Wireless Internet Email Problem

[GCSGEEK]

I hope someone out there has seen or heard of this problem I am about to describe and can help me.

I just had wireless internet installed in one of our office locations. It works fine, people can get out to the internet and surf websites and so on and the speeds are very fast, just as fast as DSL. My problem is that none of the email clients will work for some reason. When I open up Outlook it just hangs and times out and you get an error saying unable to connect to the server. At first I thought this was just one user having this problem so I deleted the email account and recreated it and still had the same problems, but no one in the office can send or receive email. I even used other email clients and still have the same problem.

The wireless internet runs through a LinkSys Cable/DSL Router and it plugs into an 8 port switch. When I take a user and plug them directly into the modem by passing the router and the switch, it works fine and you can send and receive email. I plug them into the switch and the internet works fine, just no email and also you cannot connect to remote servers using terminal services or VNC but yet the internet works perfect. I have talked to the company that provides the internet to see if they are filtering anything on there end and even had them come out to the office so they can see this problem and they don’t have an answer and they are just as confused as I am.

Anyone have any ideas as to why the internet works fine except for email. Thanks in advance.

Chris

 

[kippy13]

Does the router use NAT?


"Sometimes I do not know but I try hard"- R.F. Haughty 1923

 

[GCSGEEK]

Yes

 

[kippy13]

Is there any way you can turn this off?

"Sometimes I do not know but I try hard"- R.F. Haughty 1923

 

[kippy13]

Sorry, for the short posts,
Please try pinging the mailserver over the wireless network and try tracerting to it,


"Sometimes I do not know but I try hard"- R.F. Haughty 1923

 

[GCSGEEK]

I don’t think there is. I have looked in the router setup and I don’t see that as being an option. It is a LinkSys single port Cable/DSL Router.

Plus if there is a way to disable this wouldn’t that be disabling the firewall leaving the network vulnerable?

 

[GCSGEEK]

I can ping the mail server and even telnet into it and send a message that way.

 

[kippy13]

Good point although I do know that NAT can cause these types of issues.
Are the users connectiong to an exchange server? Have you checked the firewakk config?

"Sometimes I do not know but I try hard"- R.F. Haughty 1923

 

[GCSGEEK]

Yes the users are connecting to an exchange server and the firewall is configured properly, other office locations get their email just fine.

I have used these types of routers before in other locations and have never had or seen a problem like this before. Of course the other locations are on DSL but I cannot get DSL at this location because it is not offered there yet.

 

[kippy13]

Sorry, I seem to have gotten your configuration wrong.
Can you confirm.....U have a modem connected to a landline-or is it a wireless modem connected to a wireless high speed connection?
Then the modem is connected to the Router and the router connected to the Switch(through physical cable?
The PCS are then connected theough ethernet cable to the switch? Can you please explain how the set up is exactly....
Also,
What type of switch are you using? Are the users logging onto a domain through the system?
Can you ping the mailserver?
Do you have fileservers that they can access?
Does the modem support NAT?
I would be pretty confident in saying that this is something to do witht the modem/router configuration or firewall settings however my knowledge is a bit too limited to trouble shoot further.

"Sometimes I do not know but I try hard"- R.F. Haughty 1923

 

[GCSGEEK]

The wireless connection (Antenna Radio Receiver thingy) runs directly into the LinkSys router and that plugs into a 3Com 8 Port 10/100 Switch. Other users are plugged into this switch as well as a file server running Windows 2000 Server and yes I have a Domain and the users login to the domain just fine and all the LAN stuff works fine and users can get out to the internet just fine, just POP3 and SMTP will not work and I don’t have any idea as to why this will not work I have never seen anything like this before. It is very odd.

 

[GCSGEEK]

this is going to sound goofy but here goes.....

i replaced the router and the switch with a LinkSys 8 Port cable/DSL router and everything works.

who knows... but thanks for helping me trouble shoot this