Email Access in Mexico

A while ago, we published a blog article about accessing the Internet using WiFi in Mexico.  Since then Mexico’s dominant telco, Telmex, which runs the majority of WiFi hotspots in Mexico, has shut down access to Port 25 — the port most commonly used for sending email when you are using an email client like Outlook, Windows Mail, Thunderbird or Entourage.  This means that when you attempt to use your email over WiFi in Mexico, you might find that you can receive messages (which arrive on Port 110), but any messages in your outbox just stay there.

If you access your email via Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, et al, using a web browser (instead of a mail client), you won’t be affected by this issue.

A lot of Internet companies world-wide are ’shutting down’ Port 25 access, as most “spam” programs use this port to send junk mail.  If you live in Mexico, and use Telmex’s service at home, you can apply to have the block on Port 25 removed.  However, if you are just visiting and using WiFi hotspots which have Port 25 blocked, there is no work-around.

If you find you cannot send email from your email program, you have two options:

If your email account is accessible via a web-page in addition to being accessible through an email client, you may use the web-browser access to send email.  This is, however, inconvenient if all of your email is usually managed via your email client, with messages stored locally on your computer.

The second option, is to ask the company which provides your email hosting service to open an alternative Port on the mail server so that you can send email through that, instead.  For example, instead of Port 25, it could be Port 125 (or whatever).  Then, you simply go into the advanced settings of your email client, and replace “25″ with whatever alternative number your email service provider gives you.

If you use Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, et al, and use a mail client to access your email account using these service providers, then the change of port option will not be viable, as these service providers will not open a new port for you. You’ll have to use a web browser to send your email instead.

If you travel to Mexico on business, you may want to ask your company’s IT manager about providing an alternative Port number for your use of the company email.

You can learn more about Internet, email, telephones and communications generally on the Mexperience guide to Communications in Mexico, part of our Travel Essentials section.