Verizon sunsets SMTP Relay Service

Odds are you weren't using this, but if you were, you were probably in for a little heartache and scrambling the last few days reconfiguring stuff. Verizon has shut down its SMTP Relay Service over the weekend, essentially a "plan B" outbound email server for cases where Verizon users wants to send email through their ISP's email accounts and were blocked from using the ISP's own server for one reason or another -- a fairly common practice. Thing is, the SMTP Relay Service dates back to a time when SMTP servers and free email accounts weren't a dime a dozen, so it kinda makes sense that Big Red would feel comfortable taking this beast offline right about now.

[Thanks, Zach]

[CeluGeek Posted Aug 31st 2009 1:13PM]

You know, not everybody is willing to sell his/her soul (or at least his/her privacy) to Google and the likes, so this is indeed bad news.

[compboss17 Posted Aug 31st 2009 5:02PM]

While I'm not quite as paranoid as RCC2k8, a lot of my clients still use ISP email accounts and most of those, especially DSL, don't allow for external SMTP access. So, yeah, this IS actually a problem.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 7th 2009 12:40PM]

If you’re interested, Unified eMail provides SMTP relay services for personal use. You can learn more here: http://www.unifiedemail.net/Service/SMTP-Relay/Default.aspx

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 20th 2009 3:36PM]

Wow didn't know this. Did any of the other service providers like Sprint, USC discontinue the option to borrow their SMTP server?

Whammo18