Have been emailing both Tanisha (for Lamanai tour) and Searious (for Bacala Chico snorkel tour) for a week and have yet to get a response. Confirmed emails for both, too. Cannot call (my cell phone service for some reason won't allow) and short of buying aphone card, I am trying to post my issue on several travel forums. We are 2 couples going to stay in a fab house (18 degrees latitude) north of San Pedro from Feb 9-16. We will go on some little side trips with the caretake of the property, but looking into the 2 trips indicated above. Has anyone else had trouble reaching Tanisha or Searious? My research shows the 2 trips above are being recommended - using Tanisha and Searious. Thanks loads.

Don't worry about it. It is a ways off and if they don't answer your emails, you can book those trips when you arrive. Even if you reserved these tours for a certain day, they won't guarantee the tour unless they have a certain # of people.

Do you have a COMCAST e-mail account? It appears that IP addresses in Belize are being blocked by COMCAST (I have confirmed this with COMCAST) and reply e-mails from Belize are not getting through.

Businesses experiencing this problem can go to http://www.spamhaus.org/lookup.lasso to check if their IP address is being blocked.

Hi Tina

I sent you a PM. Have a great trip!

Penny

Simon-
You have just opened my eyes to why my E-mails are returning,my cable company was recently aquired by COMCAST

i have comcast.net and i have emailed people there. SIN gets my emails as does cloisters. is this a newer problem...what gives?

I only started experiencing the problem in December. The problem seems to be only if your IP address has been associated with a spambot virus. As BTL uses dynamic IP addressing you can end up with an IP address that someone else was using who may have had a spambot on their system. I've checked my system fully and have no issues with any kind of virus so that's the only explanation I can think of. You can request removal from the blacklist database and within a few minutes Spamhuas will try and infiltrate your system, if they can't you come off the blacklist.

It's also only sending TO COMCAST addresses. I had been receiving e-mails from clients asking why I hadn't confirmed their orders (when I had repeatedly.) That was when I did the research and found out the problem.

Simon, your explanation sounds plausible, as the Belize connection (I am not in BZ) was the only reason I could figure out as to why comcast users wouldn't receive my email, even though I could get theirs.

SJ - you may want to check to make sure others who have emailed you aren't waiting for a response (because you didn't get the message).

I had to use a different email address (on the same computer) to get through to comcast users, who requested through Comcast to allow me through. Email to them seems to work ok now.

Scuba - former Insight users in Spfld are not happy with the change either

I know one ISP in Britain (AOL) that a couple of years ago had a block on ALL mail from Belize. After I complained it took maybe a week before it was resolved satisfactorily - but it was.

You have to understand that spam accounts for an enormous proportion of the load on major servers worldwide. Until they find some way of either preventing it being sent or intercepting it en route I can understand why they want to block IPs that they know produce a lot of it. I read somewhere that most spam (>85%) is produced by about 6 people, mostly in or associated with Russia.

My theory is half right. BTL does use dynamic IP but only within their own network. We all go through routers at BTL before going into the "real" world. That means that we all have the same IP address as far as the spam tracking companies are concerned. It also means that if one computer in Belize has a spambot it can trigger a blacklist for the router and therefore every computer on that router.

I have had the same problem with friends with Comcast. I contacted Comcast and they weren't particularly helpful. Apparently there are a whole host of problems with Comcast's aggressive anti spam programme. Hopefully their customers will make a big enough stink that things will improve. Just google 'comcast email blocking' and you'll find a whole bunch of links to various disgruntled websites.

Looks like Verizon is blocking e-mails from Belize as well.

This may the same or similar problem I have a client that goes to the SPAM folder every time. the Yahoo account I use sees her as Spam.
makes me wonder what triggers an Email as Spam, she's in the publishing business and not selling any of the pest products.

Typically, SPAM can be triggered if the email is unintended and you can change that from her by associating her email as an address you accept.

As for Comcast, we see issues from comcast addresses from time to time here also. I'm not sure what they do, or intend to do, but they seem to operate differently than many other ISPs and it might not be the BTL routers fault at all. I know our issues with Comcast turned out to be something only they could change.

I'm replying to clients that I've dealt with frequently and all of a sudden they're not receiving reply e-mails, they've checked spam folders so that isn't the issue. Through SPAMHAUS, Comcast has blacklisted the BTL IP address any other providers using SPAMHAUS will also be blacklisting e-mails coming through BTL.

This only applies if you are using an e-mail program (Outlook, Eudora, etc.). If you send through an online account there is no issue.

Are you sure about that last point, Simon? A couple of years ago in England I couldn't receive any .btl emails even though I checked on the web.

Confirmed by myself and another BTL user to work (yahoo, hotmail, gmail.)

Thats even stranger that you (simon) are being blocked to reply emails. I was under the impression that BTL was not allowing some comcast addresses in, but this implies that BTL addresses are either not being routed out, they are being dropped by comcast or whomever.

Since emails from yahoo, gmail, etc go through, it implies something more like a comcast issue. We had problems with comcast earlier this year in that those users could not get to our website, while everyone else in the world could... turned out to be a router config somewhere within comcast intranet structure.

To clarify, I am in Belize, people can send me e-mails but when I reply they do not get to the original sender. BTL is not blocking incoming, internet providers are blocking BTL outgoing.

I went to Comcast and made an inquiry, they indicated that the e-mails were being blacklisted by SPAMHAUS. I contacted SPAMHAUS, input my IP (which is the same adress as the BTL router) and it showed as being blacklisted. I followed their instructions for removal from the blacklist and it came off but is now back on.

Hope that clears everything up.

Simon you are light years ahead of most of us in understanding how this all works - I kinda understand what you said - but mostly what I get from this is like the timeshare guys --- see a good plce to do business (AC beach, Internet) use it to death and screw it up for everybody including your-own-self.

I have Hughes and I find some days I can send and others I cannot - it's like the server has mood-swings. Any ideas on that ?

Sun spots and moisture content of vegetation (don't know why that is but when I was setting one up I was told to be aware of that) around the dish. Download is affected by both of those as well but not as much as upload. Make sure all the line of site vegetation around your dish is well cut back.

diane, when you say you have hughes....are you talking about hughes satalite service? i did not realize that was available on the island.

on a seperate note and open to all here, has anyone done any video chatting? i am a bit of a mac nerd and i have the i chat feature. im wondering if you can obtain a speed and enough broad band to i chat from ac.

fish

On Hughes net you are only allowed to download/upload 175 MB of info in a 24 hour period. If you excced that, they slow you down to a crawl for the next 24 hours. It is called FAP fair access policy I can tell you how to check your account to see if this is the problem. And yes both Hughesnet and Starband are available in Belize.

If you are on Hughesnet go to this site:

http://192.168.0.1/

that will give you information on your system. There you can tell if you are having transmit or recieve problems. If you click on the upper right hand button, system info, it will give you your site ID. Then you can go to this site:

http://customercare.myhughesnet.com/frm_usage.cfm

Put your site ID in and you can then check your upload and download consumption for the current and previous month. The only way around the limit is there is unlimited downloadin allowed between 3 AM and 6 AM eastern time. So if you need to schedule a big download, program your computer to start during those hours and it does not count against your daily FAP.

Would like to follow up on this, if anyone has a comcast account can they send me an e-mail at orders@lagniappe-belize.com and see if they get a response back from me on Saturday.

Cheers,

Simon...

Got one! Waiting to see if they get the reponse. Thanks.

i sent you one too. if it's any help, i sent and received emails from Tanisha the week b4 last. they had said it took them a while to respond due to their dsl probs, but said it is working now.

Thanks for the laugh! Just responded.

Simon, we live in the Caye Management building (the popcorn searchers) and are having the same problem, still and from back in Dec. Our clients are not getting our replies. I checked the SpamHaus and the IPs that are listed on my wireless don't come up, but still have the problem from clients in South Africa and East Coast US (Comcast). Any ideas?

I sent an e-mail to a comcast customer yesterday and they received it so it looks like it's working for now. If you go to http://www.speedtest.net/index.php it will show your IP as the rest of the world sees it (probably 200.32.196.56).

Looks like it's down again, can't reply to a client. Looks like I'm going to have to cough up for anonymizer software.

simon - i hadn't read this till now - but was gonna tell you i never received your reply.

you are welcome to use my email addy for test purposes. good luck.

I wish BTL would realize what kind of impact this is potentially having on business across the country. Nothing like e-mailing a property or business and getting no response. If it was me trying to book and I didn't get a response I'd go elsewhere.

Just as an FYI to anyone who has a COMCAST account trying to reach businesses in Belize and who haven't heard back. Try setting up a Hotmail or Yahoo account for your enquiries or call/fax your enquiries.

BTL uses static IP addresses, as does Coral, so that IP is probably allocated solely to you. I have one that never changes for me.

I've been having trouble using my VPN software lately, so I suspect that BTL are messing around again...

"BTL uses static IP addresses, as does Coral, so that IP is probably allocated solely to you. I have one that never changes for me." Check a bit more carefully, BTL is set up like a small office network. BTL also uses DHCP. The IP you see on your computer is not the one the oustide world sees.

Are you on Coral Cable? Your IP shows as 200.32.229.200

Yes, i'm on coral.

You're one of the admins i guess, so you see the IP addresses of the posters, of course...

The Yahoo/Hotmail idea still may not work for you Simon. I believe if you look at the routing on a hotmail message, it still indicates the source IPas yours so your problem would not go away.

klc, yahoo and hotmail aren't blocking only comcast. If you're talking about sending through Hotmail or Yahoo from Belize to comcast, the problem is the same unless you use an anonymizer.

See also: http://www.comcastblacklist.com/

Anyone in Belize can go to this site to see if they're blacklisted.

http://whatismyipaddress.com/staticpages/index.php/is-my-ip-address-blacklisted

To Becky Harris (I can't respond by e-mail), from what I can tell you should be able to read your comcast e-mails online here in Belize but you may not be able to respond. From what I have read in various articles comcast is also blocking some of their clients outbound e-mails from blacklisted servers.

Changing Title of Existing Thread

Thanks Simon. Maybe I'll get a yahoo email account for the trip.
Becky

Simon - that was exactly my point.

simon - i sent you an email on my g-mail account this morning - just to see what happens. did ya get it?

I got it and replied. S...

Lessons of the day:

- Using MS Outlook or Outlook Express is generally easier and more convenient when you are at home (especially using a provider's email domain ie @comcast.net) Using these methods generally means you are connecting to a provider's mail server using POP3/IMAP for incoming and SMTP for outgoing.

- When you travel, this can become problematic for multiple reasons. 1) you are browsing from a blacklisted network (like large portions of BTL) 2) the ISP you are using does not allow you to send mail using a SMTP server outside of their network.

- Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail accounts are known as "web mail" services. You check them using a browser (like Firefox). They do NOT use any of the above nutty protocols - and are generally allowed at any computer in the world on any ISP.

- Gmail can even manage the email from multiple accounts (as can Yahoo). You can configure your webmail to check your comcast or BTL mail and read it from any computer in the world. Gmail can also TOTALLY manage your own custom domain like me@myownpersonalcrazydomain.com.

- BTL uses what is called a "NAT Pool" - Simon is correct that if you haven't specifically asked for anything otherwise - you are a BTL internet access customer in their pool - the internet sees hundreds of users as the same IP address. Spam filters only need to see one PC infecting and they shut down the address - affecting all of the users in the pool.

Bottom line is fighting spam (aka security) is making our lives harder. Using a webmail account can help resolve 95% of the issues. I love gmail - manage 5 different addresses using one screen. Outlook (and OE) are generally very buggy/sluggish and attached to a particular PC - PCs gets lost and your email is lost forever. Don't rely on a single PC, don't get blocked by spam filters - go to webmail.

So the solution, for those who wish to remain PC based (due to poor performance (and I just upgraded to 256)), is for BTL to purchase a larger block of IP adresses and allocate those adresses to every user?

I have a Yahoo Small Business account and I still experience problems responding even when I go online to make replies. I'm not sure that an online account is the solution. I don't know enough to know if online accounts hold headers that identify the source as coming from Belize.

simon - i got your reply on g-mail - but if you sent one earlier to my comcast addy, i never got it. just an fyi update.

Thanks for the update, I figured there were no problems with gmail. I did respond to the comcast e-mail, the big issue is that there's no notification on this end that the e-mail didn't go through it just disappears.

Simon, the header may be the problem. I had problems receiving email in my Comcast account from a Yahoo address that was associated with another island. The same person working from the same computer could get a message to me using her AOL account which she said was not associated with the island but with the US.

  Marty,
how is this a "sticky" topic?

    Dan

 

Because it potentially affects many visitors to Belize who are contacting resorts, tour operators and service providers without getting a response back. Hopefully this thread will let them know that they're not being ignored and that businesses are trying to respond. It also suggests the option of using a non-comcast account to send e-mails to Belize.

Potentially this is costing millions in lost business. Between myself and another individual there was a potential loss in the $20K range, multiply that by the number of businesses and it adds up.

Actually I tried to change the name of the thread to "Important Notice for Comcast Users" but the name reverted back to the old one.

I've got Comcast and was able to send to hotel, but wasn't getting a response, which I finally did after using a different email address. This thread was very helpful in helping me understand the issue as I thought it was me.

A possible solution: I have been complaining as a Comcast customer who is not getting his emails. Today I was contacted by the Comcast national abuse team. They said that anyone in Belize having this problem (not sure how you are supposed to know)can call Comcast to fix it. The number to call is 856-317-7272 between 8:30AM and midnight eastern time Monday through Friday or 10AM to 7:00PM weekends. They asked me to send the information to people I know who are experiencing the problem. They said an alternative to calling is to submit the form available