Two bug fixes in SMTP relay service

We've just deployed two fixes to the JangoSMTP transactional email service:

1. Previously, lines in an email message that begin with a single period would result in two periods when delivered to the recipient. This was a bug related to how SMTP treats the escaping of periods. This is now fixed. To read more about issues involving SMTP and periods, see this article: http://db.ilug-bom.org.in/lug-authors/philip/docs/mail-stuff/smtp-intro.html

2. Previously, if an email message was relayed to relay.jangosmtp.net and included both the Disposition-Notification-To and the Return-Receipt-To headers, then JangoSMTP would throw an error on the email message:

System.ArgumentException: An item with the same key has already been added.

This is now fixed, and email messages containing both headers will be delivered properly.

JangoMail Has Upgraded Its HTML Editor

It has been a while since the last upgrade but JangoMail has just installed the latest version of the Ephox EditLive! HTML editor. What does this mean for you? TONS of new features and bugfixes, including:

• Support for setting the language direction in both the applet and in inline editing sections
• Improved dictionaries for spell checking
• Additional support for international, non-English locales
• Fixes for several table rendering problems

See here for a list of all bugfixes and enhancements.

Transactional emails now support List-Unsubscribe header option

Back in July, we announced support for the List-Unsubscribe header in broadcast email campaigns sent via JangoMail.

Starting today, the List-Unsubscribe header will also be applied to transactional email messages. Transactional emails are email messages sent via any of the following methods:

1. The SMTP relay service
2. Any of the following API methods: SendTransactionalEmail, SendTransactionalEmailFromTemplate, SendTransactionalEmailRaw

See the original July blog post for information on how this header affects your email messages. It is our recommendation, that all clients leave this header turned on. If you wish to turn it off, you may do so under Settings --> Unsubscribe Options.

The Rendering/Inbox Preview tool is back in action

Our rendering/inbox preview tool is back in action, after a hiatus for the last month where the only client that rendered properly was GMail.

Now, four of the clients will consistently display (Gmail, Outlook, Thunderbird, and Windows Mail), and we're working on bringing AOL, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail back to life.

The reason this tool is so difficult to maintain and service is because a) We coded this feature from scratch, and Inbox Rendering is an extremely difficult process from a software development perspective, and b) Webmail clients are constantly changing, and when a change is made to its login process or its interface, we have to re-code our app to render that client all over again.

SMTP service now supports large attachments

The JangoMail SMTP relay service now supports sending large file attachments in email. Before, there was a limit of approximately 2 MB in total file attachments. Now, there is NO theoretical limit, so the SMTP service can handle file attachments as large as 10 or 20 MB. Of course, email may not be the best medium to transmit such large files, but it is possible with our system.

JangoSMTP: The Stand-Alone SMTP Service with open tracking, click tracking, DKIM signing, and more.

JangoMail: The SMTP Service combined with email broadcast service.

Review of Megabus WiFi Internet access

Running a fast-paced high tech company like JangoMail, I need to be as productive as possible. I am usually either in Chicago (where I live) or in Dayton, Ohio (where I grew up, and where JangoMail is headquartered). Normally I drive between the two cities, because non-stop flights between Chicago and Dayton are upwards of $1,000. Recently, I was told of a bus service called Megabus, which operates a bus route between Cincinnati and Chicago with WiFi Internet access, so tonight, I gave it a shot. With the WiFi, I figured taking the bus I figured would allow me to work for six hours rater than drive for six hours.

What I wanted to know

Prior to buying my ticket, I wanted to know the following about the Megabus WiFi access:

1. How fast was it? Would it be like dialup, or a T1?

2. Were there any connectivity restrictions? Could I remote into a JangoMail server and deploy a new feature? Could I use GoToMyPC to access my main workstation in Chicago?

3. Were there power outlets available? My laptop battery only lasts four hours, and my trip was six.

Googling got me nowhere, as nobody has documented in detail experiences with Megabus's WiFi, so hence the purpose of this article.

To all tech executives, sysadmins, and those that like to make their web app better while travelling between cities, this article's for you.

Network Settings

The above screenshot shows my network settings after connecting to the wireless network with SSID MEGABUS - 64184. Note that I manually put in the DNS server of 8.8.8.8 in an attempt to get around the network's web site blocking, however my attempt was futile.

The Speed

The speed various greatly depending on whether the bus is moving or stationary. While stationary, I got reasonable high-speed access. I ran this speed test which shows that I was getting near T1 speeds on the download.

Above speed was while bus was stationary at Indianapolis stop.

Above speed test was while bus was in route, half-way between Indianapolis and Chicago.

The speed between Cincinnati and Indianapolis was the slowest of all, but unfortunately I did not capture a speed test screenshot during that portion of the trip.

Port Blocking

All connectivity, except to ports 80 and 443, and DNS lookups, are blocked:

1. I could not ping any of our servers.
2. I could not FTP to our server.
3. I could not connect on port 25 to any mail servers.
4. I could not Remote Desktop into any servers.
5. I could not use GoToMyPC to connect to my workstation.

Web Site Blocking

Additionally, the WiFi service uses OpenDNS to block many web sites. While I was able to read and respond to email via GMail, and browse Facebook, the following sites were blocked:

1. MySpace
2. Google Docs (at docs.google.com), which was odd, because most other Google services were available
3. Nerve

Because it was an OpenDNS based block, I suspected that switching to Google's new public DNS server (8.8.8.8) might be a workaround to the blocking. I manually set my Windows TCP/IP settings to use 8.8.8.8 as its DNS server rather than the one dynamically assigned by DHCP, but to no avail. The sites were still blocked, redirecting me to an OpenDNS message.

The WiFi service is provided by a company called Saucon, and it is free.

Power Outlets on Megabus

There were no power outlets on my bus from Cincinnati to Chicago, but I've read (insert link) that some buses do have outlets.

Resources

For the official Megabus Saucon WiFi Terms of Use, that you must agree to right when you connect, is here: http://www.saucontds.com/us/index.html

Wikipedia entry on Megabus - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megabus

Megabus Home page - http://www.megabus.com, which oddly enough when I just visited, gave me:

Shocking that the site goes offline EVERY DAY for 3 hours. In our world of real-time, mission-critical everything, I'm surprised that they would sacrifice 12.5% of the time they could be selling tickets. JangoMail, which I'd imagine is a far more complex app than Megabus's web site, has maintenance running on the back-end almost constantly, and we rarely go offline.

Test Out Our New Survey Tool

We just launched the first ever Silverlight-based Survey Design Tool. You can now design and publish email survey invites through the JangoMail interface and view your survey results for each individual participant.

Set Up Instructions
1. The Survey feature is part of our new no-frames interface. Because both are in beta, you must set your system to use the no-frames interface. Click on Switch to No-Frames in the upper right-hand corner.

2. Click on the new Surveys tab. If you don't have Microsoft's Silverlight Platform installed, you will be prompted to install it at this time. Survey recipients see the survey on a regular webpage and will not need to download Silverlight.

3. Click the Create a New Survey button to get started. Then choose the Blank survey option.

4. To create a new question, click in the box under Create a new item.

Edit the question and answer points by deleting the text that is currently there and typing in your own.

To use a pre-defined set of answers, click the down arrow next to your answer set.

To add space for short text answers and comment sections, click on the down arrow in the box under Create a new item. Then click on the type of answer you would like.

5. When you are done creating your survey, click the Save button.

6. To make the survey available for people to respond, you must publish it. Click on the Publish tab and then click Publish Survey. Here you will get a link that you can send to people to fill out your survey.

7. Set your survey to end by navigating to the Close tab and entering in when the survey should close. You can choose to end it immediately, on a certain date, or after a given number of responses.

Send the Survey

1. To send out your survey, go to the Send Email tab and begin creating an email as you normally would.

2. On the Send Email page, you will see a new link for adding a Survey Link. Click on that link and find the link for the Survey that you would like to add.

3. Copy and paste the link into your email.

4. Send your email as you normally would and wait for results to come in.

View Results

View Recipient-Level Results by clicking on My Surveys in the Surveys section. Click on the Results button next to the survey that you would like to view results for.

We will soon add results in our Reporting and Analytics section as well.