Has your email stopped going out? Can you receive but not send? Do you have Verizon as your Internet Service Provider? Here is the explanation and fix for it.

Verizon, in their infinite wisdom, has decided to start blocking TCP Port #25 on all home and some business accounts.If you use a 3rd party email system (not verizon’s email, that still works) they are going to block the most common port over which people send out email.

What this means is that if you have your email hosted by another service, say godaddy.com or 1and1.com and use Verizon as your Internet Service Provider (ISP), you can still receive mail but you won’t be able to send it. Thanks for the warning, Verizon!

How to get around this issue…

1. Use Verizon’t email. A trick to get you at least somewhat locked into staying with their service…
2. Switch your Verizon account to a Business account with a Static IP Address. This is, of course, more expensive than what you currently have.
3. Use your email host’s webmail. No, Outlook, Outlook Express, and Thunderbird will not work.
4. Switch the port number from 25 to 587 and hope that your email host has that port open. Click here for directions on how to switch Outlook from port 25 to 587.
5. You can click HERE to read Verizon’s instructions on how to change other programs to port 587.

And just in case you don’t believe me that Verizon is blocking this essential email port, just click HERE and read what they had to say.

Tim Biden

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