Why can I recieve e-mails but not send them from the hotel where I’m staying?
Question: When I am staying at a hotel and using their free internet, I can receive emails but I cannot send emails, why?
Answer: With the holidays just around the corner, many people will be out of town visiting family and friends, however you may bring your computer with you so you can still check and send emails. Usually you will be able to receive emails, but you may experience problems when trying to send emails. If you get an “error 550, relaying mail not allowed” there are a couple different settings that you can change to try to fix this. The first and easier setting is to set your outgoing mail server to require authentication. If you are using Outlook Express, go to Tools, select Accounts, then select your email account and select Properties. Next go to the Servers tab and enable the very last selection, “My server requires authentication”. Now select the Settings button and select “Use same settings as my incoming mail server” then select Ok, then Ok again, then Close. If you are still not able to send mail, another option would be to change the outgoing mail server to the outgoing mail server of the internet service provider you are connected to. Example, if you go to a hotel and they have Comcast internet, you would have to set the outgoing mail server to smtp.comcast.net. There may be additional settings in order to send mail using their network, it is recommended contacting the help desk of the hotel you are staying at for a list of settings or a walk through on changing your email settings to be able to send mail. Your last option is if you have webmail access. Most ISPs will offer a web based email interface, allowing you to check and send emails through a web page instead of using email software such as Outlook, Thunderbird, or Eudora. Hopefully this little guide will keep you in contact with your friends and family while staying in that hotel.
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