Problems Sending Email via Outlook in Beijing

Lately we've been getting lots of complaints from our clients and friends about not being able to send email via Outlook. It's likely you've had this problem yourself.

In fact, we've even had problems sending through our servers as well.

Now, before you blame your email provider and switch services, there's something you should consider: there is a good chance your internet service provider (i.e. CNC or China Telecom) is blocking access to your email server one way or another.

ISPs around the world are starting to enforce use of their own email sending protocol (SMTP) and blocking port 25 (this is what Outlook and Thunderbird use to send email).

Most ISPs are glad to tell you which port to use and what their SMTP server is. If you have this information, it's easy to set up your email program to use their private server.

However, ISPs in Beijing often refuse to give you the information. In fact, China Telecom recently told one of our representatives, 'I cannot tell you that,' when asked.

What is even more frustrating is that CNC and China Telecom aren't centrally controlled. Each district ISP has it's own rules and own ideas about internet censorship.

An easy way to test whether it's your server or your ISP is to try sending email from a different location. If you have a laptop, don't change any of your settings and take it to a coffeeshop with free wi-fi and try sending. Try at least two locations out, and see what results you get.

If it's not convenient for you to do this yourself, we can take care of it for you. Contact us for help. As a follow-up, we'll talk to your ISP about getting the issue resolved. If they are still unwilling to help, we'll look into other ISP options for you.