Need Comcast Business Class Settings --- SUCCESS!

[Bronwen]

We have a Comcast Business Class account.

The Comcast setup at maxprog (http://www.maxprog.com/site/support/us/ ... mcast.html) doesn't work, probably because the business class account is on an Exchange Server.

I've tried every combination of authentication I can think of to no avail. I've been hours on the phone with Comcast. They say, "We can't give it to you because you should use our Web site to send bulk email." L-A-M-E.

None of the dozen or so forum topics (search "exchange") has specifics, though stanbusk does say : "Yes, just use the SMTP settings of that server, that's all. It should work without problems."

I'm using MaxBulk Mail 7.5 on a Mac with Snow Leopard. Our Comcast business class email uses the comcastbiz.com hostname.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[wessley]

Hi Bronwen,

What kind of error do you get if you use the regular SMTP settings?

Best,
Wes

 

[Bronwen]

log of errors

Hello, Wesley. Thanks for asking.

I managed to get the SMPT host to answer using "smtp.comcast.net:587" with "TLS v1 Exp"

It looks like the Comcast server tries several authentication schemes. Nothing works after that.

=====

[01] 5/6 07:33:38 > MAIL FROM:<[email protected]>
[01] 5/6 07:33:38 550 5.1.0 Authentication required
[01] 5/6 07:33:38 ~ Status: Relaying denied error, let's try ESMTP authentication scheme [1/1]
[01] 5/6 07:33:38 > EHLO [192.168.100.100]
[01] 5/6 07:33:38 250-omta17.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net hello [75.69.69.193], pleased to meet you
250-HELP
250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN
250-SIZE 15728640
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250-8BITMIME
250-STARTTLS
250 OK
[01] 5/6 07:33:38 > STARTTLS
[01] 5/6 07:33:38 220 2.0.0 Ready to start TLS
[01] 5/6 07:33:38 ~ Status: Connected
[01] 5/6 07:33:38 > EHLO [192.168.100.100]
[01] 5/6 07:33:38 250-omta17.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net hello [75.69.69.193], pleased to meet you
250-HELP
250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN
250-SIZE 15728640
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250-8BITMIME
250 OK
[01] 5/6 07:33:38 > AUTH CRAM-MD5
[01] 5/6 07:33:38 504 5.7.6 authentication type not supported
[01] 5/6 07:33:38 ~ Status: Fatal error, giving up!

 

[Bronwen]

Success! Comcast Business Class settings

After hours of runaround yesterday, the new Comcast tech support I reached this morning actually looked at the data produced when I tried to send from MaxBulk Mail. She opined that Comcast's firewall was "protecting" our business account and there didn't seem to be any way around it.

Then, she had the brilliant idea to add "businessclass" to the SMTP settings. It worked!

Here are the complete settings that worked for me =====

SMTP host: "smtp.businessclass.comcast.net:587" with "TLS v1 Exp" from the dropdown menu.

Authentication: "ESMTP" from the dropdown, with "login" from the other dropdown.

Account ID: [email protected]

password: mypassword

=====

"myname," "myaccountnamehere" and "mypassword" are placeholders.

Hope this helps someone else.

 

[stanbusk]

Interesting info. Our comcast settings page has been updated:
MaxBulk settings for Comcast

Thanks!

 

[Bronwen]

Cool. I'm so proud!

The service tech told me all of Comcast's email is now on Exchange servers, so the authentication may be ESMTP with Login for all. I have no idea if that is true.

 

[stanbusk]

Yes, I have tried with telnet and it looks like comcast has switched to ESMTP. I will modify the page then, thanks!

 

[adneycandy]

very nice i like this

 

[stanbusk]

ESMTP is very common nowadays, it means authenticated SMTP. SMTP is the mail delivery protocol.