4 ms·

Unpopular opinion, but... set up your own e-mail server. I've been running my own off my home connection for quite a while with basically no spam problems.

pmlnr 6y ago
Wanted to comment the same. Initial setup is a bit bumpy - make sure reverse dns is ok, set up dkim, dmarc, spf - but once up, is should be fine, especially if it's only to send, and not receive.
- 1bc29b36f623ba8 6y ago
  Just an addition to that: Don't use the cheapest possible provider available if you get a VPS to use as an email server; chances are the spammers are doing the same thing and that your emails will be sent straight to spam. DigitalOcean, OVH and Hetzner are especially difficult. It is possible to run an email server there, but getting the IP reputation up will be a tedious process and some providers will simply reject sent emails simply for using one of those hosts.
  - kvss209 6y ago
    Thank you for sharing your experience on digitalocean and OVH hosting providers. I want to understand the issue a bit more because we have a plan to host email service on both the platforms. Your inputs will help us to decide to go with them or to choose any other service provider. Can you please let me know when you sent those emails using both service providers is your emails authenticated with SPF and DKIM or you have used any free email service provider like gmail or yahoo as a from email address. Thank you in advance.
  - willcipriano 6y ago
    I've had luck with digital ocean by sending friends emails (who have accounts at major providers) and having them mark it as not spam a few times over the course of a week or two. After that, it worked without issue.
    - 1bc29b36f623ba8 6y ago
      It is definitely possible to get it up and running, but there's often problems due to entire ranges having bad reputation. There was a gigantic thread about it in the Mailop mailing list last year. If you have access to it's archives then it's definitely a worthwhile read (and entertaining too!).
  - LinuxBender 6y ago
    I've used Linode VM's for my mail server as long as Linode have existed. No issues. In full disclosure, I do not send a lot of email.
    - mmm_grayons 6y ago
      It probably helped that you got an IP early on before they'd been rotated through various users.
rbinv 6y ago
Mails sent from dialup IPs are almost guaranteed to be classified as spam (probably to prevent spam sent by malware). Many servers won't even accept such mail at all.
- mmm_grayons 6y ago
  Nah, I even do okay with gmail actually. I did do SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, so maybe that helped.

pmlnr 6y ago

Wanted to comment the same. Initial setup is a bit bumpy - make sure reverse dns is ok, set up dkim, dmarc, spf - but once up, is should be fine, especially if it's only to send, and not receive.

1bc29b36f623ba8 6y ago
Just an addition to that: Don't use the cheapest possible provider available if you get a VPS to use as an email server; chances are the spammers are doing the same thing and that your emails will be sent straight to spam. DigitalOcean, OVH and Hetzner are especially difficult. It is possible to run an email server there, but getting the IP reputation up will be a tedious process and some providers will simply reject sent emails simply for using one of those hosts.
- kvss209 6y ago
  Thank you for sharing your experience on digitalocean and OVH hosting providers. I want to understand the issue a bit more because we have a plan to host email service on both the platforms. Your inputs will help us to decide to go with them or to choose any other service provider. Can you please let me know when you sent those emails using both service providers is your emails authenticated with SPF and DKIM or you have used any free email service provider like gmail or yahoo as a from email address. Thank you in advance.
- willcipriano 6y ago
  I've had luck with digital ocean by sending friends emails (who have accounts at major providers) and having them mark it as not spam a few times over the course of a week or two. After that, it worked without issue.
  - 1bc29b36f623ba8 6y ago
    It is definitely possible to get it up and running, but there's often problems due to entire ranges having bad reputation. There was a gigantic thread about it in the Mailop mailing list last year. If you have access to it's archives then it's definitely a worthwhile read (and entertaining too!).
- LinuxBender 6y ago
  I've used Linode VM's for my mail server as long as Linode have existed. No issues. In full disclosure, I do not send a lot of email.
  - mmm_grayons 6y ago
    It probably helped that you got an IP early on before they'd been rotated through various users.

rbinv 6y ago

Mails sent from dialup IPs are almost guaranteed to be classified as spam (probably to prevent spam sent by malware). Many servers won't even accept such mail at all.

mmm_grayons 6y ago
Nah, I even do okay with gmail actually. I did do SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, so maybe that helped.