Seeking Recommendations for a Good Outgoing SMTP Service

[Shachar Shemesh]

On 28/07/15 16:33, Shlomi Fish wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> can you recommend a good [and possibly paid] outgoing SMTP service
> that I can use for my @shlomifish.org <http://shlomifish.org>
> addresses? The ideal service will be:
>
> 1. Reliable - messages I sent from it won't be filtered/marked/bounced
> as spam.
>
> 2. Affordable - I'm willing to pay but certainly cannot afford to pay
> too much.
>
> 3. With a responsive customer service.
I use my own. Don't listen to anyone saying it's no-maintenance headache
free. It's not. I had to set up SPF because otherwise things would just
break down. Every so often I find I have to try and figure out an
obscure error message from hotmail or some such bullshit, because they
don't believe in explaining why they rejected your email. They also have
a postmaster registration service that is only locatable via Google (ha ha).

If you do decide to roll your own, a few important tips:

  * Use a real DNS name for your server. Make sure the IP resolves back
    to the original name. I use contabo.com for my hosting, they allow
    setting the reverse DNS record. Use only a provider that allows that.
  * Set up SPF. Seriously. Brain dead or not, it helps. The price you
    pay is that all users of your domain can, realistically, *only* send
    emails through your designated SMTP. This sometimes poses a problem
    for mailing lists. If you can read this email, however, then at
    least linux-il is doing okay.
  * Set up TLS. Use a real signed certificate. startssl.com is a CA
    recognized by most software that provides signed certificates free
    of charge. They are also an Israeli company, to boot :-)

What I do not understand from your description, however, is how you
intend to handle incoming mail. If you intend to have that hosted as
well, why not just go with Google. Their business gmail solution
provides you also with an outgoing SMTP.

Shachar

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