Backpacker Solves Travel Email Headache

Christchurch, New Zealand — For many travelers, the need to be able to email people, make cheap phone calls, and connect to the Web, has meant that a laptop has become an essential item to take on any trip. However, many travelers have discovered there is a problem with using an email client, such as Outlook Express, on a laptop - they can still receive, but can no longer send email.

Charles Abrahamson, a former backpacker and computer science graduate from New Zealand, discovered this while vacationing in Argentina recently. "Within the first day, I discovered that none of the Internet cafes or hotels I tried connecting through would allow any of my emails to be sent". A few days of research later, after discovering the problem was in fact worldwide, he decided to create an SMTP service designed specifically to get around the usual problems that travelers experience, called SMTP2Go.

"The main reason why travelers have such difficulty sending emails is in fact because the server they were given by their ISP to send emails (their SMTP server) is normally designed by their ISP to only work when they are actually connected to the Internet at home. This is actually done on purpose by ISPs in order to prevent spammers from taking advantage of the server".

Another reason why sending emails is so difficult is the fact that increasing numbers of Internet cafes and hotels are banning the traditional port - port number 25 - that is used to send emails. "SMTP2Go was designed to be open on multiple ports, and to work from any location, while only allowing legitimate users and rejecting any attempts to send spam or unsolicited bulk email".

Charles spent the next 4 months traveling through Chile, Costa Rica, and even Cuba, with no problems sending email: "SMTP2Go has been great, not only for me, but for hundreds of other travelers who are now using it from all 4 corners of the globe - we have travelers using it in Australia, South Africa, Canada, India, Norway, Switzerland and of course the UK and the USA". In fact, most subscribers are from the USA, either traveling within their own country, or simply tired with the unreliability of their normal SMTP server.

SMTP2Go's SMTP service is available at smtp2go.com at 'backpacker' rates ($2 per month for the most popular plan).