E-mails disappearing after hitting Comcast’s mail server(s) - OPMLOG.LOG question

[Hans Ravnaas]

Hello,

Outgoing emails from Outlook 2007 intermittently do not reach their
recipients. I'm no email expert, but based on my OPMLOG.LOG file, Outlook
seems to successfully send the message to Comcast's mail servers using SMTP.
I'm having a really hard time convincing Comcast to look into this and they
keep pointing fingers back at Outlook. I do not believe Outlook is at fault
and I strongly doubt that the problem is with the recipients ISPs, as none
of them gets the problematic emails and they are on different domains
(aol.com, microsoft.com, hotmail.com). The emails show up in my sent folder,
there are no bounced messages and my outbox is empty. Also, typically, if I
resend the email, it makes it the second time. I suspect the emails are
being deleted/filtered out by Comcast's mail servers. So first off, I'd like
to have someone confirm that, based on my log file below, the email really
did successfully leave my client. I've also looked at a netmon trace of
this, and see no transport issues.

2007.03.23 13:31:52 (e-mail address removed): Synch operation started (flags
= 00000001)
2007.03.23 13:31:52 (e-mail address removed): UploadItems: 1 messages to
send
2007.03.23 13:31:52 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): Begin execution
2007.03.23 13:31:52 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): Port: 587, Secure: TLS, SPA:
yes
2007.03.23 13:31:52 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): Finding host
2007.03.23 13:31:52 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): Connecting to host
2007.03.23 13:31:52 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): Connected to host
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 220 comcast.net -
Maillennium ESMTP/MULTIBOX sccrmhc14 #10
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): [tx] EHLO HKDC
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-comcast.net
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-7BIT
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-8BITMIME
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-AUTH CRAM-MD5 LOGIN
PLAIN
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-DSN
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-HELP
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-NOOP
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-PIPELINING
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-SIZE 15728640
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-STARTTLS
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-VERS V05.21c++
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250 XMVP 2
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): Securing connection
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): [tx] STARTTLS
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 220 ready to start TLS
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): Securing connection
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): Connected to host
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): [tx] EHLO HKDC
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-comcast.net
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-7BIT
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-8BITMIME
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-AUTH CRAM-MD5 LOGIN
PLAIN
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-DSN
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-HELP
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-NOOP
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-PIPELINING
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-SIZE 15728640
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-STARTTLS
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250-VERS V05.21c++
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250 XMVP 2
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): Authorizing to server
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): [tx] AUTH LOGIN
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 334 VXNlcm5hbWU6
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): [tx] aGFucy5yYXZuYWFz
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): [tx] *****
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 235 Authentication
successful
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): Authorized to host
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): Connected to host
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): [tx] MAIL FROM: <*****>
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250 ok
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): [tx] RCPT TO: <*****>
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250 ok; [simple] forward
to <*****>
2007.03.23 13:31:53 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): [tx] DATA
2007.03.23 13:31:54 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 354 ok
2007.03.23 13:31:54 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): [tx]
..
2007.03.23 13:31:54 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): <rx> 250 ok ;
id=20070323203209014004p0gle
2007.03.23 13:31:54 SMTP (smtp.comcast.net): End execution
2007.03.23 13:31:54 (e-mail address removed): ReportStatus: RSF_COMPLETED,
hr = 0x00000000
2007.03.23 13:31:54 (e-mail address removed): Synch operation completed


Thanks in advance
Hans

 

[F.H. Muffman]

So first off, I'd like to have someone confirm that, based
on my log file below, the email really did successfully leave my
client. I've also looked at a netmon trace of this, and see no
transport issues.

Yes, based on the log, the message was successfully accepted by Comcast.
However, keep in mind, it could have lost its way in many more places than
just Comcast.

I would personally tell the Comcast support person that you have a network
packet trace showing their server accepting the message and that you would
like to speak to a second level support technician if they are not able to
help you with the problem. But, again, it may not be their problem. If you
can readily reproduce the problem (ie, a certain message always disappears)
then they should be able to see the message come and, theoretically, go out.

 

[Hans Ravnaas]

Thanks for the quick reply. I am working on getting a second level support
person engaged. I don't know what kind of mail servers they are using, but
I'm hoping they are able to look at server logs to first determine if the
message was received by their servers or not. I'm wondering if some server
mail filter is deleting the messages? I can't repro the problem at will and
it happens with random messages, but I can usually repro it with a couple
emails per day. Again, I still suspect Comcast, because when an email gets
lost, 100% of the recipients do not receive it. I would really like to find
out once and for all if the message really leave their server. I suspect
not. Come to think of it, I should also point out that if I'm on the to or
cc line of the problematic message, I don't even get it, even though it was
sent to myself. I believe this eliminates other devices between the Comcast
servers and the recipients.

Hans

 

[Chuck Davis]

What is the limit on the number of recipients that Comcast will permit. Many
ISPs restrict the number to 50. Some ISPs have a different set for those
with fixed IP addresses and a commercial account. Specifically, mine will
allow 300 during the day and 1,000 after 11:00 p.m.

Thanks for the quick reply. I am working on getting a second level support
person engaged. I don't know what kind of mail servers they are using, but
I'm hoping they are able to look at server logs to first determine if the
message was received by their servers or not. I'm wondering if some server
mail filter is deleting the messages? I can't repro the problem at will
and it happens with random messages, but I can usually repro it with a
couple emails per day. Again, I still suspect Comcast, because when an
email gets lost, 100% of the recipients do not receive it. I would really
like to find out once and for all if the message really leave their
server. I suspect not. Come to think of it, I should also point out that
if I'm on the to or cc line of the problematic message, I don't even get
it, even though it was sent to myself. I believe this eliminates other
devices between the Comcast servers and the recipients.

Hans