Many of you have come across a problem in the
last few weeks where mail that you are sending to MSN or Hotmail is not going
through and is bouncing back. It seems that they have stepped up the
strictness and are blocking a lot more IPs than they used to. Below is
post that our techs will be putting in tickets to help you out with this issue.
I have been trying to track down the best way to deal with this situation but
it is quite frustrating and Microsoft seems to intentionally be making it
difficult.
Here is the process to follow to get your IP unblocked:
MSN has been blocking mail recently in the
range of your IPs. It could be a whole range of IPs that is blocked or it
could just be your IP(s). If it appears that a range of IPs are blocked then we
will try to request removal of this block from Microsoft, however, their system
is probably the absolute worst when it comes to mail blocking. They do
not let us know how many IPs are blocked OR the reason for the block and their
system is really designed for the person doing the mailing to contact them and
not the host/ISP (Atjeu). They do not respond to us any better or faster
then they respond to you. In fact, it is often better for you to contact
them directly as that gets a better reply.
***PLEASE READ THIS WHOLE POST***
The best thing for you to do is to go to the
link in that bounced email and read the whole page. Here is that link in case
you don't have it:
http://mail.live.com/mail/troubleshooting.aspx
Here is a summary of the important points:
1. If you cannot send e-mail to Hotmail customers, you can create
a support request on the MSN Support Home page at
https://support.msn.com/default.aspx?productkey=edfsmsbl
2. If you are sending large amounts of mail from your server
then you need to be in the Junk Mail Reporting Program (JMRP) which you can
find here:
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https://support.msn.com/eform.aspx?productKey=edfsjmrpp&page=support_home_options_form_byemail&ct=eformts&st=1&wfxredirect=1
3. Microsoft partners with a company called
returnpath.org for part of their reasons for blocking mail. You can see
if you are blocked with them at this link:
https://www.senderscore.org/
4. Make sure that you have SPF records setup for your mail
accounts. Here is an FAQ about SPF records and why you need to use them:
http://www.openspf.org/FAQ
5. Once you have SPF records setup you can submit those to
Microsoft as well as join their "SenderID" program. You can do
this at the following link:
https://support.msn.com/eform.aspx?productKey=senderid&page=support_senderid_options_form_byemail&ct=eformts&st=1&wfxredirect=1
By doing these things, you will be minimizing the possibly reasons that MSN
would be blocking your email.
