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ServiceSMTP - FAQ

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What does SMTP stand for ?
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an Internet standard for electronic mail (e-mail) transmission across Internet Protocol (IP) networks.

What is ServiceSMTP ?
ServiceSMTP is an SMTP Auth service that can be used with any software or service that supports this protocol.
The service is not tied to a single provider, IP address, e-mail address, place of use, type of connection.
It can be used anywhere and can be configured for use from different points
ServiceSTMP does NOT support SPAM, UBE, UCE activities.

Can I send unsolicited e-mails (SPAM) using ServiceSMTP ?
NO, ServiceSMTP does not support any type of SPAM, UBE, UCE activities. We do not allow any unsolicited e-mail (SPAM) to be sent from our servers.

What plans do you offer ?
ServiceSMTP offers yearly plans with the option of excess use relative to the chosen bandwidth, and monthly plans with an automatic cut-off at the chosen bandwidth.
Since today (Sep 2010) new unlimited bandwidth plans are available,
each plan allows for a maximum number of email to be sent without any limit on the used bandwidth.
See the Buy Now page

 

Are there any limits to your plans ?
The parameter that identifies our plans (see Buy Now) is the monthly bandwidth use (the number of MB that can be sent per month).
This is the only limit, so the number of e-mails you can send will depend on the size of the e-mails in bytes (maximum number of emails is the monthly bandwidth divided by 10 Kb).
For example, the Standard plan has a 500 Mb monthly bandwith allowed,
with 10 Kb size you can send a maximum of 50.000 email
with 20 Kb size you can send a maximum of 25.000 email
with 50 Kb size you can send a maximum of 10.000 email
with 250 Kb size you can send a maximum of 2.000 email
and so on
With new Unlimited Bandwidth plans, that come in addition to traditional ones, there is not anymore a size limit for the single emails, the only limit of these plans is the maximum number of email you can send with them.

What happens if I reach the limit ?
We only block a user as a last resort, exploiting our many years of experience in good service provision.
The service is monitored on a day-to-day basis
* the user receives a report/warning whenever there is particularly heavy bandwidth use
* the user receives a report/warning whenever the bandwidth limit is close to the limit
* the user receives a report/warning whenever the bandwidth limit is exceeded

at this point the user has three options
(only with traditional plans, with the new Unlimited Bandwidth plans there is not any more a size limite for the single emails, tha plan will be instead suspended while reaching the limit of maximum emails who can be sent)

* if the need for more bandwidth is structural, the user can decide to upgrade his plan, paying the difference for the remaining subscription period
* if the need for more bandwidth is temporary the user can continue using the service, and pay a monthly excess use charge (see Buy Now) * if the user does not want to pay anything extra, he can simply refrain from using the service for the rest of the month, at no extra charge (this is compulsory with a Monthly Plan)

this offers the greatest possible flexibility of use and the best service for the user

Can I use serviceSMTP on more than one e-mail address ?
Yes, provided you use account authentication and remain within the volumes foreseen by the package.

What will be displayed as sender on the email sent ?
service configuration includes the modification of SMTP part only, the sender email will always be your one and there will be no direct evidence of the use of our service.
Also any responses to your emails will reach directly your mailbox

How many e-mails can I send at a time ?
There is no limit to the number of e-mails that can be sent out with each delivery, except the total monthly limit set for the plan you have chosen (which can be found by dividing the available bandwidth by the size of the e-mails to be sent).
We advice to send slowly (see correct intervals), particularly if it is the first time or if the recipient list has not been tested or has not been used for some time.
High percentages of errors, together with high data flow, tends to result in the sender being marked down as a source of spam.
Anyway there is a limit regarding the use of lists (BC/BCC), they are used expecially for mass mailing with standard email clients (Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.)
In fact many providers penalize lists over 50 accounts, so we limit the maximum number of email for list to this value

Sometimes I get the 'server disconnected' error, what can I do?
In case large messages are sent, or if there are lines with high latency it is possibile that the server is disconnected during send.
In these cases you can solve it by setting the timeout parameter to maximum value (see timeout setting)

What speed do you recommend ?
Mass-mailing software, can reach extremely high delivery speeds, and this naturally means that the whole list can be sent in a very short time.
HOWEVER we always reccomed to use correct intervals while sending (see correct intervals).
This is because the larger providers, in order to combat spam, tend to penalise connections with excessively high data flows, sometimes even blocking them altogether.
If you have a normal data flow this will undoubtedly improve the percentage of your e-mails successfully delivered.

Why should I clean the list ?
Keeping your mailing list clean has now become a duty.
First of all, a mailing list with very few errors improves the sender's credibility, and secondly some providers use old expired accounts as spam-traps, so that people who send mail repeatedly to an address that expired some time ago are automatically considered to be spammers.
Cleaning your mailing list based on the bounces received or using our report is another way of improving the percentage of your e-mails successfully delivered.

Is there any limit to the size of the mail ?
There is no standard size for e-mails, it depends on a number of factors, usually it is a good idea to keep the size to within 5-7 kb including images, for a number of reasons :
- it takes less time to send
- customers do not like large e-mails
naturally, in the case of numerically small newsletters you can create a message with a few extra kb.
for other uses that require sending large messages, the only limit imposed by the service is that of the plan bandwidth you have chosen.
For example, with the Entry plan, you could send out a single e-mail of 90 Mb.
For particularly large e-mails, we recommend that you raise the timeout value (if the program you are using has one), setting it to the maximum value allowed.

Do I have to set different parameters on my office PC and on my Notebook ?
No, the configuration is always the same, whatever PC and whatever connection you are using

Why can't I use my own ISP's SMTP when I'm travelling ?
All providers (ISPs) offer their customers an SMTP service. Unfortunately they restrict use of this service to those using their connections.
This means that if your home computer is configured to use the SMTP service provided by your ISP, this will not work when you are travelling, simply because you are using a connection that is not your own ISP.
This usually happens for your office connection, wireless connection, other dial-up type connections, or when connecting from a hotel, etc. Also, if you have a numerically significant customer mailing list you might find there are time restrictions when sending e-mails.

My provider blocks external SMTP services, can I still use ServiceSMTP ?
Yes, ServiceSMTP involves simultaneous operation on two ports, so that it will work even with this type of provider.

I need more than one account, what should I do ?
Many Customers have this requirement, our advice is to let us have a reference user for each plan, so that if there are any problems with spam only the account in question would be blocked, and not all the accounts connected to that Customer.
For each account you can give us a different reference e-mail, and reports on use and administrative notices will be sent to that e-mail address.

I'm already using an SMTP server but my emails are seen as spam
The needs to send emails, beeing them sales ones (sent with the goal to generate contacts) or working ones (one to one) require, among first points, that the source won't be seen as spam.
Just for this our server use "clean" IP and continuously verified, we use both post-check (blacklist verification) and pre-check (we subscribed feedback loop programs from large providers so to know in advance which email are considered "unwanted" from users) so to try to avoid official spam notifications.
This clearly cannot avoid 100% the risk.
In the case we react immediately against the offending sender and contact back immediately the abuse dept. that signaled the problem.
In case of need a backup server is activated for other users of the service that depend on the blacklisted one so to avoid any lack of service.

Are your server certified ?
The question is general, and the more general answer we can give is, no, our server are not certified by any provider.
This, in fact, is impossibile to obtain for shared server, used by more than one customer.
Starting from MEGA plan, instead, if customer can confirm all points required by larger providers, we can dedicated him/her a single IP and ask priority for it.
If accepted this allow a higher data flow and a better delivery rate (to inbox instead of spam folder)
Of course this need a clean list, a proper message content and a priority management for remove requests.

 

If ServiceSMTP does not satisfy our requirements, can be request a refund ?
Yes, you can request a total refund within 30 days of signing up for the service.
Refund is possible only if there are no overruns and no misuse of the service.

I need more bandwidth than is foreseen by my plan. Will my account be blocked ?
No, ServiceSMTP is a flexible service, during standard operation, reports on use are sent via e-mail to users, keeping them up-to-date on their monthly bandwidth use. When the limit is reached you will always be given the option of updating your plan, blocking use, or continuing to use the service and paying a monthly surcharge.
In the latter case, you will receive a payment request along with your end-of-month report.

I have paied the extra-cost for 2-5 Gb but I have used only a total of 3 Gb, will I loose unused bandwidth ?
This was the procedure used till some time ago.
But, taking into account your advices, we have modified this point at your advantage.
At the end of the month, as already in use, we will ask payment for the extra-band, as published at Buy Now Unused bandwidth (500 Mb o multiple) will be accredited for the remaining period of your plan (what not used will be lost at the year end).
For example:
- with the 500 Mb plan, paying the extra-bandwidth for 1 Gb, there will be no credit
- with the 500 Mb plan, paying the extra-bandwidth for 2 Gb, and using 1,5 Gb, 500 Mb will be credited
- with the 500 Mb plan, paying the extra-bandwidth for 2 Gb, and using 1,2 Gb, 500 Mb will be credited
- with the 500 Mb plan, paying the extra-bandwidth for 2 Gb, and using 1,6 Gb, there will be no credit
- with the 500 Mb plan, paying the extra-bandwidth for 5 Gb, and using 2,6 Gb, 2 Gb will be credited
and so on.

I have an Unlimited Bandwidth plan but I need more emails to be sent this month, what can I do ?
Also with Unlimited Bandwidth plans overuse is allowed
if you have already sent all the emails allowed in the month by your plan and you need more, you can purchase a monthly Unlimited Bandwidth plan of your preferred size
This way you will have a credit (email to be sent) to use for all the period of your plan (only in this case email not sent will be credited)

For example
if you have a Standard Unlimited Bandwidth plan (50,000 email for month) and you need to send 55,000
you can purchase an Entry Unlimited Bandwidth plan (9,000 email for month),
this way you could send all your email using your main acocunt and have 4.000 email credited for the remaining period of your plan.
PLEASE ALWAYS REMEMBER, in these cases, TO PUT A NOTE AT PURCHASE TIME that your purchase is chained to your main account (please specify your main account)
without it your new monthly plan will be worked in standard way, you will receive a new different account and it will last a maximum of 30 days.

I don't want to pay surcharges. Is that possible ?
Yes, you can request automatic blocking of the account. In this case the service blocks the account when the bandwidth limit foreseen by the plan is reached. The account will be reactivated automatically at the start of the following month.

I need to send out a special one-off e-mail, how can you help me?
ServiceSMTP also offers monthly plans that provide service for a maximum of 30 days or until the bandwidth limit foreseen for the plan you have chosen has been used.

at office we have three PCs and a MAC, do we have to buy four accounts?
No, a single account can be used on more points, even simultaneously, and on different environments (PC, MAC, Linux, Mobile, etc.)
Our system will provide to aggregate the traffic from various points to check bandwidth used and email sent.

How long does it take to activate my account ?
All accounts are activated in a maximum of 24 hours since payment confirmation.

How do I know how many resources I have used?
The system is monitored daily and at thresholds of 10% or more is sent an email report with the bandwidth used, the number of emails sent, the average weight of messages and errors encountered.
With the end of month report you will also receive the list of errors so you can maintain clean your list.

How can I pay ?
At the order time you can select the preferred payment method
* Bank transfer (please specify OUR and not SHA for fees, we must receive the exact amount)
* Credit card (you will be sent to PayPal that is our credit card gateway, if you do not have an account select I DO NOT HAVE A PAYPAL ACCOUNT)
* PayPal
* PostePay (for Italian resident)
* Western Union (you will receive a confirmation email with payment details)

How does is the service renewed ?
(*) Unlike stated into Terms of Service there is no automatic renewal.
For all plans you will receive a warning before end with a link for the renewal, you can then proceed directly if, hopefully, the service will be useful to you
or you can let the service expire without any formalities, the service will be automatically terminated the last useful day.

 

I would be interested in selling on ServiceSMTP services or adding them to the services I offer. Is this possible?
Producers of mass-mailing programs, CRM software, Internet services and software integration packages are welcome.
We are also open to discuss forms of partnership with operators in the information technology sector who require a number of accounts.
Please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss your needs.

 

Automatic cleaning of your sending list
Follow the guide for quick, automatic clean-up of your sending list using the list of errors we provide

Rules you should follow to avoid being classed as a spammer
Follow the guidelines recommended for those involved in mass-mailing, to avoid being classed as a spammer

Communication tests
Follow the guide to test the service functions

SMTP configuration
Check the SMTP configuration for some of the known programs.

sending intervals
Check the correct sending intervals for some of the known programs.

connection timeout
Check the timeout configuration for some of the known programs.