Using your own SMTP server, advantages and drawbacks

When sending e-mail you have the choice between using your ISP, your web host or your own dedicated SMTP server (An SMTP server is a mailserver that you use to send email. It stores your messages and ensures that your messages are either delivered or returned to you with a failure message).

Your ISP usually will provide an SMTP mail server but most ISPs will not want you to send bulk email through their mailservers.  Many have restrictions on the number of messages you can send per hour.

Your web host should provide you with a dedicated SMTP server. Particularly if you are a business and you have a legitimate need to communicate with your customers, then your web host should provide SMTP server service as well.They may also have sending limitations, but they are likely much less restricted than an ISP mailserver.

Of course MaxBulk Mailer works with all kind of mail servers, including yours, and offers ways to send your message to big lists fulfilling all those delivery requirements. However if you run a business or you simply need to send lots of messages fast through a reliable hassle free service, the best option is to get a real bulk email account.

Your own dedicated SMTP server is also an option. You will need to make sure that your IP address is not on any listings of dialup or dynamically allocated IP addresses (Residential IP) and make sure the IP address you are using is registered to a domain name preferably with an MX record.

Note that MaxBulk Mailer has no SMTP server built-in because nowadays it no longer works well with most big ISPs. Some of them like AOL will bounce your messages as soon as they detect they have been sent from a residential IP, an IP that belongs to a range of IPs for DSL/Dialup connections, including static IPs, or that IP has no reverse DNS (PTR) or no domain assigned to it. Following our tests, using your own SMTP server or an application with a built-in server will cause between 20 and 30% additional bounces. The question is, can you accept that up to 30% of your customers will never get your messages?

In addition some ISPs like Hotmail and MSN are also using Greylisting. In short, greylisting is a method where a piece of email being relayed by a mailservers is initially deferred. This means that it is not accepted upon the first attempt, rather, the sending mailserver is told to relay it again at a later time. With standard mailserver configurations, such as those generally maintained by your ISP and free email service provider, the email will be re-sent at a later time, usually anywhere from 5-20 minutes. Bulk mailing software with built-in server however generally don't operate like standard mailservers, and usually won't relay their email again at a later time.

MaxBulk Mailer key advantage is that it fully respects and follows the SMTP protocol. MaxBulk Mailer is a conventional email client using the standard email delivery system. As a result the delivery bounce rate is extremely low.