With the Internet being such an open network and most mail servers allowing anyone to send e-mail through them, a lot of companies including PowerNet Global has added a security feature to the mail server that will help prevent non-PNGUSA customers from using the mail server. This feature is called Pop before SMTP.

What exactly is Pop before SMTP?

In simplest terms this means that anyone that is wanting to send mail through the mail.pngusa.net server is required to check his/her e-mail on the mail.pngusa.net server before we will allow that person to send mail through it.

What does this security feature do for PowerNet Global?

Many people use other mail servers in order to spam people on the Internet with e-mails that the victims did not request. PowerNet Global wants to prevent the use of our mail server for this type of solicitation. With this we can safely say we are doing our part in the World Wide Web to prevent these types of acts, and try to help out with eliminating spamming all together.

Will this prevent Spam from coming into my PNGUSA mailbox?

Unfortunately, no. The only thing that this feature does is not allow non-PNGUSA customers from using our mail servers, keeping our servers more stable, and making them work faster. PowerNet Global, along with most other ISPs, do not allow spam to be permitted through the mail servers. If someone does use the mail.pngusa.net server to "Spam" other users, their account will be terminated.

How does this Security feature effect me?

Since most people check their mail before sending you will more then likely not notice a difference. If you use the PNGUSA Webmail you also will not notice a difference. However if you compose your e-mail while you are off-line (Not connected to the Internet) then try to login and send the message you will receive a error message stating "Relay Denied." Once you try to receive your e-mail (meaning if you have some or you don't,) throughout that session (that connection to PNGUSA) you will be allowed to send e-mail with no problems. The best thing to do is Connect to PNGUSA, receive your e-mail through PNGUSA, from there you can send e-mail with no problems until you disconnect, at which time you will need to receive your e-mail again before you will be permitted to send through the PNGUSA server.

I don't use my PNGUSA account to receive e-mail, but I use the PNGUSA server to Send the e-mail, What do I need to do?

This has been brought up many times from our customers. All that is required is that your E-mail program (Outlook Express, Outlook, Eudora, Netscape Messenger, etc.) checks your e-mail before sending it. To see if your e-mail software does this, there is a simple test you can perform. Send an e-mail to a non-PNGUSA account. Most e-mail programs have a status page that shows you what is going on. Watch that, and if it receives the e-mail and then sends it you are fine. If however it tries to send the e-mail and then checks, you will get the "Relay Denied" message. In this case you can look through your e-mail client program for an option that will "check mail before sending." If however you do not have this option another thing you can do is set-up an additional account in your e-mail software for the PNGUSA e-mail, and make it the "priority" account don't make this your "default" account. Another option you can try is to upgrade your e-mail program to a newer version. The newest versions of Eudora, Pegasus Mail, and Netscape Mail do work fine with our new setup. If you are still unsure or have questions feel free to call us at 1-877-599-2295 or you can e-mail us at support@pngusa.net. Please keep in mind that we can not support every exotic mailer program out there, and our best advice may be to upgrade.