Email FAQ
What is the SMTP server for sending mail?mail.islandnet.com
Does SMTP Authentication need to be enabled?Yes, SMTP Authentication MUST be enabled
What is the POP3/IMAP server for receiving mail?mail.islandnet.com
How do I configure my particular mail program?Due to the growing amount of email clients, platforms they run on and version releases its impossible for us to maintain documentation but using the information herein and the setup documentation in these applications you should be able to configure the client successfully.
We would be glad to walk our customers through the setup if you call us on (1)778.410.2454 or Toll free 1-855.318.9709
Is incoming mail scanned for viruses?Yes.
What happens to virus infected messages?They are simply deleted. Viruses do not attach themselves to legitimate mail messages, so this can never result in lost mail. And rarely, if ever, is the apparent sender of the virus really who it came from, so sending back an error message will only waste bandwidth and confuse innocent people.
What kind of spam filtering and blocking does Islandnet.com do?There are two common ways of stopping spam. One way is "content filtering", which means blocking messages based on their content. The problem with this method is that it's impossible to come up with one set of content filters that would correctly identify spam without blocking legitimate mail that could be applied to all customers. We leave content based filtering up to customers, although we provide a very powerful tool called PEP that does this and much more.
The other way to block spam is to enforce stricter adherence to the mail system standards. This involves many things such as rejecting mail from dynamic end-user IP addresses that aren't actual mail servers, requiring that incoming messages come from a valid domain name and email address, and so on. This kind of filtering is done on our servers.
Does Islandnet.com have a webmail system?Yes. Webmail is available by logging into our helpdesk system. https://hd.islandnet.com/ Our standard webmail interface is based on the RoundCube software, and we also provide SquirrelMail.
Dial-up or users on slower computers may benefit from the less graphically intensive SquirrelMail.
Does the mail system support TLS/SSL encryption?Yes. Both our SMTP and POP3/IMAP services support TLS/SSL encryption.
Can I use webmail and another mail program too?Yes. The webmail system is basically just like any other POP3/IMAP mail program, except that it never deletes the mail from your mailbox unless you ask it to. If you check mail via webmail it will still be there later when you choose to download it with your regular mail program.
Note: some mail programs need to be configured to download ALL mail instead of just NEW mail, otherwise they will simply skip over those that you've read with webmail already.
I'm trying to download my mail and it's getting stuck on a large message.This normally isn't a problem unless you're using a dial-up connection. In any case, the best way to "unclog" your mailbox is to log into the helpdesk system, go into webmail and find the offending message, and delete it there.
My mail program says I have no new mail, yet I can see several in the webmail system!Your mail program might be configured to ignore any messages older than a certain date, or larger than a certain size, or those that you've already marked as "read" by using webmail. Adjust the settings in your mail program so that it will always download ALL messages and you should be good to go.
Why is Islandnet.com emailing and asking for my user information and password?Islandnet.com will never ask you for your password via email. Messages like these are what is known as "phishing scams". If you receive one of these emails please send the entire email including headers to support@islandnet.com and/or reportphishing@antiphishing.org.
Whatever you do, do not reply to these messages!
I'm having trouble connecting to the SMTP/POP3/IMAP server!By far the most common cause of this is well-meaning but broken anti-virus software. Norton Antivirus is the most common culprit. These programs often work by inserting themselves between your mail program and your mail server, intercepting both outgoing and incoming SMTP and POP connections and acting as a sort of "proxy" or "relay". Sometimes this process can cause your mail settings to get messed up. A quick way to test this is to disable the outgoing or incoming mail scanning only (note that we are NOT suggesting that you completely disable your anti-virus software) and try again.
Another common problem is that some ISPs attempt to control spam that originates from their network by blocking their customers from using any other mail server except their own. For example, Telus DSL customers are unable to use our mail servers for sending because of just such a policy. To get around this, we make our SMTP servers available on additional ports besides the standard port 25. If you suspect that your ISP is blocking port 25 access to external servers, try configuring your mail software to connect to us on port 587 or port 2525 instead.
Can I recover email that has been deleted or filtered out as spam?Yes, you can, Islandnet.com has an application that is what we believe to be fairly unique which backs up email before account level spam filtering or over quota issues and it backs up over 90 days worth of email.
Its known as the Email Archive and is under the Mail menu.
It's also very useful if you have had an unrecoverable system crash.
Note: Email Archive does not store mail for accounts over any period that they are in Arrears.
My friend says he emailed me but I never received the message!There are several possibilities:
- Is your friend 100% certain that he sent the message to the correct address in the first place? It seems obvious, but you might be surprised at how often this is the problem.
- If the address was correct and we blocked it for any reason, your friend's mail server would have generated a "bounce message" that was sent back to them. Did your friend receive such a bounce, and if so, what did it say? Note that if we rejected it for some reason and they didn't get a bounce, they'll need to contact their ISP's support staff because their mail server is hiding the error from them.
- If the message wasn't rejected for some reason then our server will pass it to PEP for processing and delivery. Make sure your PEP mailrule file is not filtering the message as spam.
- Finally, several mail programs have their own built-in filtering options. It's possible that you are downloading the message and then your software is deleting it as spam. Anti-virus programs and so-called "mail washers" can do similar things.
If you're still having trouble getting mail from a particular person, contact our support department and we'll trace it through the mail server logs. It is helpful to know the date and approximate time plus the sender's email address as well as the exact address they sent it to.
