when SMTP mail leaves the outbox is it fully sent?

I have a problem with random e-mail not reaching the recipient. Our e-mail
is hosted by another company so therefore we use POP3 to receive and SMTP to
send within Outlook 2003. We're quite rural so our internet connection is
limited to a satellite internet connection.

When the user hits "Send" within the message window the message gets moved
to the “Outbox� and begins to be scanned for any virus via Symantec. After
it's been scanned it gets transmitted via satellite to our mail server and a
copy of the mail is saved in "Sent Items". Once reaching the mail server it
goes "out" to the recipient. But sometimes it won't reach the recipient.
I've called our mail server company and they have no log of receiving the
mail in question. So that means somehow it gets dropped from the moment the
user hits "Send" and when the message should have been received at our mail
server. No error message is returned to the sender.

I thought that once the mail message is visible in the "Sent Items" folder
that it was a done deal - that the message *REALLY* was sent but that doesn't
seem to be the case. It seems that once the message has been moved out of
the "Outbox" and into the "Sent Items" something else happens that could
cause the message to not really be sent. I was thinking that maybe our
satellite internet connection could be dropping for a few seconds causing a
break in the transmission and then the mail server drops the
incomplete/fragmented mail message. Any more ideas? Am I right?

One guess would be an issue with the Symantec software. Check to make sure it
has not changed your outgoing mail server properties. Try disabling the scan
feature, and also try using the outgoing mail server of your sat internet
provider. They may have blocked port 25 at this time forcing you to use there
server.

-Paul

"Aaron" wrote:

I have a problem with random e-mail not reaching the recipient. Our e-mail
is hosted by another company so therefore we use POP3 to receive and SMTP to
send within Outlook 2003. We're quite rural so our internet connection is
limited to a satellite internet connection.

When the user hits "Send" within the message window the message gets moved
to the “Outbox� and begins to be scanned for any virus via Symantec. After
it's been scanned it gets transmitted via satellite to our mail server and a
copy of the mail is saved in "Sent Items". Once reaching the mail server it
goes "out" to the recipient. But sometimes it won't reach the recipient.
I've called our mail server company and they have no log of receiving the
mail in question. So that means somehow it gets dropped from the moment the
user hits "Send" and when the message should have been received at our mail
server. No error message is returned to the sender.

I thought that once the mail message is visible in the "Sent Items" folder
that it was a done deal - that the message *REALLY* was sent but that doesn't
seem to be the case. It seems that once the message has been moved out of
the "Outbox" and into the "Sent Items" something else happens that could
cause the message to not really be sent. I was thinking that maybe our
satellite internet connection could be dropping for a few seconds causing a
break in the transmission and then the mail server drops the
incomplete/fragmented mail message. Any more ideas? Am I right?

Thanks Paul for your suggestions. I've done what you've suggested. Only
time will tell if it will work since the problem seems to be random. I'll
come back in a few days for sure and post an update. Thanks for your help.

"Paul Haskew [MVP]" wrote:

One guess would be an issue with the Symantec software. Check to make sure it
has not changed your outgoing mail server properties. Try disabling the scan
feature, and also try using the outgoing mail server of your sat internet
provider. They may have blocked port 25 at this time forcing you to use there
server.

-Paul

"Aaron" wrote:

I have a problem with random e-mail not reaching the recipient. Our e-mail
is hosted by another company so therefore we use POP3 to receive and SMTP to
send within Outlook 2003. We're quite rural so our internet connection is
limited to a satellite internet connection.

When the user hits "Send" within the message window the message gets moved
to the “Outbox� and begins to be scanned for any virus via Symantec. After
it's been scanned it gets transmitted via satellite to our mail server and a
copy of the mail is saved in "Sent Items". Once reaching the mail server it
goes "out" to the recipient. But sometimes it won't reach the recipient.
I've called our mail server company and they have no log of receiving the
mail in question. So that means somehow it gets dropped from the moment the
user hits "Send" and when the message should have been received at our mail
server. No error message is returned to the sender.

I thought that once the mail message is visible in the "Sent Items" folder
that it was a done deal - that the message *REALLY* was sent but that doesn't
seem to be the case. It seems that once the message has been moved out of
the "Outbox" and into the "Sent Items" something else happens that could
cause the message to not really be sent. I was thinking that maybe our
satellite internet connection could be dropping for a few seconds causing a
break in the transmission and then the mail server drops the
incomplete/fragmented mail message. Any more ideas? Am I right?