Comcast this weekend did something nice to me (not). They blocked my Port 25, without any notice at all.
Now, I don’t use port 25 on most email accounts, I use SSL email over port 587. But, plenty of people do use it.
Worse, Comcast Tier 2 support hasn’t been informed that they are blocking port 25, nor do they have any idea of what to do if your email provider relies on Port 25 (as in, you can’t use another port).
Port 25 blocking has become a popular way to reduce the tide of spam and viruses, which commonly use Port 25. The majority of major ISP customers use web mail, and as such aren’t impacted by these blockings.
Now, I don’t know if I’m simply unlucky, and this is a glitch on my account… or if this is the start of a company-wide move. So, let me know if Comcast is blocking Port 25 on you in the comments.
Update: Looks like I’m definetely not alone. If you see this posting [note: profane language], the comments start around early April, and new Port 25 blocks run through this week. Clearly, Comcast is deploying new Port 25 blocks, and clearly they have no protocol for unblocking.
That’s not good Comcast, I’ll give it (my trouble tickets) a week, then it’s FCC Complaint time.