GMX.de/Web.de strange behavior

jeffpan · 2 Apr 2024, 04:45 PM

If you login into their systems via IMAP or webmail from a non-german IP, and if you send the emails, the outgoing SMTP servers should be:

Quote:

mout-xforward.gmx.net. 3447 IN A 82.165.159.13
mout-xforward.gmx.net. 3447 IN A 82.165.159.12
mout-xforward.gmx.net. 3447 IN A 82.165.159.41
mout-xforward.gmx.net. 3447 IN A 82.165.159.42
mout-xforward.gmx.net. 3447 IN A 82.165.159.14
mout-xforward.gmx.net. 3447 IN A 82.165.159.40

They are bad IPs listed by multi-RBL such as Spamhaus Zen. Then most peer systems (such as t-online) will reject those emails.

If you login into their systems from a german IP, then if you send messages, the outgoing SMTP servers become:

Quote:

mout.web.de. 78 IN A 212.227.15.5
mout.web.de. 78 IN A 212.227.15.4
mout.web.de. 78 IN A 212.227.15.6
mout.web.de. 78 IN A 212.227.15.14
mout.web.de. 78 IN A 212.227.17.12
mout.web.de. 78 IN A 212.227.15.3
mout.web.de. 78 IN A 217.72.192.78
mout.web.de. 78 IN A 212.227.17.11

They are clean IPs which have good delivery capability.

I have tested for web.de/gmx.net/gmx.fr domains, all behave as this.

I feel uncomfortable with this.

Tsunami · 9 Apr 2024, 02:27 AM

gmx.net has always been aimed at the German-speaking countries, no?

I'm surprised you could even sign up for and access an account when not based in a German-speaking country (Germany, Austria or Switzerland. Belgium and Luxembourg also have German-speaking minorities but you cannot sign up from Belgium or Luxembourg)

Web.de also requires you to be based in Germany. I'm surprised you could sign up for and access accounts with these providers.

That said, I'd also not feel comfortable using a provider when their policy in theory doesn't want me to use them. I prefer to stick to internationally available providers or to a provider in my own country (Belgium). In the past I was adventurous with providers around the world, and sometimes I still feel a bit adventurous (for example last year when I visited Croatia, I was tempted to sign up for a net.hr email account).
But I found out it's not worth the concerns about how long it will take before I lose access to such accounts.

9 Apr 2024, 02:27 AM	#2
Tsunami The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: in between the bright lights and the far unlit unknown Posts: 2,341	gmx.net has always been aimed at the German-speaking countries, no? I'm surprised you could even sign up for and access an account when not based in a German-speaking country (Germany, Austria or Switzerland. Belgium and Luxembourg also have German-speaking minorities but you cannot sign up from Belgium or Luxembourg) Web.de also requires you to be based in Germany. I'm surprised you could sign up for and access accounts with these providers. That said, I'd also not feel comfortable using a provider when their policy in theory doesn't want me to use them. I prefer to stick to internationally available providers or to a provider in my own country (Belgium). In the past I was adventurous with providers around the world, and sometimes I still feel a bit adventurous (for example last year when I visited Croatia, I was tempted to sign up for a net.hr email account). But I found out it's not worth the concerns about how long it will take before I lose access to such accounts.