I’m well beyond frustrated! I own a domain (eMissives.com) and operate
a website on which I host a number of double-opt-in mailing lists. To clarify, double-opt-in means that one must request to become a member and confirm that request by replying to an email confirmation. In other words, list members choose to receive messages from the list — the messages are not unsolicited.
Recently, I transferred the website to a new server and received a dedicated IP address from my web host. This means that all email sent from my domain comes from my IP address. The purpose behind this was to make it easier to identify abuse should any occur — a very unlikely situation given my circumstances, but I was attempting to be responsible.
Since the time of the transfer, AT&T WorldNet has begun blocking all mail sent from my dedicated IP address. I have followed the links given in their bounce messages and submitted unblock requests per their instructions without any success and without any response from them whatsoever. This is what is causing me the most frustration. I cannot find any way to enter into a dialog with AT&T in order to learn exactly why they are blocking my mail. The closest explanation I’ve been able to find is that they state they will block IP addresses if it appears (to them) that a high percentage of the mail traffic from that IP address is spam. I have not found their definition of spam or just how they decide whether mail is spam. I’m guessing that they must be assuming that any bulk mailing is spam, even though much (maybe most) is not. And certainly not bulk mailings from double-opt-in mailing lists. However, I have found no way to explain my lists and justify the bulk mailing to them. And I’ve not found any way to learn from AT&T just what they are receiving from my server that is triggering their action. It’s not fair — neither to me nor to the AT&T customers that want to subscribe to lists hosted by eMissives.com.
If in fact this is what is happening, it is very likely happening to other mail providers which means that AT&T customers may not be receiving some legitimate email they may want to receive — not just from eMissives.com, but from other sources as well. I think customers of AT&T WorldNet should be aware of these practices and understand that AT&T is removing the customer’s right to choose what is and is not spam. Again, I cannot find any way to discuss this with AT&T, but I can only guess that if confronted with this situation, AT&T would simply suggest that their customer go sign up for a free mail account elsewhere. They’re not interested in making their service work properly.
So, if you’re an AT&T customer and have an email address with one of the following domains, you may need to use a different address to subscribe to eMissives.com mailing lists. I have confirmed that Gmail does not block messages from my IP address. In fact, I cannot find any other major provider that is behaving this aggressively. It appears the following domains are the only ones blocking mail from my domain:
att.net
ameritech.net
bellsouth.net
flash.net
nvbell.net
pacbell.net
prodigy.net
sbcglobal.net
snet.net
swbell.net
wans.net
