RE: FN-FORUM: Hotmail and emails

date posted 18th January 2008 23:39

> > I was sending the email using phpMailer [1], using its default =
settings
> > (sendmail I think). I changed it to use SMTP and the emails to =
Hotmail
> > started arriving.
>=20
> Did the "From:" address change, or other related headers? Hotmail =
uses =20
> SenderID, which runs off SPF records but uses them in a different way =
to =20
> SPF. If the From address is for a domain on your server (e.g. =20
> [EMAIL REMOVED] then Hotmail will probably accept it,=20
> especially =20
> if your domain has proper SPF records. If the From address is the site =
=20
> visitor's then Hotmail may well just delete the message without =
telling =20
> anyone. SPF uses the envelope sender for its checks, which is much =
more =20
> sensible.
>=20
> My testing a couple of months ago showed reliable delivery to=20
> Googlemail, =20
> which uses SPF, and often-failed delivery to Hotmail, which uses =
SenderID.
>=20
> $reliable_e_mail !=3D ($hotmail or $msn);
>=20
> Anthony

I'm fairly sure I was setting all the headers correctly and the from =
address and sender were both set:

$phpmailer -> Sender =3D $this -> from_email;
$phpmailer -> From =3D $this -> from_email;
$phpmailer -> FromName =3D $this -> from_name;

where "$this -> from_email" was set to [EMAIL REMOVED] where domain =
is the name of the sending website, ie. not the site visitors domain.

All the emails that went to various email accounts (some web based) when =
we were testing were okay. I didn't really do much investigation into =
the problem - changing to SMTP was a quick and obvious change that =
thankfully fixed the problem.

Nick