roddy Posted May 29, 2006 at 03:20 PM Report Posted May 29, 2006 at 03:20 PM This is slightly odd and it could be something specific to me, but I'm wondering if anyone else is having similar problems. I've noted before that if you have your own website + attached email, certain types of spam can trigger Chinese internet filters while downloading via POP3 (or accessing via webmail) and thus temporarily cut you off from your email and website for several minutes. Lately I've noticed this happening on an almost daily basis, despite not being able to identify any potentially offensive email - it almost seems that POP3 access itself is enough to trigger the filters for the IP address. It can even happen when there isn't even any email to download. It's intermittent, but been going on for maybe a week. Is anyone else seeing this? Roddy Quote
liuzhou Posted May 29, 2006 at 03:53 PM Report Posted May 29, 2006 at 03:53 PM Yes. I've had the same problem. I'm now redirecting all my mail from my site to a web based client. It is not a great solution, but I need my mail! Quote
roddy Posted May 29, 2006 at 03:56 PM Author Report Posted May 29, 2006 at 03:56 PM Interesting. Are you having any SMTP issues, if you use SMTP? I'm not at all, seems to be working fine . . . Quote
niubi Posted May 29, 2006 at 04:20 PM Report Posted May 29, 2006 at 04:20 PM i, too, have such problems with my pop3/smtp account with my own website. it is quite annoying; i also have a lot of internet connection problems as well with china telecom's adsl service. i doubt they are related, but i wonder if other people are also frequently disconnected from the net dozens of times per day (maybe hundreds of times if you include when i am away from the computer). Quote
roddy Posted May 29, 2006 at 04:27 PM Author Report Posted May 29, 2006 at 04:27 PM My connection to the internet is fantastic - I can leave it running for days and days and while it might (very rarely) drop it reconnects automatically with no problem. But my connection to my websites has been seriously messed up by this POP3 issue, which has just started this week, and while I can't see why, it looks like the traditional naughty keyword filtering, but without the naughty keywords. I'm going to try webmail for a while to see if the same happens over the http protocol. China Netcom hasn't bought shares in Gmail lately, no? Quote
niubi Posted May 29, 2006 at 04:37 PM Report Posted May 29, 2006 at 04:37 PM it will reconnect, but sometimes it can take several attempts for modem to do so -sometimes a couple minutes. this kind of thing happens many times everday. Quote
zhwj Posted May 29, 2006 at 05:50 PM Report Posted May 29, 2006 at 05:50 PM POP3 in GMail is completely encrypted, I believe, so there's no download problems there even with sensitive stuff. Maybe if you forwarded your server accounts through separate GMail boxes and then used POP3 on those, it wouldn't present too much of a disruption to your normal routine. And if you can use standard SMTP with no problem, you wouldn't even have to worry about using an improper address when replying. The past few weeks have been a bit strange for filtering, I believe. Liuzhou may insist that Technorati is up, but for me, I can only get it without a proxy for about five minutes every morning. Quote
roddy Posted May 29, 2006 at 10:14 PM Author Report Posted May 29, 2006 at 10:14 PM I think I'm maybe tracking the problem down to a certain kind of spam - although there aren't any actual keywords in it, perhaps the website link it contains is a problem. Will keep researching. Pain in the neck, whatever the cause. Or perhaps it's a new government anti-spam measure - remove all email and internet access from anyone who attempts to receive spam, and hey, you solve spam . . . Quote
cjbaker Posted May 30, 2006 at 04:28 AM Report Posted May 30, 2006 at 04:28 AM I've had the same problem with my (US) school's unencrypted POP3 everywhere in China, though it occurs even when there are no messages. Indeed, similar effect to "naughty keywords". Quote
roddy Posted June 1, 2006 at 04:38 PM Author Report Posted June 1, 2006 at 04:38 PM This is really doing my head in, especially when all my sites appear to be down for an hour and I then realise that Thunderbird is still running, idly triggering filters every 10 minutes. Currently researching encrypted mail access Quote
roddy Posted June 2, 2006 at 04:49 AM Author Report Posted June 2, 2006 at 04:49 AM Victory!!!! Quick email to my hosting provider and they confirm they do support pop3 over ssl (or ssl over pop3, who knows), quick tweak of my thunderbird settings (account settings > server options > Use secure connection : SSL and I'm away . . . Roddy Quote
gougou Posted June 3, 2006 at 05:10 AM Report Posted June 3, 2006 at 05:10 AM I've been able to solve the same problem for the German provider web.de by turning on SSL as well. My other provider, gmx.de, with which I had trouble before too, seems to work normally now (while web.de still only works over SSL) Quote
badr Posted June 3, 2006 at 10:18 AM Report Posted June 3, 2006 at 10:18 AM man.. this same problem has been plaguing my email access and that of my customers for the past 2 weeks and I have been unable to find a fix until now... pop over ssl... so simple... gotta go and try it Quote
roddy Posted June 4, 2006 at 09:19 AM Author Report Posted June 4, 2006 at 09:19 AM I was able to help another two people get this set up last night - seems to be working consistently. Quote
adrianlondon Posted June 5, 2006 at 03:34 PM Report Posted June 5, 2006 at 03:34 PM hmm - my domain hosting company (arrowweb.net in the US) doesn't support POP3 over SSL. Any recommendations for companies that do? Quote
youpii Posted June 5, 2006 at 03:40 PM Report Posted June 5, 2006 at 03:40 PM anyone tried IMAP instead of POP ? Quote
roddy Posted June 5, 2006 at 04:42 PM Author Report Posted June 5, 2006 at 04:42 PM 34sp.com, who host this site, seem to offer it as standard. They're solid, never had any problems with them and support is very quick and efficient. Did move away from them to a cheaper firm once, which resulted in the longest period of downtime so far and a very quick move back . . . Quote
adrianlondon Posted June 5, 2006 at 04:57 PM Report Posted June 5, 2006 at 04:57 PM I was looking at 34sp.com earlier, when someone else recommended it to me (before I mentioned I needed SSL POP3 support). I found this on their forums http://www.forums.34sp.com/viewtopic.php?t=8008&highlight=ssl which, although a year old, lead me to believe that they didn't offer SSL POP3. I guess they have implemented this feature since then. Thanks for the tip, Roddy. Is there a commission you can get if you recommend someone who signs up? If I decide to go ahead, I'll say you recommended me Quote
roddy Posted June 5, 2006 at 05:08 PM Author Report Posted June 5, 2006 at 05:08 PM Probably worth checking before you sign up - I am on a reseller account, so it may be different to the standard hosting account. Also, if I remember correctly, you are not yet in China but coming out for a short course in the summer. If thats the case you might be better off waiting - the problem could fix itself (and they will find everyone is suddenly using encrypted mail - HAH!) or it might just be easier to use webmail for the duration of your stay. I think 34sp.com does have some kind of affiliate program, but Im not worried about it - very rarely refer people. Roddy Quote
adrianlondon Posted June 5, 2006 at 09:05 PM Report Posted June 5, 2006 at 09:05 PM I'm planning on studing from September until December or January. I want to change hosting companies anyway, as arrowweb.net charge loads and include many services that I don't need. SSL email is useful anyway - it's private stuff after all. Quote
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