Subj : Re: ISP E-mail connection To : Barry Martin From : Ky Moffet Date : Fri Mar 13 2026 23:17:00 BARRY MARTIN wrote: > Hi Ky! > > > Every so often (like maybe once every two to five weeks) my primary e-mail > > account will not want to connect to send out mail: just sits there and > > eventually times out. ("Grrr!") The thing is I'm not sure where the > > problem is as it will sometimes cause a window on Thunderbird to lock -- > > the remainder of the computer is operational. > KM> That is not unusual when an email program is hung up with a > KM> no-reply from the server. Thunderbird has no mechanism for giving > KM> up, and the STOP button isn't connected to any function (20 year > KM> old bug), so it just has to time out, and meanwhile it acts hung. > KM> And if timeout takes too long, it may get hung for real. > > OK, that helps explain some of the 'reactions' (or lack of!) which > followed the attempts to stop. Yep. STOP is not only broken, it never existed. Once in a while someone adds a complaint to the bugzilla page, then I get a notice (being "subscribed" by having added my two cents) by which I am kept aware that it's STILL not fixed. > KM> Your timeout may be set too long; it shouldn't be over 30 > KM> seconds. > > I'll have to check (first find!), but I have the feeling the timeout is > set for ~30 seconds, just 30 seconds of nothing happening seems to be a > reaally l-o-n-g time! Yeah, forever when you're waiting for the dang computer! > KM> like there are multiple issues. Pasting traceroute below. > > OK. I have used traceroute before; now to re-familiarize! ...Quick > check: not installed on this computer (yet!) -- so it has been a while > since I needed it. What? it's not a basic tool on linux?? > > KM> Twelve99.net is rebadged Telia and is all sorts of problems > KM> everywhere for years, notably it's known for injecting latency on > KM> static IPs. Twelve99.net appears to be Metronet's backbone, which > KM> means ALL of your traffic goes through their pipe. > > Oh goodie! Nothing I can do to get around other than switch providers > and that doens't guarantee anything forever. And may have a choice of one when it comes to backbone. Like when I was in SoCal, no matter who your ISP was, chances were your backbone was AT&T. > > KM> Apparently some, but not all Starlink traffic goes that way too > KM> -- some hosts trace that way (per below, and I know my exit node > KM> hits the ground in SLC) and some don't. Traffic is MUCH faster > KM> when twelve99.net is not in the loop. Like, about 20x faster. > KM> Twelve99.net nearly always does some timeouts along the way. > > "I'm just being polite and waiting my turn!" And a whole bunch cut in line in front of us! > And sort of with the 'waiting your turn' delay, there are times when I'd > swear I'm waiting for a hard drive to spin up some where out there: I'm > waiting for a page to start loading and after a while (several seconds > but seems like a minute) all is fine. One reason why I was a bit > suspicious of a cache being updated or something like that. Yeah, sometimes it feels that way! A lot of servers are capped at around 100Mbps, but that ain't the problem here. > KM> powerxmail.com is just what someone named the mail server. 1&1's > KM> is named pop.perfora.net, for some historical reason no one > KM> remembers. > > Did a bit of snooping and I think powerxmail is a portal to Zimbra, > which is: > Zimbra Collaboration, formerly known as the Zimbra Collaboration > Suite before 2019, is a collaborative software suite that > includes an email server and a web client. Zimbra was initially > developed by LiquidSys, which changed their name to Zimbra, Inc. > on 26 July 2005. > > So Metronet appears to have bought some e-mail software, which possibly > points to Zimbra via the powerxmail path. Numberous providers use > powerxmail. Some sort of internal domain, I'd guess. > > KM> Traceroute: > KM> (undefined.hostname.localhost is Starlink, evidently that's my > KM> connection's satellite bounce. AWS anything is Amazon Web > KM> Services, commonly a bulk hosting provider.) > KM> === > > KM> C:\WINDOWS>tracert powerxmail.com > KM> Unable to resolve target system name powerxmail.com. > > For the above reason. My quickie search clicks immediately went to a > login page. https://www.whois.com/whois/powerxmail.com Meaningless gibberish, just tells me it's registered with namecheap, and dates back to 2006. But as you say evidently not configured with any public-facing anything. "For internal use only!" > > KM> C:\WINDOWS>tracert mymetronet.net > KM> 11 58 ms 58 ms 58 ms ipls-b4-link.ip.twelve99.net > KM> [62.115.123.145] > > Booooo! I'd guess 'ipls' is Indianapolis. which is Metronet's > headquarters. Twelve99 -- welllll.... Boo indeed. :/ > KM> C:\WINDOWS> > KM> === > > Was there supposed to be anything after this? Seemed like an odd cut. I just copied the whole thing, and that's where it stopped. þ RNET 2.10U: ILink: Techware BBS þ Hollywood, Ca þ www.techware2k.com --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com (454:1/1) .