Recurring problem with Gmail not reaching TalkTalk

[silvergirl]

Here we go again - TalkTalk is blocking Gmail yet again.  I only know this when my contact thinks I have gone away and then I find I can't send myself something from Gmail to my TalkTalk account.

Can someone please unblock my account, or at least explain why on earth it keeps happening? Also, why it doesn't even tell me the messages have failed?

Silvergirl

[Ady-TalkTalk]

They're deleted. 

Ady

[silvergirl]

Hi Ady, The block appears to have been lifted but my question now is: what happens to all the missing emails I actually did send? Do they get deleted? I don't like to think of them somewhere in cyberspace, vulnerable, not having reached their destination?

[Ady-TalkTalk]

I've heard nothing back. I'll post to update you as soon as I do.

Ady

[silvergirl]

Bump

[silvergirl]

Hi Ady.

Has there been any progress on getting the block lifted, please? I have changed my password so hopefully the spam won't continue.

[silvergirl]

The one I want is one I sent from my Gmail address to my TalkTalk one - surely these shouldn't be classed as Spam?

[silvergirl]

That would be great thanks. There would be a lot because I kept sending them in case they got through. There is one in particular I really want as well! I can't think why they think they are spam.

[Ady-TalkTalk]

There's a lot of mail from the gmail address in your profile is being rejected as spam. I'll request that its checked and reclassified if possible. 

Ady

[Gondola]

There's no inference at all as CloudMark isn't a person and doesn't know what is being sent. As I said, a false positive. But wait for TalkTalk to confirm what and why.

[silvergirl]

The only way I deduced there was a block was because it has happened several times in the past. There was nothing definite I could mention except that it was recurring, as in the subject of this topic, and I did not ever know why there was one. There is absolutely no need to suggest there was any content in my emails or photos that was unacceptable. The photos I send myself are usually of scenery or family and emails are general conversation. Protection from malicious content is good but, if CloudMark is assessing anything in my emails as being unnacteptable then it is being over zealous and I object to that as I never email improper material and I am shocked by that inference.

[Gondola]

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@silvergirl wrote: ...My next question is, how can it be stopped from happening in the future? ... the block on my address was usually when I tried to send photos taken with my phone so that I could get them on to my computer.

---

If you knew why the block was happening it would have been helpful to mention that up-front. CloudMark will assess emails and fingerprint those with suspected suspicious content. It's quite possible that the images were too similar to those with unacceptable imagery. A false positive will nevertheless get content marked as unacceptable and a block usually placed for 2 weeks. Assuming no further content is sent to match previously fingerprinted mail messages then the transient block would come off.

There is no way to stop CloudMark or relax its protection as it's in place to stop spam and malicious and undesirable content.

[silvergirl]

Thank you for your help. Incidentally, I have just switched the router off for 45 minutes and now rebooted it and the IP address has not changed, though I am not sure if that is relevant now.

I was pleased to read that it could well be a block imposed by TalkTalk as that is the only thing that ever made sense to me. Obviously I am not pleased there is a block at all, and I have no idea why it should happen, but I look forward to hearing at some stage if your theory is confirmed.

My next question is, how can it be stopped from happening in the future? It has only ever been normal email traffic to and from my TalkTalk contact and the block on my address was usually when I tried to send photos taken with my phone so that I could get them on to my computer.

[Gondola]

It's not about winning. I'm simply helping you to resolve the issue.

It's good to know that a brand new Gmail address does get through. That means that I believe TalkTalk will be imposing a block on your usual Gmail address. We'll see what they find but I'd suspect it is TalkTalk's CloudMark spam protection that's in action. 

If  CloudMark are just operating a temporary block then you'll be able to use the original address in due course or when TalkTalk remove the block. There's no need to retain the new Gmail address as creating that was just for troubleshooting purposes.

[silvergirl]

OK, you win! I created another Google account, much as I didn't want to as I already have enough other email addresses. Anyway, I emailed my TalkTalk address - and it arrived. So now what? How do I resolve the original problem? I still don't think there has been any spam block on my Gmails because in all my contacts there are only 2 people who have TalkTalk addresses and neither of them has done that.

I will try the IP address thing and that may work on my main Gmail but I will have to see if it happens again in the future. I can't face having to tell all my contacts to use the new Gmail address rather than the old one. Conversely, I can't keep a separate Gmail account just for my 2 TalkTalk contacts.

[Gondola]

I explained here. Any of your TalkTalk contacts may have marked your mail as spam... So TalkTalk may have applied a spam block. These are either on the email address or the sending IP address if using the Gmail email app via your home wi-fi.

It'll take less than 5 minutes to create and test a new Gmail address. Why wouldn't you want to carry out that troubleshooting asap? I've already proven that Gmail incoming to TalkTalk isn't blocked at the network level. If a brand new email address doesn't work then that will lead to a conclusion that your home IP address may have been previously used for sending spam and it's an IP address being blocked rather than the Gmail email address. If the new Gmail address does work then that confirms TalkTalk are not operating a blanket block of Gmail and your IP address is not blocked but your original Gmail address is transiently blocked. 

The last time this happened you stopped before all troubleshooting had been completed and I concluded that it was probably an IP address block that was transiently applied to sending emails via your home wi-fi and TalkTalk broadband connection. So just to fully complete the troubleshooting you may wish to check your IP address make a note of the 4 sets of numbers with dots in between and then switch off the home router / hub for 30 minutes and repower to see if a new IP address is issued.

I've concluded my advice on troubleshooting. No doubt TalkTalk will come back and tell you what they see from their side.

[silvergirl]

Can you please explain why all my other contacts with non-TalkTalk addresses receive and reply to my emails and it is only TalkTalk contacts who don't get them?

I will try that option if I must but not until tomorrow probably as I have spent an inordinate amount of time today trying to sort this out.

[Gondola]

Or have you not grasped what I've been trying to help you understand? My Gmail isn't blocked. TalkTalk are not blocking my Gmail address.

So, to prove that TalkTalk are transiently blocking your Gmail address you simply create a new email address that by definition will not be blocked and see if you can receive that.

If you're not going to bother then I'm done.

[silvergirl]

I really think you have not grasped what I have been saying. This is about emails with mainly one contact, and if that person had blocked my emails or marked them as spam we would not have sent and received successful emails for months and months in between. There is no obvious reason that this happens at all, always out of the blue. My Gmail account can send to hundreds of people with none doing a disappearing act, it only occurs with emails addressed to TalkTalk. 

[Gondola]

As there's no obvious network block on Gmail I'm wondering if one of your contacts has inadvertently marked your Gmail address as Spam? A block on your Gmail email address is the only common factor in not getting Gmail to two different TalkTalk Mail mailboxes. Marking as spam would not always result in a bounceback error and the spam block may be relaxed after two weeks if there are no further reports of spam.

The way to troubleshoot this is to create a new Gmail account and to send mail using that new address and see if mail arrives.

[silvergirl]

I sent myself an email as instructed above and it arrived instantly. I keep saying it is emails from Gmail that get lost in the ether - but only from time to time - for weeks on end all can be hunky-dory, then it suddenly starts happening again.

I also sent a test email from Gmail to my contact's TalkTalk address and I have had no acknowledgement so I rather think that is lost as well.