Where to emails go?

Where to emails go?

Didn't find your answer?

We know our email server (in our office) has been checking for mail because we have been receiving junk mail during this period.

Some clients sent us emails on Wednesday 2oth, which we only received this morning.

Where do emails go during this time, is it likely to be a problem with our email ISP?
Tom Cadogan

Replies (5)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

avatar
By AnonymousUser
25th Oct 2004 18:09

Possibly ISP
I periodically have this problem. My ISP always denies anything wrong at their end! There seems to be no rhyme nor reason as to what gets through instantly when this happens and what appears to spend a few days on a sandy beach somewhere before reporting in!

Thanks (0)
avatar
By AnonymousUser
25th Oct 2004 23:20

Just a thought
Is this the case?

I normally manage all of the email messages that come through my web host via Outlook on my laptop. However, when I am away from my office and without laptop I sometimes check my messages via web mail. I have noticed recently that when I do that instead of forwarding messages as normal from my web host to Outlook, it delays the messages for a day, two days, three days ... don't know why it delays some for a day and others for more and I don't know why it should delay them at all. This has only started happening recently and I haven't asked why yet!

Maybe this is happening to you too: so stop people using web mail!

Duncan

Thanks (0)
avatar
By NeilW
26th Oct 2004 13:20

Store and forward
Internet email is a phenomenon. The fact that it works at all is a minor miracle we should all be impressed with.

Email is a 'store and forward' system. When you press 'send' the email is 'hopped' through various systems from source to destination. At each stage the message is queued awaiting service from the next link in the chain.

If Internet is quiet then these hops take a few seconds at most. If however Internet is busy then messages could be queued for hours or days.

The problem has become particularly acute over the last few years because most messages are now put through both virus scanners and spam scanners before final delivery to their destination - and these do queue messages.

Of course those of us who have been using Internet mail for decades can remember when mails were UUCPed around once a day if you were lucky. It could take a week for a round trip conversation.

If you want to know where your message has been then you need to look at the 'Internet Headers' in the message envelope. This is in view|options on Outlook. There you will find a trace of most of the systems the message went through.

NeilW

Thanks (0)
Routemaster image
By tom123
26th Oct 2004 10:50

Thanks,
Thanks for comments, I will report back that this is a periodic event that happens to other people as well.

That should stop our board wanting to get rid of email altogether on the grounds that it is unreliable!

Thanks (0)
avatar
By carpentermr
26th Oct 2004 13:09

Email isn't instant
Although people believe that Email is an instant process, emails can be delayed in their arrival.

Various reasons can apply, some of which are: -

A) The sender has put a "deliver by" date on the email - this will hold the email until that date has arrived;
B) The sending organisation can have bandwith / server overload problems;
C) Your ISPs can be overloaded;
D) The email could be taking the long way round to its delivery point. Every email is routed via the mail server to its destination DNS (Domain Name Server). However sometimes they don't take the most direct path and instead travel to various servers before delivery - and each step can cause delays if the server it is being routed by is overloaded.

If you have a webmail interface check this to see if the message is sitting on the server - if it is then the ISP can only be to blame for holding the delivery of the message. If not, it could just be taking the scenic route to you!

Hope this helps

Thanks (0)