POP3 and SMTP are two totally different mail protocols that when taken together make Internet email appear to function as one operational messaging system.

The first protocol, POP3 is used to collect mail from your mailbox and put it on the hard disk where your mail client (eg: Outlook) is running. In other words, POP3 is used to receive email.

The second protocol, SMTP, is used to transmit messages from your workstation to the server holding email for whomever you are sending the message to. In other words, SMTP is used to send email.

These two functions are totally independent of each other and are usually provided by two separate servers. In order to be able to send and receive email you have to configure your mail client to communicate to both of these servers.

The setting for your outbound SMTP server should be a name or IP address supplied by your ISP, eg: MSN, AOL or a local dialup/cable/DSL provider. The server name is usually something like: smtp.my-isp.com or mail.localisp.com. This value tells your mail client which server will accept messages from you that you wish send across the Internet.

When you send an email, normally there is no need for our servers to get involved at all. Outbound message from your workstation should travel through your local ISP's mail gateway directly to the server holding the recipients mailbox.

Your provider will normally give you the name of their mail gateway when you sign up with them, if they have not, you will need visit their website or contact them to find the name of the server you need to use when configuring your SMTP server settings.

When you configure your email client, the place where you use your domain name is in the incoming POP3 section. This tells your mail client to connect to the POP3 server we are providing for your domain. You need to set the POP3 server name, account name and password to be able to successfully collect your mail from our POP3 server. POP3 settings are included in the Welcome Kit Email we sent you when your domain was first set up on our servers.

When your mail client (eg: Outlook) tries to retrieve your mail, it will contact our POP3 server (eg: mail.my-domain-at-alentus.com) and login using your POP3 user account name and password. After login, your mail client will retrieve any new mail from our server and store it on your hard disk and display it on your screen so you can read it.

If you cannot send mail, but you can receive it, most likely you are using your domain name as the outbound SMTP server as well as the inbound POP3 server. Our servers are not configured to relay mail from remote clients, this must be handled by your ISP.

If you can send mail, but cannot receive it, the most common problem is that you are not including your full domain name as your account name. For example, using me as the account name will not work. You need to enter me@my-domain-at-alentus.com as the account name (where my-domain-at-alentus is your domain name).

If you cannot send or receive, you may have network connectivity issues. Users on LAN's or behind firewalls or proxies may need special permissions from the network administrators. Other problems can include mixed up server names or other configuration problems. Sometimes its a good idea to just delete the messed up settings and start over again.