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Accent on Computers to the rescue! 203-625-7575.
March 24, 2006
On the Road with E-mail
Dear Larry,
I’m an Optimum Online user and when I’m traveling with my
laptop, I find that I can’t send any e-mail although I can receive e-mail. When
I return home, everything’s fine again. What’s going on?
G. S.
Dear G. S.,
Most e-mail in use today (with the exception of AOL) is of the
POP3 variety. That means that e-mail sent to you is actually directed to your
POP3 IMS (Incoming Mail Server)—a computer managed by your mail provider—Optimum
Online, in your case—that houses your new e-mail until it’s delivered to your
computer.
When you’re ready to check for new e-mail you run, say,
Outlook Express. If it’s set up correctly, it sends a request for new mail to
your IMS along with your e-mail address and password. Once Optimum Online
validates your address and password, it sends all new e-mail back to your
computer.
As long as you have an Internet connection and your IMS is up
and running somewhere out in Cyberspace, your computer will have no trouble
receiving your messages. Sending mail, however, is another story. When you want
to send e-mail, your outgoing messages need to be forwarded to an OMS, an
Outgoing Mail Server, which may or may not have any connection to your IMS. I’m
guessing your laptop is probably set up to use Optimum Online’s OMS.
The companies that manage OMS’s restrict usage in one of two
ways: As long as they detect that you’re connected to their server using their
own Internet service, or your computer has supplied an appropriate user name and
password for authentication, they’ll permit you to send mail via their OMS.
Otherwise, forget it!
Now do you see the problem? You’re able to send mail at home
via Optimum Online’s OMS because they know you’re connected to their own
Internet service via your cable modem. When you’re traveling, however, you’re
using someone else’s Internet service—perhaps one supplied by the hotel you’re
staying in. Try to send e-mail via Optimum Online in that instance, and your
outgoing mail will be stopped dead.
What you’ll need to do in this case is identify the OMS
associated with the Internet service you’re using and alter the mail account
settings on your computer accordingly. It’s beyond the scope of this column to
go into further detail—I recommend you contact the local Internet Service
Provider and ask them what needs to be changed to permit outgoing mail. Be sure
you keep track of what you’re changing—when you return home, you’ll want to set
everything back the way it was originally, otherwise you’ll end up with the same
problem there!
One way to get around all of this is to use some form of
web-based mail when you’re on the road. More about this next week.
This is Larry Schneider, logging off.
