Can 2 ISPs share O/E?

[mrshovelhands]

I think I've posted this in the right area, but here we go anyway.

Can anyone help with a little problem that my brother has with his system? He is running Win XP and has two seperate ISPs set up on his system. They are both running with no problems as far as browsing goes, but only the one ISP's Email facility is working correctly (sending and receiving mail).

The second ISP's Email goes off looking for the pop server but never finds it. I will speak to him later to find out what (if any) message comes up when it fails. Is this because of a fault with running two ISP's (both use Outlook Express), or is it more likely to be something to do with Win XP not being flexible? Ay suggestions will be more than welcome.

I will try to clarify the situation when I speak to him later, and will post back with any new details.

Thanks a lot,

Graham

[david eaton]

Just an idea, but look in OE<>Tools<>Accounts<> properties<> connections, and check if the box "always connect using" is ticked, and the right ISP details added.
Theoretically, you should be able to receive messages from either ISP over one account, but only send messages when directly connected to the server. Some ISPs may block their mailservers from connections from elsewhere though.

David

[Paul Komski]

You are likely to be able to prevent such "blocking" by setting up two mail accounts in OE. Use the same pop3 server settings in both but use the smtp settings for each individual ISP's mail server in the two accounts. Then just send using the mail account for the ISP that you are connected through. Both will usually collect mail but will often not send except through the smtp server used by that particular ISP.

If there are multiple eMail addies then all will probably need duplication in this manner.

You can probably think of things a bit like this. A pop3 server being the letter box for your house and the smtp server being the posting box at the post office where the mails are franked; but with multiple postal services which require that you only post mails with their "stamps" on them and only placed into their posting boxes.

[mrshovelhands]

Thanks for your advice gents. I will pass it on to my brother and see how he gets on with it.

Thanks again.

Graham