Message Delivery Failure - Anyone else having problems?

[paf]

Looking a bit further into my problem with 123-reg I notice that by default there is no SPF (Sender Policy Framework) record for my domain name. It looks like as a user of 123-reg I have to add one myself.

What I am now going to do is look into this as being a possible culprit. I feel it may be something to do with BT clamping down on spam and bogus players etc. If indeed this is a source of the problems it would have been nice for BT to let people know about increased security. In my case emails are not bounced back or marked as undeliverable, just silently dumped. I still can't workout why it only happens to a small percentage of my incoming mail.

It may of course be nothing to do with SPF records. I'll be back.

[StuartAtkins]

For the record (and just because I'm concerned I might not get an answer any other means) I have the same issue. Domain with 123reg and forwarded emails to my BT account are failing. Not sure how frequently but certainly a few every day.

And as with others, this only started happening a couple of weeks ago.

[licquorice]

---

@paf wrote:

Looking a bit further into my problem with 123-reg I notice that by default there is no SPF (Sender Policy Framework) record for my domain name. It looks like as a user of 123-reg I have to add one myself.

What I am now going to do is look into this as being a possible culprit. I feel it may be something to do with BT clamping down on spam and bogus players etc. If indeed this is a source of the problems it would have been nice for BT to let people know about increased security. In my case emails are not bounced back or marked as undeliverable, just silently dumped. I still can't workout why it only happens to a small percentage of my incoming mail.

It may of course be nothing to do with SPF records. I'll be back.

---

As posted previously, it is always good practice to to ensure SPF, DKIM and DMARC records are correctly added to accounts.

Not sure how or why BT are supposed to inform the whole world that they are clamping down on security.

[MikePlob]

I have taken the advice to add an SPF record to my 123reg domain.  After doing so, I emailed my friend and asked him to reply and also send a new email.  Both have now been received from him, so that is good news.

In addition, a number of emails have dribbled in from yesterday which I assume must have been undelivered but presumably they hadn't timed out.

I have Googled DKIM and DMARC to see what they are.  I'm confused though.  Do I need to add them to 123reg?  I only use them for registration of my domain and for email forwarding.  I'd have thought that DKIM and DMARC would be applicable to my BT email account and would have been added by them already.  Grateful for any help or advice.

Mike

[graywallis]

I have tried to setup my PFS on my 123reg Control Panel. Needless to say the 123reg set of instructions lack a number of necessary steps and have more than one error. However, I think I've set it up. One major problem being what should a BT SPF record example look like? Meantime, the 'round the houses' route vial a GMail account then to BTinternet seems to be working.

[IanMK13]

@graywallis 

As stated earlier in this thread, assuming that you are using 123-reg's email servers then your SPF record should be:

v=spf1 mx a ip4:94.136.40.163 a:mailex.mailcore.me -all

[graywallis]

I don't think I'm using 123reg email servers, I think I'm using BT but making use of 123reg forwarding arrangement.

[licquorice]

---

@graywallis wrote:

 but making use of 123reg forwarding arrangement.

---

which uses 123reg servers to send the mail to your btinternet address.

[yorkley]

Hi

I am also hosting email on 123-reg.  I have been loosing emails for the last month.

BT keeps rejecting emails from my domain.  I am asking them to advise why and they are not very forthcoming.

They cannot even call me at a decent time, use the correct contact number, or actually even ring when they say.

I have set up an SPF and a DMARC on 123-reg.

This is in the advanced DNS settings for your domain.  It is not easy for a novice.

Go to https://mxtoolbox.com/ to check your SPF.

123-reg update the dns with a couple of minutes so you can check to see if your settings work.  The SPF setting must have an " at each end.

Hope that helps although I am getting more emails through some are still being bounced by BT.

Cheers

Bob

[jingars]

I am in the same situation as you @graywallis. I am struggling to understand the technicalities here  but I think that the language used is important to clarity.

I (and I suspect you) send email via BT. I portray my email address as my "own" domain rather than my btinternet.com one.

"My" domain is administered via 123 Reg.  Looking at the MX records for my domain:

my_domain.net MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mx0.123-reg.co.uk
my_domain.net MX preference = 20, mail exchanger = mx1.123-reg.co.uk

Inbound email gets directed to 123 Reg, where I have set up email forwarding on to my BT email address for both myself and my wife. I also have three forwards to Gmail accounts for the sprogs (no reports of email receipt problems from them).

Therefore, as far as BT are concerned, 123 Reg are a provider of the inbound email for my domain, and therefore need to be flagged as an authorised handler. I suspect that this is where the SPF record comes into play.

I have added a SPF record to my 123 Reg config:

"v=spf1 mx a ip4:94.136.40.163 a:mailex.mailcore.me include:btinternet.com -all"

The last "It has been in queue too long, and will not attempt delivery again" message I received was dated 23/04. I am unsure whether the unspecified changes made by BT did the trick, or whether the addition of a SPF was relevant, or whether it was a combination of both.

Until I read this thread I thought that SPF referred to the efficiency of sunscreen, so treat all of the above with scepticism.