This is an update to the previously reported email delay problems (previously 46314). A copy of the last announcement can be seen here:-
http://usertools.plus.net/status/archive/1192207592.htm

Since the last Service Status posting we have received some scattered reports of delayed email, however these have been much less frequent when compared to recent weeks and our monitoring also suggests that the platform has been performing more efficiently.

The delays we have seen can be attributed to occasions during the day when our email platform intermittently refuses to accept new connections. This normally occurs when the platform is busy, and can result in short delays when a sending host tries handing email over to our servers.

Our investigations into the above problem suggest that some of the mail server time-outs could be related to DNS. In order to help resolve these problems we will be scheduling a period of planned maintenance to change the configuration of a time-out option that determines how long a connecting server waits for a response before trying the next DNS server in the list. Further details regarding this work will be announced shortly.

In addition to the above, we will also be making some significant changes to our anti-spam platform that will relieve much of the load caused by these DNS look-ups from our mail delivery servers. Further details regarding this work will also follow shortly.

The ACL rules to block email from hosts without an rDNS entry remain disabled and email from hosts with missing rDNS entries is still being delivered to customers' mailboxes.

Feedback from customers who are still experiencing delays in the arrival of their email is welcomed over on our Community Site discussion forums, and will help us determine the success of the planned works that are scheduled to resolve these ongoing problems:
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,1760.90.html

Kind Regards,

Bob Pullen
Customer Support