How do I use the telnet command?

If you can telnet to your mail server, you know that you can make a connection to it ? so the port that you connect to your mail server with is not being blocked (by firewall or antivirus software, for instance).

To telnet if you have Windows XP or earlier, go to your Start Menu ? Run ? then type in ?cmd? and click on ?Ok?.

This should bring up a black box on your screen, called the command prompt, where you can type in basic commands ? such as the telnet.

To telnet to your mail server, type in the following:

telnet yourmailserverhere portnumber

And press return.  So, for NuBlue customers, you can telnet the incoming mail server using:

telnet mail.nublue.co.uk 110

And your outgoing using:

telnet mail.nublue.co.uk 25

You can replace mail.nublue.co.uk with mail.yourdomainname.extension.

If you get a message that says:

+OK Hello there (when you are checking the incoming port) or 220 galangal.nublue.co.uk ESMTP (when you are checking the outgoing port) ? you know that you have connected successfully.

If you don?t get the messages above, at all, if nothing seems to happen for a while ? then you can?t connect through that port.  Something is blocking it.  This is a very handy method for checking if you are having incoming or outgoing mail issues due to software (usually antivirus or firewall) blocking your mail port(s).  Try disabling your antivirus (make sure it is disabled ? some programs, i.e. Norton, don?t always close down when you ask them to) or your firewall and telnet again.  If it is successful, you know where the issue lies.