Jump to content

Outlook not letting me send big emails


Recommended Posts

I have a really strange thing going on here. I'm sure I have in the past sent mails bigger than 4MB in size to my family and other people, but I don't seem to be able to now. It seems to do the sending thing, but the mail doesn't leave my outbox and doesn't in fact go.

 

I'm using Outlook 2003.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on what might be happening and how to take off the apparent limit I have. It doesn't seem to be sending mails bigger than 1MB, can't be sure of the exact number.

 

Thank you!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Many ISPs are cracking down - most are imposing a 1 MB limit on email attachments. Email is not supposed to be used for large file transfers anyway - better to use Skype or ICQ or go to a service like yousendit.com

Link to post
Share on other sites
 Quote:
Email is not supposed to be used for large file transfers anyway


That sounds strange to me. When did this start happening anyway? You would think the opposite to be true, we have been used to being able to send 5 photos in an email the size of 3MB but now we can't?

And, which ISPs still let you send large emails?
Link to post
Share on other sites

I use OCN and don't seem to have any problems sending mails. 5MB is hardly huge and who decided that "email is not supposed to be used for large file transfers" and a number for a limit?

 

:confused:

Link to post
Share on other sites

Well here goes...

 

In the beginning, email was originally designed for ascii text only - "attachments" had to be sent via FTP (File Transport Protocol) and you needed a separate application for this.

 

In recent years (like the last 10), email applications began to allow attachments as a convenience, converting the files to ascii text. Email attachments still have to be encoded by your ISP to travel as email and the larger the attachment, the more work a server has to do to to convert the files.

 

There have always been size issues with attachments enforced by each ISP (Internet Service Provider - like OCN, GOL, Comcast etc). Email normally passes through many servers on its way to its intended receiver and if a server somewhere has an attachment limit set below the size of your attachment it will not go through no matter what your own ISP's limitation is. Many ISPs are now reducing the attachment size limits as their servers become clogged from the encoding and scanning of a growing number of large attachments.

 

The further a message has to travel, the more servers it will pass through and the less likely it is to make it through if it has a large attachment. So you may be able to send a large - say 30 MB - attachment to a friend from one side of Japan to the other but you may not be able to send a 5 MB file to a friend in Brazil. And you may find that sometimes it works and sometimes it does not depending on the route the email follows - something that you cannot control with email.

 

Now that single file sizes are so big (one digital photo can be over 5MB) and ISPs are getting more aggressive trying to reduce spam and viruses etc, sending large files via email is becoming both a hassle for email admins to deal with and more expensive for ISPs. So ISPs are imposing restrictions on attachments passing through their servers - often without letting their users know.

 

(Most global ISPs have to pay for their actual bandwidth use - Japan is an exception as internet access is usually charged by the size of the connection, not the amount of data that passes through it. That is why larger attachments sent via email within Japan have a better chance of getting through - maybe).

 

So - if you insist on sending large files via email, be prepared for them not to make it and consider yourself lucky if they do. If you need to send large files reliably, say for business use outside of Japan, use FTP (slow, tricky to set up but reliable), or the file transfer feature in Skype (its fast and reliable) or ICQ or an online service like pando.com or yousendit.com. Or if both sender and receiver use Gmail via the web interface, your attachments will likely be OK as they remain in a closed system.

 

I hope this helps explain - and it wasn't me that made up these rules!

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

it seems crazy that ISPs are clamping down only now.

 

At work, some cowboys were sending 30+ megs of video to their friends all over the place. They were traced and fired on the spot, not so much for the size but the content.

 

We now have a cap of 10meg and a warning of your email may or may not be monitored, your choice.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Why strange? There have always been limits on attachments, file sizes are getting bigger, spam and virus scanning has increased greatly over the last year (its estimated that 80% of email traffic is spam) and the result is clogged email servers. Limiting attachment sizes reduces the problem and saves most ISPs money. They have not done this all at once but individual ISPs are doing this on their own accord and often do not inform customers.

 

Correction to my post above - Gmail now limits attachments to 10MB and states that files grater than 6MB may not send due to the encoding overhead. This is a recent change as I used to send large files via Gmail. I have been using Skype for sending files lately because its faster. (http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=8770)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Strange probably to many people, maybe especially so with those who are not tech heads, because we are used to getting "more, faster & cheaper" with technology things, not less and restrictions. Just a guess.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Email technology is old, is pushing its limits and was not designed to transport large files - the more, faster, cheaper answer is to use new services designed to transfer large files - Skype file transfer is much better suited and you can video chat with friends and family while sending them your kid's 'First Turns at Hakuba' video you just made...and its free...

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the explanation fjef. I hadn't thought about it at all.

 

Like mina2 says, probably most people haven't and find it odd that they suddenly have limits when they are getting used to sending photos by email etc.

 

People will start thinking that their computer or software is broken.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks folks. Interesting. I can't remember hearing anything like this before so I suppose that might be it. Though miller you use OCN - so do I.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Just for fun, I sent a message to support at ATT Jens Spinnet, the ISP I use in Japan, asking what the attachment limit is for email as it is not indicated on their web site. Here is their answer:

 

"We do not put a limit on the attachment size sent from the account.

However, it depends on various factors such as the capacity of the

recipients' servers, the speed of the Internet connection, and so on.

Therefore, generally speaking, it is advised to make the size of the

attachments about 1MB or less."

 

So even if your ISP has no limits, it important to understand that there are a lot of limitations out there which you or your ISP have no control over...

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 3 months later...
×
×
  • Create New...