Hi,
I am looking for email hosting, one preferably that ensures its servers are not Blacklisted.
My current webhost occasionally gets placed onto the Blacklist, presumably because its shared hosting and someones account has been hacked and is sending SPAM out.
Only need it for a single email address with private domain name,
thanks in advance.
Hi Scotty,
I'd say that the email hosting issue arises when sending emails, but its the entire service that is needed.
ie. mail server, Mailbox storage space, and SMTP server that will not get BARRED.
If you don't mind paying approx $50/yr/email sign up for Google Apps http://www.google.com/intx/en_au/enterprise/apps/business/ . They offer a dedicated email host that has advanced spam scanning capabilities. You can integrate that with your webhosting. Ask your hosting provider if they support it.
thanks!
That looks interesting too!
Are you already using this?
We've set up quite a large number of clients with it. Most recently a small .edu provider in Melb. Our company uses a dedicated server though for the biz.
Hi Pinoy,
Does this simply mean that you set the outbound mail server using their server details?
For a low volume SOHO business use (single user) would this be different to changing the outbound mail server to the ISP, or is this relaying generally not permitted.
Granted that the $50 is not expensive. Just trying to understand how it really integrates/replace the existing email host.
You set your outbound SMTP server to be smtp.gmail.com in your mail client. This is normally transported over SSL on port 465 so shouldn't be blocked at your ISP.
Hi Glo, i was in the same boat a few weeks back. My hosting was with a reputable Australian hosting provider. They did not have any sort of outgoing email filteration system in place, thus their shared hosting IP's would get blocked randomly. After going back and forth with them i decided to change hosts. I have now joined uber. Uber offers shared hosting but they have a filtering system in place. They have numerous IP's through which emails are sent. If one IP get's blocked, it's removed from the pool till it clears up and meanwhile your email is sent via other IP's in the same pool. So far no email bounce backs. Everything all good.
Thanks rack,
Is the IP switching automated, or is it dependant on users reporting this in?
Nope fully automatic. Your hosting isn't dependent on one IP but a pool of IP's.
Just pay $50 a year for google apps.
Then setup SPF and DKIM records
OP only wants single-user - you can still get this for free on Google Apps.
RE SPF/DKIM: Once they're in place make sure you also define a DMARC policy for your domain. See www.dmarcian.com for info. If everyone did this SPAM would be a thing of the past…
nice find… wasn't aware of that.
thanks
You can still get single-user Google Apps for free. I set it up all the time for people.
Alternatively you can use MS for email on your own domain (500 user accounts I think). And don't worry, outlook.com is actually pretty good these days (a far cry from the old Hotmail experience).
Can I please clarify - when you say single-user Google Apps is still free, does that include using it with your own custom domain?
I know Microsoft has discontinued their free offering recently, and I was under the impression that Google had long ago stopped doing it for free as well.
I would be happy to be mistaken!
I've owned my own domain for 5+ years and was originally with Google Apps before moving to Australia-based Fastmail. I can't recommend them enough for their stability multi-domain support and for avoiding the spam blacklisting issues you describe. These guys are also super responsive to customers; my only two service requests were seen to in record time and a request for a new keyboard shortcut was implemented in their beta webmail interface within two days and in production within a fortnight.
An individual mailbox is $40 (and you can have multiple domains, or inbound email 'personalities') and they also have family/business plans (I'm on a family plan because of my peculiar 2 mailbox workflow from gApps days). While you can't buy domain names off them, their domain hosting tool is the best I've used and SPF/DKIM are easy to set and they'll also host non-email related A/CNAME/TXT/redirects for free.
There are tons of reviews on the net from people who have migrated from other hosts too. If you are considering forking out for Google apps, consider these guys too. They're way more responsive, a better option for the technically minded, are based in Australia and subject to Australian, not US law, and won't use your data for advertising.
A friend uses Fastmail and also rates their service. One word of warning though is that despite being an Aussie company their datacentres and technical infrastructure are US-based (NYC I think) so if you're going with them for a 'keep your data out of the US hands' reason then think again, you're not being 'safe' by using them. Still, it's better than being mined by Google if that's your fear.
Think this location thing is a throwback to its ownership years ago.
ZFA - I agree with your point and should have been clearer with mine to mean that if you have an issue with what they do the legal remedies you can pursue are under Australian law and through our courts.
On the 'safety' points of their NYC based servers, you are entirely correct but I suspect this is an issue with most providers in this post-Lavabit era. This said, they've been fairly upfront about their processes and procedures in relation to US co-location and their existing history of mutual assistance requests.
While it doesn't exclude all threat vectors or scenarios (eg. NSL on the datacentre, breakthrough SSL attacks, etc) the fact that they are cogniscant of the risks and somewhat working to minimise them is a good sign. Again, I meant the US/AUS thing mainly in how a business or individual deals with service or legal issues rather than interception, but I think they're doing a good job on both fronts.
With "Email Hosting" do you mean your inbox hosting (for receiving emails), or for out-bound emails? For out-bound you can look at something like Amazon SES. You might also need to set up Domain Keys and SPF for your domain to make sure all your out-bound emails are signed.