Send e-mail from iPhone4 over 3G. Problem Solved !

Hi,

Thought I would post this as I just called my phone provider and they gave me a solution that I am sure others would find potentially useful.

Problem;

Can't send e-mail from my iPhone when connected over 3G. I can send and receive over wifi and I can receive over 3G, but can never send e-mail over 3G...

iPhone 4 purchased direct from Apple UK

Carrier is T-Mobile UK

Plan is T-Mobile's SIM Only 10 (30 day)

ISP is Tiscali (Now TalkTalk but my account predates that company change)

Symptoms. Endless activity symbol at bottom of screen when trying to send and then eventually a message pops up saying that the phone cannot access or use the smtp server. This is with the server set to the standard for Tiscali i.e "smtp.tiscali.co.uk"

After many months of not dealing with this as I don't send much e-mail when out and about and figuring that if I called tech support I would be on an expensive call for ages and not get an answer, I found a reference on a posting that was all about getting hold of an alternative smtp address from your phone provider.

I then called T-Mobile. Initially had to go through the usual process of confirming internet access over 3G, rebooting etc. Told the operator that I had eliminated all that already, but she asked for my patience and I stuck with it. She did her best. Then my call got escalated to a very helpful member of T-Mobile's tech support, Alan.

Alan explained what is causing the problem and whilst I forgot to make notes of this bit I think that the crux of it is that my ISP's outbound mail servers at Tiscali see the attempted connection over 3G from as being suspect and potentially an attempt at sending spam using Tiscali's servers. The result is that they refuse the connection. I seem to remember Alan mentioning dynamic IP addresses at this point.

Alan then gave me an alternative smtp server address and settings to try;

I put the new smtp address in and waited for it to verify. Back came a message saying verification failed using SSL and asking if I wanted to try verification without SSL. I answered YES and it tried again. (It seems as if when entering a new smtp server into the settings on the phone you don't get to specify things like NO to SSL until after it has tried to verify.....) Verification completed and I noticed that once verified all the settings automatically got set as they needed to be, i.e. No SSL etc.

Then I tried sending an outbound e-mail over 3G. This worked fine.... Holy Cow. Problem solved.... Big smiles all round.

So I now have this t-mobile server set as my primary smtp server and my original tiscali one (smtp.tiscali.co.uk) as the alternative.

Hope this helps others.

Regards,

Neil.

Screenshots below...