I am posting this message here, because I am increasingly frustrated with the tech support for mail service. If my inquiries through the regular channels are any indication, then the service won't be any better here - but I'm very frustrated, so I am posting my complaint here.

I have several domains that I host with Hostony, including the domains that I host for my television station in Mongolia, my shareholder in the United States, and another medical business, also in the U.S. I have repeatedly, often DAILY had the following problems, and as I write this message, RIGHT NOW, I am unable to send mail with attachments of any size from any address under any of my domains. Here are the core problems relative to Hostony's email service:

1.) Inability to send attachments of any size
2.) Required to shut down email program, wait a while, and reopen it to send mail
3.) Frequent inability to located outgoing mail server
4.) Numerous "unrouteable domain" errors when sending to addresses with certain domains.

A new problem cropped up today. Apparently, last night, Hostony was doing some mail server maintenance on server20, where I am hosted. I set up an auto-redirect more than 2-months ago so that my staff could go to a specific address and automatically be taken to the Horde page to log in and get their mail, check the calendar, etc. Now that redirect, though it is still in place, no longer will allow them to go to the Horde page, but goes to the general mail page with all three programs - which is not what I wanted to have happen on the server. I am unable to change it back no matter what I try.

My television station is located in Mongolia. One of the top three Internet providers here is Magicnet.mn. Thousands of people here have their email accounts with Magicnet, including some of my staff, clients, and government officials I must interface with regularly. However, I repeatedly receive "unrouteable domain" errors when trying to send messages to addresses on their service. Every time this happens, I contact Hostony support, they reset things, and it works again - but only temporarily, sometimes only for a few hours, then it's back to the same problem again, forcing me to contact Hostony again, and again, and again, sometimes several times in a single day. I'm sure that you would agree that this is an unacceptable condition.

As I write this, I have been trying to, repeatedly, for the last 30-minutes, to send a 1 meg attachment to my shareholder in the States, critical financial documentation that they require for legal purposes(!) - using the same server and mail server that I do, since I host their site for them on my server. Last night it took nearly 30-minutes to get a small, 27k file to send (though I use broadband), simply because the "outgoing mail server" could not be found, though the incoming mail server could be found without a problem. And that's sending a message from one account on the server to another account on the exact same server.

I am using the exact same settings I have always used, according to Hostony's instructions.

I have asked Hostony support to find a way to correct the mail problems, and to please provide me with an answer about when the mail problems, specifically, sending emails to email addresses on the Magicnet.mn domain. I have even asked if there is some kind of technical information that I can provide to Magicnet that might help solve the problem on this end of things. I have only received the standard 5-6 word replies, "Should be working now, test it."

Usually, whenever I have a question or a problem, Hostony has been exceptionally fast, and very helpful - a few months ago they even did a quick switch for me to move my domains off a blacklisted server when my mail and other functions were being disrupted. I was greatly appreciative of the professionalism and service shown. But when it comes to these mail problems, it has been increasingly frustrating, and shows no sign of improvement - in fact, it seems to be getting worse.

I need to set up 63 staff with their email accounts on the server. They will need to send regular emails, daily, to email addresses in our country, but under the current conditions, I am afraid they will not be able to do so - which will have a serious impact on our business activities, and credibility here as an American company, working in a foreign country, trying to uphold high standards of professionalism, integrity, and service. Unless these problems are fixed, and I can receive a better explanation other than the standard "I don't want to look like I'm ignoring you, but I'm ignoring you" replies, then Hostony's service will have a serious effect on our broadcast business, and reputation as an American firm in Asia. So, what am I to do?

As I stated earlier, I am only posting this complaint here, because I am exceedingly frustrated with the service relative to email support and functionality. Here it is, another 25-minutes has passed, and I am still unable to send the attachment and locate an outgoing mail server, and my local provider, which BTW, is broadband, is having no problems at all - the problem is at Hostony.

I would like to have my questions answered in a way that my own clients would expect from me in my business.

1.) When can I expect these mail problems to be finally resolved relative to "unrouteable domain" errors? ("Soon" and "We are working on it" are not the answers that I'm looking for; I've received those already, for far too long.)
2.) When will the problems with connecting to outgoing mail server be resolved?
3.) When will the problems with sending file attachments, of any size, be resolved?
4.) Will Hostony restore my redirect so that I can have staff access a certain mail program directly (Horde), instead of getting the page for all three?

Again, to mention for the third time, I am only posting this complaint here because of my great frustration. Between phone calls, messages, and writing this complaint, it has been nearly an hour - I still cannot send any attachments, a file sent to me more than 30-minutes ago is not available for me to retrieve, and some of the work of my business here, today, is on hold because of this problem.

Please, I urge you, resolve these mail problems once and for all. Just as my staff and clients rely on me, I rely on you so that I might provide certain services to them, but I can't do that without consistent technical reliability and service from Hostony in this crucial area.

Tom Terry
Managing Director
Eagle Broadcasting Company
Freedom Studios
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
AMONG Foundation
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Use your ISP's SMTP service for send mails, Hostony SMTP Server is unusable(at least in server20).

I am talking with support for this problem months and months an he can't make it work.

(is sad, for me, all the services work GREAT, the only problem is smtp...extrange.... cest la vie.)


Just use other smtp for sending and problem resolved.

Thanks for your input. I've considered doing that, but it presents a problem on a couple of fronts.

First, when I leave the country, or travel elsewhere, I need to be able to send mail through my own server, and I shouldn't have to rely on another SMTP server. It's easier if they would just fix it.

Second, Hostony never established a contract with me, or anyone else that I'm aware of that says, "Everything works except SMTP, don't count on us for that." Uptime is uptime, and they need to work it out. It's obvious from the numerous postings on the board that this is a problem on more than one server (not just 20), and has been going on for some time.

Third, I can use my local provider, but they provide no secure log on, in fact, anyone from anywhere can use their I.P. to send mail. That's really bad. Last thing I need is for the I.P. addresses of my local host to send mail, and find out people on AOL, Earthlink and others that I have regular contact with can't get my mail because it's blacklisted. I'm not going to take that chance, my work and communications with my people are just too important to me personally.

Sorry if I seem a bit pissed, I don't mean to take it out on a fellow "member" of the forum. I'm just expressing, venting, or steaming - still haven't figured out which. You know, as I was reading your reply, and typing my own, I was sending a simple text message through one of my mail accounts. Simple text, it took 15-minutes to connect to the server. It's just not acceptable. I finally got my 1-meg file out. But it took nearly 10 hours to get the connection and get it out. 10 hours. Does Hostony regard that acceptable, and even care what it does to their corporate reputation?

I'd like someone from Hostony to answer the issues that I've posted here, in a comprehensive and responsible manner.

Thanks,
Tom Terry

I edited this one out because of an error.

yes man I agree 100% with you. my "tip" is only a way to survive for a time, but hostony must fix the problem.

I know he will fix it, are good and efficient ppl., maybe we just need wait a little MONTHS more ?

Even though I sent an email copy of this post to Hostony, and even though they have responded to "short mails" asking for help to fix a mail problem, not a single soul has answered the questions I've asked, which are repeated problems that I and others are suffering from.

Not a single reply. Not one.

Please, someone have the courtesy, the professionalism, to answer these questions. They are legitimate and have consequences for your clients.

Tom

I'm already working at this mail problem and will keep you updated.