PHP mail function with AOL IDs on Linux

PHP mail function

[jeephp]

Hello Friends,

We are using PHP and MySQL technologies in site running on Linux.

We are using PHP mail function to send emails to our site users on different occasion unfortunately we found that mail could not delivered on AOL IDs so all our site users who has AOL email ID are not able to receive any email those we have sent through PHP mail function.

Expecting some assistance to get this resolved

Regards,
Paresh Kharsan

[hakre]

Since PHP Mail function follows the defined standards and it is known that AOL does not, it seems to me you should block users with an AOL mail addy to solve the problem first. Then you should have a talk with AOL about the problem.

[stajer]

If you would rather allow 25% of US internet users to use your site, I recommend you solve this problem instead of blocking AOL users.

You need to find out why AOL users are not getting the emails. You should setup an AOL account yourself and try signing up. Does the email get routed to your AOL spam folder?

Check your sites email address inbox - are the AOL emails getting sent back to you? If so, there is probably an smtp code in the message, like 5.5.0 or 5.5.3. That will tell you why the messages are not getting through.

[barns101]

You need a valid reverse DNS PTR record for your domain name otherwise AOL will block all of your emails without even bouncing them to let you know. :(

Your server administrator or ISP will be able to set this up (possibly for a fee). However, if you're on a shared host like me, forget it.

[hakre]

if such a setup of the DNS is a solution and your host does not provide such, just need to think about not using phps' mail() function but another SMTP server to send out your emails. there are libraries available (for example phpmailer [phpmailer.sourceforge.net] or pear mail package [pear.php.net]).