why can't I send email to domains like AOL and Hotmail
 

I have sendmail set up and running after fixing some problems. I thank every one that has given me advice so far, it is greatly appreciated. One rather big problem I am having is I cannot send email to AOL and Hotmail accounts. Can anyone tell me what I need to do to resolve this.

Thanks
Rob

" I cannot send email to AOL and Hotmail accounts."

What error message are you getting?

i have the same problem but thats because im not in MX records and Im running my email server off a dynamic IP... meh.

AOL and Hotmail are picky... i guess they should be. Damn spammers.

I get an email message returned to me with the following warning.

----- Transcript of session follows -----
<XXX@aol.com>... Deferred: Connection timed out with mailin-03.mx.aol.com.
Warning: message still undelivered after 4 hours
Will keep trying until message is 5 days old.

I don't get any other errors, the recipient just never recieves the email.

During the blackout (I am not in the blackout area) I got some of those messages when the recipient host was down.

I have read of another possible explanation, which I have not experienced personally. In the war on spam the various ISPs pressure any ISP which hosts a spammer to get rid of the spammer. If an ISP continues to tolerate spammers using their services then some ISPs will block all email from the offending ISP. You could innocently be caught in the situation that AOL and MSN refuse to accept any emails from your ISP because of the activities of some spammer using the same ISP as you use.

Try going to the library or some other public Internet access and see if you can send the emails from there.

My ISP is Earthlink which is pretty intolerant of spammers. Also I can send email to AOL and MSN from my Earthlink mail

aol is a pain in the ass but i have no problem sending to hotmail from my mailserver, i use www.dyndns.org for my domain name and it sets up an MX record for me.

<edit> i forward all stuff destined for aol to my isp's mail server.

" I can send email to AOL and MSN from my Earthlink mail"

Another anti spam tactic used by some ISPs is not to accept emails using a webmail address for a return address. Thus they would accept email mailed from your ISP account (Earthlink) but not email from a webmail account such as Yahoo. But they would accept email from Yahoo if Yahoo is your ISP.

Thanks. for the help. I routed my email through the ISP mail server and it works (sort of)

You may have been put a spammer blacklist.
I was, after running an open relay for about 10 seconds :)
Got to be careful about that! I am careful NOW.
If AOL has you blacklisted, well, good luck in sorting it out...