Frequently Asked Questions

1. Local Network

   If you are using a mail client from within our department network, you can set the outgoing mail server to

   • Outgoing mail server: mailhost.math.ubc.ca
   • Protocol and port: SMTP (no encryption), port 25.

2. Remote Network

   If you are using a mail client from outside our network (for example, from a residential DSL or another University), you have several options:

   1. Use our webmail facility instead.

   2. Use your ISP's (or local network's) mail server. Most ISPs will provide a mail server for their clients to use as their outgoing mail server. Indeed, some ISP will force their client to use it by blocking all other outbound mail connections in an effort to combat spam and mail worms.

   3. Use our authenticated mail service. If you have a MathNet user account, then you can set your outgoing mail setting to these values:

      • Outgoing mail server: mailhost.math.ubc.ca
      • Protocol and port: one of either
        • SMTP/SSL: port 465
        • SMTP/TLS: port 587
      • User and password: your MathNet username and password. If a choice of authentication method is offered, LOGIN or PLAIN will work.

      You may also be asked whether to accept our digital certificate. Accept (and store) the certificate for later use. You can also our download our mail server's public certificate from our certificate FAQ and install it.

      Using our authenticated mail server is desirable under several circumstances:

      • You frequently change ISPs: Using our mail server will relieve you of the tiresome bother of changing your mail setting everytime you relocate.
      • Information about the local mail service is unknown.
      • You want to send out mail as @math.ubc.ca without problems. Some mail recipients will refuse mail purportedly coming from @math.ubc.ca if it does not come from our mail server.
      • You don't like the outbound Email policy of your ISP but they force you to use their mail server by blocking outbound SMTP (port 25) ports. Our authenticated SMTP ports use ports 465 or 587 and they are less likely to be blocked.
      • Privacy of mail is essential: since the mail traffic to these alternate ports are encrypted, the entire mail transaction is resistant to tampering or snooping.

      There is a nice web page for setting up popular remote mail clients using IMAP/SSL/TLS, POP3/SSL/TLS and authenticated SMTP, provided by the folks at UBC ITServices. It has step by step instructions complete with pictures. You can follow the same instruction substituting their settings with ours:

      http://www.it.ubc.ca/email/ubcemail/setupdocs.html