Forum Discussion

noOtherOption's avatar
noOtherOption
New Contributor
5 years ago

Unable to send email on android overseas

I've seen this question asked a million times but not answered.

In a foreign country (the Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Italy, ...)

Connected via WIFI or 4G, doesn't matter. 

Sending from an IMAP client (tho' the outgoing server is smtp.cox.net, is there any other option?) on my android, the mail sits in the outbox saying failed.  Returning to the states, the email sends.

Using webmail.cox.net (redirects to idm.west.cox.net/coxlogin/....blah blah), I get a capcha (click I am not a robot) followed by a required entry of last 4 of SSN.  Sending an email here fails with

Message could not be sent....

(550-550 146.20.112.67 blocked ....)

AUP#CXBL

I understand that Cox bluntly blocks seemingly all foreign IP to prevent spammers and I can request a white list on an IP, but that's not a workable solution as I move from location to location.  Is there a method that allows me to confidently use Cox email overseas on my android or am I forced to another email service?

9 Replies

  • KevinM2's avatar
    KevinM2
    Former Moderator
    Hello, customers may be unable to sign in to Cox.com or use Cox Email via an email client (Android, for instance) due to a layer of security that provides real-time protection against identity theft, data breaches, and fraud. The additional protection triggers when a customer outside of the country is using a device that has never been used to sign in to our network. As a result, an error message displays and this prevents the use of our email system. When this happens, you will need to reach out to our representatives to have the IP Address whitelisted. -Kevin M. Cox Support Forum Moderator
    • uniquename's avatar
      uniquename
      New Contributor

      The cox error msg CXBL says the "sending" address is being blocked because it is an abusing address.

      Sure enough ... if you do a web search on 146.20.112.67 ... several web sites report 80 or 90 abuses from that address.

      But i am being blocked from sending from Portugal ... a 79.xxx.xxx.xxx address ... not a 146.xxx.xxx.xxx address.

      I am not doing anything wrong. It looks like some software in use by cox is routing my mail attempts thru the 146 address. 

      This looks like something cox has to fix. We users are powerless to fix this.

      • uniquename's avatar
        uniquename
        New Contributor

        P.S. i don't want to scare anyone ... but it must be asked ... Could that 146 address have been collecting confidential and identity-theft data from thousands ... nay millions ... of emails ... that have been routed to that address over what time period? ... 3 or more years?

  • uniquename's avatar
    uniquename
    New Contributor

    Thank you, "noOtherOption". I think you are the first --- of hundreds (?) of cox users who have complained about not being able to send cox mail from outside the U.S. ---  to include the CXBL error message along with the "strange" IP address 146.20.112.67.

    I get the same message and 146 ip address when i try to send email from Portugal to my family in the U.S.

    It seems that the cox email setup is routing your mail sent from Belgium, Netherlands, etc. and my email sent from Portugal to that 146 ip address.

    My notes in this thread from your forum post are an attempt to get Cox to get skilled email technologists to look into how this strange routing could be happening.

    Hopefully someone can "fix" the Cox email system so that their traveling customers can send mail to their family and friends back home without jumping thru too many hoops ... like that Captcha robot-checking that shows an array of fuzzy images that are usually a fuzzy mess on my cell phone's small screen. What a frustrating mess that is.

    • KevinM2's avatar
      KevinM2
      Former Moderator
      Hi Uniquename, for more information regarding the Cox Email error codes, please refer to our website here:

      www.cox.com/.../email-error-codes.html

      Cox uses Spamhaus to identify IP Addresses as not meeting our policy. For additional support, we encourage you to visit Spamhaus:

      www.spamhaus.org/.../

      For further assistance, please reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter. -Kevin M. Cox Support Forum Moderator