email settings/network setup

[trafford]

hello people, first post and i am very new to this so my apologies if my request sounds daft or the way i term it but this is driving me daft and the telephone support hasn't been able to help so i'm starting to give up on them ever resolving this.

the site is set up and live, the email notifications don't work when we receive an order and they don't send a confirmation either. we are using thunderbird through tiscali and our webhosting is with easyspace, actinic is business v9.05.

now in network settings, regardless of what i have tried re smtp server settings, i cannot get it to work, i've sent snapshots to actinic and they tell me they haven't got there, that it's not an actinic problem and it'll be a network/router/firewall/server permissions/act of god? setting. tiscali tell me it's not them and easyspace tell me it's not them either, so if it's no ones fault i seem to be doomed

i have another problem besides this but i'll come to that in a later post . . . . baby steps for now, any clues greatly appreciated and thanks in advance . . .

dave

[leehack]

Make sure the email address in business settings matches the smtp details you are trying in the network setup, TIP: always have your email address at your domain name. If the smtp details do not pass the test, try just 'localhost' in that field instead.

[trafford]

i think i've now tried every possible combination . . . have just tried the easy space smtp address with the email, username and pass they gave us originally - if i use the easyspace smtp address, when i test, it hangs and eventually i have to close it - if i use localhost it doesn't crash but i constantly get the same result.

The 'SMTP server' address entered in the 'Web | Network Setup' is incorrect, or not a valid SMTP server.
Possible Solutions:
1) Try "localhost" as the "SMTP Server"
2) Check the "SMTP Server" host name, user name and password with your server host, then correct the details in 'Web | Network Setup'
3) Check your firewall settings


Actinic Mail Test completed successfully
server: passed
connection: failed
sockets: passed
communications: failed
authorisation: failed
message: Connection refused
..........................................................................


every other aspect of our email works fine and always has, just cannot get it to work with actinic, the guy who did the dreamweaver design for the front page had it up and running using his personal email address but ever since it's been here it has never worked. i am at a loss what to try next . . .

[pinbrook]

have you tried all the easyspace smtp servers as suggested in other threads?

if so please tell us what you have tried.

essentially it is up to easyspace to tell you want smtp to use, then you must have a valid on domain email in business settings.

if all of that fails its time to find a new host

[leehack]

I've had a couple of clients struggle with easyspace, they both ditched them in the end, not worth the hassle. Host with a proven and successful Actinic host is my best bit of advice. You wouldn't build a house on a foundation of sand, likewise you don't want to be building a website on a problematic foundation.

[trafford]

i didn't even know there were any other posts regarding easyspace . . . . .
i'll have to have a browse for them and see what other suggestions there are, right now i'm all for a change if it's them, this is driving me daft . . .

[trafford]

the next question is going to be who do you recommend then lol . . . . .

[Mike Hughes]

Ooh, we haven't had a hosting discussion for 10 days.

Time for another one already?

Mike

(excuse the failed attempt at humour. There was a thread started on October 16th along similar lines)

[trafford]

is this the reason why easyspace is £25 a year and actinic hosting is that a month lol . . . . . how on earth am i meant to know what bandwidth i need? easyspace says i've used 300,00 summat or others (technical term) this month so what's that in old money?

all i know is i can't get emails and the sites not even a quarter populated with goodies. . . . anyone got a formula for what i need to ask for when i start looking for a host . . . .

[pinbrook]

if its abrand new website for for 1gb trafic and upgrade as you need it.

How many products/pages have you got, how many images and what size are they? - use this info to work out what disk space you will need.

if its a corporate site will it have traffic from day one?

as with most question you will think of - you can bet your bottom dollar someone has already asked it... use the forum search, use easyspace as a keyword, use hosting as another keyword search.

Failing that go to my website and give us a ring in the morning

[trafford]

thanks for the reply and explanation, i've already spied your site . . . . .
i think the general aim would be to have around 2000 products on the site, ish, i've added lightbox to actinic so the higher end products would use up to 10 640 x 480 images in lightbox to show them off, i suppose an average/low end product would have 2 to 3 images, some only 1, depends what it is and if i think the product needs more than one image to get its point across.

my understanding of disc space and bandwidth isn't the best when it comes to websites, this is not my area of expertise really but as i'm the only one with a reasonable knowledge of anything mildly techie at our place, i've kind of got lumbered with it lol . . . . . . . actinics a big piece of software on the quiet as i've found out but i've fumbled my way round it reasonably so far with the help of the support line too i should add.

so why is there such a big gap in prices between someone like easyspace and actinic? what do you get for your money? (dont say working email!)

[pinbrook]

so why is there such a big gap in prices between someone like easyspace and ....

Specialist hosts will only be hosting corporate sites thus you will share your server with more responsible neighbours and less of them, servers should be faster, support should be better with more actinic knowledge and of course email will work!

[trafford]

i'm ready to throw the towel in . . . . been back on to easyspace, they've told me to change the email port number to 587 from 25, did that and surprisingly . . . . it didn't work. the guy said that tiscali are blocking things to make people sign up with their hosting services and they won't admit to it (or summat to that effect ) etc etc etc, so now as well as no email i have a conspiricy theory to add into the equation . . . great, that really helps.

[leehack]

Keep struggling on with them, it will be worth it in the end, you can then stand up amongst a crowd of people and say that you got easyspace hosting to work with actinic. People won't care of course, but you will have that priceless moral victory.

[pinbrook]

it didn't work. the guy said that tiscali are blocking things to make people sign up with their hosting services and they won't admit to it

if you can send email using outlook using your domain email this will not be true...

and i quote you in your first post

we are using thunderbird through tiscali