Early users of BT's new Midband service, which began commercial operations on 1 June, are likely to experience problems connecting to their existing email accounts.

BT Midband operates over BT's existing ISDN services, including Home Highway for consumers and Business Highway for corporate use. It offers flat-rate internet access at speeds up to 128kbit/s, capped at 150 hours per month, but does not include the email services typically offered by conventional ISPs. On its web site, BT states that users can pay separately for email services from a third-party ISP.

However, Midband customers that elect to do so may face problems because many ISPs will refuse to send email that does not originate from within their own network. Outgoing mail servers, typically running Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), are usually configured in this way to avoid forwarding spam emails.

In IT Week tests last week, ISPs Demon and Freeserve automatically refused to send otherwise valid email submitted to their SMTP servers over a BT Midband connection. Downloading incoming email over Midband, through Post Office Protocol (POP) servers, presented no problem with either ISP. Connections to POP servers are typically authenticated using username and password combinations.

BT's Midband helpdesk last week said users experiencing problems with email should contact their ISP to resolve any issues. It also suggested that users find an ISP that is "compatible with Midband", switch to BT's own BTOpenworld ISP, or sign up with a free web-based email provider such as Hotmail or Yahoo. Many ISPs, including Demon and Freeserve, also offer web-based access to email.

BT could solve connection problems by providing a dedicated SMTP server for its Midband customers, but its helpdesk said there were no current plans to do so. ISPs may also elect to provide password-based login to SMTP servers for Midband customers.

Have your say: reply to IT Week