Ask HN: how about a paid-for SMTP service? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: how about a paid-for SMTP service?

3 pointsretube8 comments

Many ISPs (UK anyway) only allow you to use their SMTP server from your ISP connection. Many also stop you from using your own SMTP server (altho I don't understand why). So moving my laptop between home and office is pain - I have to switch my email client's configured smtp server each time.

Or - would be great for mobile email clients, where potentially an app could be installed on any network and IP.

Solution: a paid-for SMTP service, using some kind of authentication mechanism (e.g SMTP-AUTH which most clients can handle) for a nominal monthly/annual fee.

What do you think?

View on HN

"Many also stop you from using your own SMTP server (altho I don't understand why)."

Spam countermeasures, they usually block the port.

If you do follow up with this idea you will also have to find ways to prevent spam. Very troublesome.

if its paid-for, with a monthly massage cap for example, this would be effective spam prevention no?

No.

What you'll get is tons of people subscribing to your service, you'll be so happy.

Then they start using your service, right up to that cap, and you're still happy.

Then two months later the chargebacks start rolling in and you're dead in the water.

Curing spam on a service like this will take a lot more than just a message cap, you'll have to think this through very carefully because spammers have been at this much longer than you have.

They'll eat you alive if you're not careful.

ok yes - you need excellent debit/credit card fraud prevention/detection. There are ways to mitigate this risk tho I think, at a cost obviously.

You can use gmail's SMTP to send from any From: address. It'll add your gmail address into a Sender: field, though, which you might not want.

yes but my ISP wont allow me to use any other SMTP server...

AuthSMTP (www.authsmtp.com) seems to be the canonical recommendation for this.

ha - ok already done :) (Edit: obviously)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com