GMail rejecting my emails DKIM did not pass and SPF did not pass

[MikePlob]

I'm sorry if this has been asked elsewhere but my search found similar topics but not quite the same

I send and receive emails using Thunderbird  using an alias  - mike@mydomain.co.uk. 

mydomain.co.uk was registered with Google domains and simply contained a forwarder from mike@mydomain.co.uk to my BT email address.  I had no problems.

Google sold their domain business to Squarespace and my domain was transferred to them.  Emails stopped arriving.  I could not get in contact with Squarespace so I transferred the domain from them to HostPresto.  They set up the forwarder for me since I did not have access to do so myself and emails worked again as far as I could tell.

However, I have found that I can't send emails to my sister nor a friend both of whom have GMail email addresses.  The emails are returned with DKIM did not pass and SPF did not pass.

The HostPresto support team are very helpful but they have been unable to resolve the problem and have suggested I ask BT for the correct format / content of the SPF and DKIM records.

Could you advise how to do this or let me know if I should be doing something else.

Mike

[licquorice]

It is absolutely nothing to do with BT, the problem lies with your domain provider. As usual, they are quick to blame someone else.

[MikePlob]

Thank you licquorice,

I suspected as much but could you help me help them please? I realise that is a bit cheeky but it is me that is suffering not them.

I'm unable to access the SPF and DKIM myself to see what they have set up so I can't present them here for comment / correction.  I found this from an answer by bkennelly back in 2023 for a similar situation

"v=spf1 mx a include:spf.123-reg.co.uk include:btinternet.com -all"

Would they use that with hostpresto.com replacing 123-reg.co.uk?  That is where my domain is registered but they have an email server pw1618.hpdns.net - should it be that instead?

DKIM is more of a mystery to me but I assume they would have to generate a DKIM key that would be in respect of their server not BT's.

Any assistance greatly appreciated.

Mike

[licquorice]

You could try adding both to the SPF record (replacing 123-reg.co.uk), sorry, can't help with DKIM credentials.

[MikePlob]

Hi licquorice,

Didn't think of adding both.  I will suggest that.

I'm not a bulk email sender so I think the DKIM is a red herring - it looks like GMail would be happy just to have a valid SPF.

They are currently trying 213.120.69.0/24 - I have no idea what has been tried before or whether they have tried my suggested format.  Wish I could see the SPF record for myself.

Mike

[MikePlob · Accepted solution]

Good news for me, the IP address range worked and emails to and from GMail are now getting through.

Thank you for the help.

Mike

[MikePlob]

I have been transferred from BT to EE for my broadband, land line and mobile.  Today I swapped over the BT hub for the EE hub and all seemed OK. 

I sent an email to my two sisters, one of whom uses GMail and the other uses Sky.  The one to Sky was OK but the one to GMail was bounced - did not pass SPF / DKIM.  Is it possible that even though my email address has not changed, the BT mail servers for EE customers are different to those for BT customers?

My SPF was set up using 213.120.69.0/24 would include:btinternet.com be better?

Thank you for any advice

Mike

[licquorice]

Certainly won't hurt to try it.

[MikePlob]

Adding include:btinternet.com worked.

Thank you

Mike

[ruudboy66]

This issue has recently started re-occurring for me with gmail and a domain hosted at uk2.net which I use for email forwarding

my spf is set to v=spf1 ip4:213.120.0.0/16 include:[mydomain] a:mail.btinternet.com ~all

Like I say this was working but now I am getting emails to gmail accounts bounced back.  Any ideas anyone?! uk2.net say I need to contact BT