Mail Relaying

Why would anybody relay their mail?
Mail relaying is most commonly used by marketing organizations who need to send a tremendous amount of bulk e-mail (UCE, or spam) without being caught. Relaying this mail through another organization's mail system allows them to escape detection by their ISP (at least in the short run).

So how does this affect me?
If you check or send Texas.Net e-mail while you are connected to another Internet provider (be it an employer or an out-of-town ISP), mail relaying will prevent you from sending mail through Texas.Net's servers. It works like this:

How do I use Texas.Net mail if I'm not dialed up?
E-mail is divided into two parts: POP is used for incoming e-mail, and SMTP is used for outgoing e-mail. Mail relaying only affects SMTP, so you are free to use mail.texas.net as your POP server anywhere in the world to receive your Texas.Net mail. While you are connected to the Internet by non-Texas.Net means, however, you will need to use that organization's SMTP server to be able to send e-mail to non-Texas.Net parties. Your configuration will need to be altered like this:

Previous Configuration (Texas.Net connected)

SMTP Server	mail.texas.net
POP Server	pop.texas.net

New Configuration (not Texas.Net connected)

SMTP Server	mail.othercompany.com
POP Server	pop.texas.net

The fact that mail relaying used to work was an oversight on our part to begin with. If you have any questions about getting SMTP services to work with your other provider, contact a network adminstrator there. If you have any other questions, please let us know.