Some of our customers that use mobile broadband have complained that their mobile broadband blocks port 25 for SMTP to prevent spam and other malicious use. Unfortunately, this affects everyone else using mobile broadband with specific providers that block network traffic on port 25 when an end user wants to set up their e-mail account via their desktop e-mail client. To remedy this issue, we have an alternative SMTP port – port 26 – for sending e-mail over SMTP using your favourite desktop client. For Windows Hosting customers, the alternative port is 587.

If you still have any problems with getting your e-mail set up when using mobile broadband, you can post your issue on our Web Hosting Forum where someone will be able to assist you, or you can alternatively submit a support ticket for one of our support technicians to assist you directly.

What is SMTP?

SMTP is the protocol used to send e-mail from a web server to another web server. A protocol is a standard for which to perform a certain procedure or function. For example, there are many other protocols in existence that are used every day, including HTTP, FTP, SSH, POP3, IMAP, etc.

What is a network port?

FTP, SSH, POP and SMTP all run on different network ports so the right application or process is used for a specific procedure or function – such as in the case of transferring files over the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). For example, accessing a website over HTTP uses port 80; however, you do not need to explicitly specify this when accessing a website because port 80 is default for HTTP and unless the port number is different, you do not need to specify this in the URL address bar of your web browser. Otherwise, you would, like this: http://www.eukhost.com:80.