RerouteMAIL - A quick way to run a Mail server even if your ISP blocks SMTP port 25!

What is RerouteMAIL?

RerouteMail can deliver mail to mailservers even if they are blocked by the ISP.

How does it work?

The procedure is relatively simple, yet ingenious. Normaly any mail server runs on port 25 and a lot of ISP's block this port to the client. Because of the way the mail protocol works, it is not very usefull to run a webserver on a different port for example port 26. None of the mailservers in the world would know your mailserver is running on port 26. Because of this principle, blocking port 25 is a very effective way of preventing anyone from running a mailserver. Reroute Mail makes it possible to work around this limitation.

When you own a domain (for example: rerouteexample.com) your change its MX record to let it be handled by our service (normally you would point it directly to your own mailserver, which is not possible because your ISP is blocking it). Next thing RerouteMail will do is make contact with your mail server on another port. This way, your ISP can't block your incoming mail traffic, and thus your mail will be delivered directly to your mail server!

In this way RerouteMail will work as a funnel and no mailserver has to know your mailserver is running on a different port.

As an added bonus, your mailserver will not be scanned for by SPAM organisations, as they would not know on which port your mailserver is running!

What must I do to make it work?

First of all you should alter the MX records for the domain you want to run a mailserver for to the RerouteMail service. Such an MX record should look something like: "MX 10 reroutemail.com."
Secondly you must configure your mailserver to listen on a port different from the port being blocked by your ISP.
Lastly, you must configure the RerouteMail service to deliver incoming mail to your machine on the port you have configured your mailserver to.

After this, all should be done, and you will soon receive mail on your mailserver

Is this service free?

Yes and no. We have a 'free' version of the service. But we have limited its posibilities a bit. We have limited the free accounts in a way it won't affect the basic functionality of the service. After a predefined amount of mails we will delay the mails deliverd to your mail server. We will never ever remove any mail! The delay in mail will be aproximately 1 hour. As an alternative, you can choose for a paid account. For these accounts incoming mail will be processed directly and delivered to the provided mail host.

Why the charged accounts and the limitations on the free accounts?

Unfortunately, bandwidth and the machines on which the service runs have to be paid for as well. With the limitations we try to encourage people to support our service and compensate for the bandwidth usage and server usage. We do not believe in advertisement based products for this kind of service.

You all respect my privacy, right?

Yes! We will never ever redistribute, sell, or give other people access to the information provided by our customers.

What does "SMTP Port Block" mean?

People use this term to indicate that the a firewall (mostly the one maintained by your Internet Service Provider or ISP) is actively blocking all traffic to and from the SMTP port. This port is always port 25.

What is "Port 25" and where does it come from?

Port 25 is the listening 'port number' on which all mailservers (should) listen. Because this is the standard, each mailserver in the world knows to which port number it should connect to find the mailserver

Is there no other way to work around this problem besides using RerouteMAIL?

There are other services which allow you to do something similar. For example, there are services which reroute the connection from the domain to your machine. This is quite similar to what RerouteMAIL does, except it does so on a lower (TCP/IP) level.

Ofcourse another alternative is to find an ISP which does not block port 25 and will let you run your mailserver.

My ISP also blocks outgoing port 25! Now I can't connect to my work mailserver/private outside mailserver

Some ISP's also actively block outgoing port 25. This is to prevent you from using other SMTP servers than the one provided by your ISP. Fortunately, this can be fixed a lot easier, provided you have the ability to contact the administrator of the SMTP server you use.
Most of the times it is possible to configure the SMTP server to accept secure connections and a login/password for sending mail. If the administrator of the SMTP server you want to connect to has enabled this functionality, he can provide you with the information to connect to the mailserver securely. The benefit of this is that your ISP is likely not to block the port of secure SMTP trafic.

What is reroutemail?

Reroutemail is a way to overcome the port 25 port block some internet service providers have. Reroutemail has a mailserver running on port 25 and can recieve your mail for you. Then, it will forward messages to your own mailserver running on a different port.

What are the steps an email message follows from someone else to me?

Your friend Mike sends you a message, let's say your mailaddress is john@acme.com.
Mike's computer will deliver the message to his ISP's mailserver.
the ISP-mailserver will then look at the DNS-settings for acme.com especially at the MX-record. The MX-record is configured for your mailserver at home.
The ISP-mailserver will connect to your home mailserver and deliver the message.

However, your ISP might block traffic to your home mailserver (step 4), that's where reroutemail comes in.

What are the steps an email message follows from someone else to me through reroutemail.com?

Your friend Mike sends you a message, let's say your mailaddress is john@acme.com.
Mike's computer will deliver the message to his ISP's mailserver.
the ISP-mailserver will then look at the DNS-settings for acme.com especially at the MX-record. In this case, the MX-record is set to 'reroutemail.com.'.
The ISP-mailserver will contact the reroutemail mailserver and deliver the message there.
The reroutemail-server will connect to your home mailserver on a non-standard tcp port (something other than 25) and deliver the message.

What isn't reroutemail?

Altough we will hold and try to redeliver your mail in case your machine is temporarily offline, Reroutemail is not a way to store your email for a longer time. Also, we don't have pop- or imap-accounts, neither do we offer a form of webmail.

Why do I need reroutemail

You might need reroutemail because your isp doesn't want you to run your own mailserver and blocks all smtp traffic port 25.

How do I use reroutemail?

register for a free account at reroutemail.com.
Set up your own mailserver on an alternative TCP port, i.e. port 26.
Enter your server settings on reroutemail.com, and point reroutemail to your mailserver.
Make sure your primary mx-record points to "reroutemail.com." This is a setting that has to be changed in you dns-server. This server might be hosted by yourself or maybe by the company that you registered your domainname with.
Other computers/servers now have to pick up on the changed dns-record.

After the ttl-timeout, e-mails will be delivered to the reroutemail server and will be forwarded according to your Delivery Plan to your own mail server.

What are alternatives to reroutemail?

The problem is that by default, all other servers on the internet will try to deliver mail to a mailserver on the default tcp port for smtp (port 25). If that port is blocked by your isp, other servers are never able to reach your mailserver and won't deliver your messages. Options are:

Switch to a different isp, one that doesn't block port 25
Ask your isp or domain-host what options there are for a pop-mailbox on their mailserver. You can then retrieve your messages using a tool like Fetchmail.

what should I do with my dns settings / mx record?

Make sure your primary mx-record points to reroutemail.com. Since this is a different domain than your own, make sure you use the right syntax. A common mistake is forgetting the trailing point. The record should say "10 reroutemail.com."

What is SMTP

SMTP is the protocol that is used to transport mail messages over the internet. This communication uses tcp port 25 to connect to other mailservers. For more information, check out wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smtp).

What software should I use on my mailserver?

For Linux, A few very common and well documented mail servers (also called maildeamons or MTAs) are Postfix, Exim and Qmail. There are many others though.
On Windows you can of course run Exchange, but that might be a bit overkill. More lightweight alternatives are Axigen, MDaemon and Kerio.
For compatibilty with Reroutemail every standard smpt-server should work, as long as it can run on a non-standard tcp-port (something other than 25).

Why do some ISPs block a home mailserver?

ISPs can have a lot of reasons to block you from running a mailserver at home. This might be because of bandwith issues (they'd like to minimise upstream from your connection), or it could be a commercial reason. They prefer to sell you an e-mail service they might have. Another good reason is that it's easy to accidentally set up a mailserver as an open relay that can be abused to send spam.

What is an open relay and why should I make sure that I don't become one?

Besides from recieving mail, your mailserver is also very good in sending mail. Spammers are always on the lookout for mailservers to abuse to send out their messages. Therefore you should make very sure to set up your mailserver in a way that only you are able to use it to send out messages (or maybe even nobody at all if you'd like to use it for only recieving mail). The documentation for your MTA/mail server will definately cover this.