarily unable to process your email. Please try again later.

I shall add Krystal Hosting to the (very short) list to be investigated

The 5.2.0 status doesn't really help clear things up, except to say it could be any of the following:

- Syntax error, command unrecognized (This may include errors such as command line too long)
- Syntax error in parameters or arguments
- Command not implemented
- Bad sequence of commands
- Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable (e.g., mailbox not found, no access, or command rejected for policy reasons)
- Email rejected by policy/email too large/recipient mail box is full

One other option might be to host email independently of the websites (two different providers) - or if this is a case of enabling email to be sent from the websites themselves, looking at sendgrid or mailgun. The upside is that you don't have to migrate the websites. The downside is cost and level of involvment.. you will no doubt have to add/tweak some DNS records for each domain.

Sorry this is not a great deal of use.