Workable SMTP solution?

[Guest fraser]

First off, sorry for starting another thread about emails. I'd like to state that I'm not a newb, far from it. If the SPV had telnet, I could get e-mail working manually via port 25 if it came down to it. ;)

My problem is that I would like to be able to send e-mails from the phone via both GPRS and the USB cradle (i.e. the internet). When I am in the office, I don't get the best reception and GPRS is a bit unreliable. I also don't see why I should be paying GPRS charges when I have perfectly good internet access at home and in work. The internet pass-thru is one of the reasons I choose this particular phone.

I already have this perfect for incomming mail. I've got a RedHat box sitting on the internet with an IMAP server running. This handles and archives all of my mail from other accounts, and I am really pleased with how well it works with the phone and other clients. None of that "leave a copy on the server" nonsence you get with POP, every mail I've had in the last 4 years is available to me. :) No e-mail size limits, no server storage space limits. Bliss.

So, I'd now like to get an SMTP server setup that would work in all situations. The problem is that my ISP and Oranges SMTP server absolutely refuse to accept mail from outside their domains, even with authentication turned on. Ditto for the office, but that's due to the firewall.

Has anyone come across a way in that you can have the same SMTP server working via all routes?

The obvious solution to me is to add SMTP to my server. This I could do, but I really really don't want to. ISPs are always funny about SMTP, even if you do lock it down. The security headache for this type of service is massive, and if you've ever looked at a sendmail main.cf file, you'll know what I mean. SMTP authentication was added as an afterthought and it is a mess.

A second solution that could also work, if not a little more complicated would be port forwarding. You could point the e-mail client at "localhost" and have forwarding redirect the data where the message actually goes. You'd then have an inteligent app that knows which way is valid e.g.

if(connection == "gprs") server = smtp.orange.net

However, I don't know Windows style programming at all, so the SDK is alien to me, and I'm not even sure if the SPV's TCP/IP stack can handle forwards.

A third solution would be to locate the area in the registry containing the smtp server, and have something to modify that. A couple of *.reg files would work, if the SmartPhone OS can use them. Again, you could have a small process watching the current connection type, and automatically modifying it approprately.

Please help! I'd like to be able to use the e-mail on the phone, but if it involves jumping through major hoops, it's a completely wasted opertunity.

[Guest kasuku]

i like the way you're talking mate!

an application that modifies the email registry details so that you can switch between email accounts easily ............. very good idea

[Guest fraser]

I guess no one else cares though. Surely I'm not the only person who wants to use the phone to send e-mails?

It's all fine and dandy just now, but come May when you have to start paying for GPRS, then we might see a change in tune!