[thelist] ISP beauracracy (was DNS update - web is fine, mail goes to the old server)

[Hershel Robinson]

> after a few days of head banging, double checking and phone calls to
support, it
> seems like there is a very BIG difference in DNS updating frequency among
ISPs,
> even in the same country. Messages sent through my ADSL ISP - the former
> Italian telco monopolist and the biggest one in the country - still keep
vanishing. No
> error messages and no delivery, not even to the old server.
>
> Messages sent through two different ISPs get received by the new server,
no
> problem. Messages sent via web through my own host in the US - which also
> hosted the terminated account - still go to the old server, which is quite
> understandable.
>
> Bottom line: better plan a host change well in advance and keep checking
both
> servers for at least 10 days.

I recently moved a site from one host to another.  I contacted the old host
and told them we were ready to discontinue hosting and DNS servers were
updated and they stopped hosting.  I checked the site and I came up with
nothing!  I called the client immediately and he checked and he said
everything was fine, he was looking at the site right then and there.

After a few phone calls, I figured out that the entire world was enjoying
the new site from the new host, but clients of my ISP were not.  It appears
that the old host uses certain services from my ISP and this ISP told me
that they would not update their DNS until they themselves received a fax
signed by the registered owner of the site and they confirm that there are
no unpaid bills associated with the name.

In the end, the client, who works for the registered owner, told me to go
ahead and forge the fax so as not to bother the owner who lives across the
world.

Hershel