Bypass phpmail or sendmail

from the support rep;

The WP sites are using phpmail or sendmail functionality. Even when SMTP method is selected, the server functions are used and they use the built in mechanisms for SMTP communication.

From another story to;

Indeed, the WP SMTP functionality allows you to change the SMTP server for the outgoing emails, however the IP address the outgoing SMTP connection is originated from cannot be changed on our shared servers.

While I understand, you can’t answer questions regarding how they have their network setup. Why are these requests not coming from the IP address my website is hosted on? Shouldn’t they? That’s where wp_mail, class_phpmailer are located after all.

Hi aglyons,

I apologize as I’m not completely sure whether I’m understanding your questions correctly. But I’ll do my best — and please just let me know if I’ve misunderstood your question/s ??

By default, WordPress will use the PHP mail() function. This sends out emails from your site’s server. However, it’s not uncommon for this standard function to run into issues. Most commonly:

– The server might not be properly configured to use this function.
– Recipient email providers might be either blocking your emails or sending them to spam because they aren’t authenticated in this approach.

When you set up a service like WP Mail SMTP, you’re switching away from the PHP mail() function to use SMTP/an API to send authenticated emails instead.

I hope this helps! Please let me know if this answers your question ??

H iJess,

Thanks for getting back to me.

Here’s an attempt to clarify my question. This isn’t specifically a config question about WP SMTP but rather my attempt to determine if my hosting company is trying to brush my request off and, in the end, rip me off selling me a dedicated IP that is more vanity than anything else.

Let’s say the servers shared IP address is 123.456.789.123. I paid extra to have a dedicated IP address for my account. Let’s say that that IP is 456.789.123.456.

I’ve configured WP SMTP to connect to my GSuite server via simple authenticated SMTP. As an extra security layer, I’ve only allowed my dedicated server IP address (456.789.123.456) to connect. BUT, it fails because the IP address that actually Tries to connect to GSuite’s SMTP server is 123.456.789.123 which is the shared IP address of the server.

I was trying to determine if the SMTP connection SHOULD be coming from the dedicated IP I paid for rather than the shared IP.

The hosting support people were trying to tell me that the SMTP requests will go out the shared IP which doesn’t make sense to me. If WP SMTP is making a direct connection, the IP address should be the private address I paid for.

I hope that clears up the issue. I think I understand that WP SMTP connects directly and there is no purpose for the dedicated IP address I paid my hosting for.

Hi @aglyons,

Regarding hosting company trying to upsell you a dedicate IP – yes and no:
1) Yes – because they want you to spend more money with them, obviously
2) No – because the 1st and most likely the 2nd tier support just don’t understand some mail delivery specifics.

Jess above was correct about default PHP mail() function, that uses shared server sendmail functionality to send emails. Only in this case a dedicated IP address for your site will have any effect and might a bit improve email deliverability (but not guaranteed, as there are also factors, like the volume of emails, cold/warm/hot IP address etc).

If you are using WP Mail SMTP plugin (and not the other “WP SMTP” plugin, in that case, you might consider asking for support from them) this case is marked in plugin settings as a “Default mailer”, and you are actively asked via admin area notices to change it and set up some other mailer. Default mailer means no advantage of using a plugin is applied to you, as all emails are sent from the same server where your WordPress site is installed, which is a shared server between lots of various (perhaps spammy) sites. Only in this case dedicated IP address for your site might help a bit for emails deliverability.

When you change the mailer to Gmail, Mailgun, SendGrid – all your emails are sent not from your site, but from the servers of those mailers. Your server securely connects to those 3rd servers (which are dedicated to send emails in huge volumes and actually deliver them) and pass them the whole email you want to send, and those servers (which are located elsewhere in the world and were set up correctly and have own special IP addresses and not related to your site) are actually sending all the emails.
This approach greatly improves email deliverability and reduces chances to be blocked and marked automatically as spam.

Other SMTP mailer is a bit different because it greatly relies on the actual SMTP server you are connecting to and sending emails from. That server should be configured properly, and have a pool of IP addresses it uses to send emails from, and those IP addresses should not be blocked as spammy. Sometimes they are ok (like with smtp.gmail.com) but sometimes not, also this approach is considerably slower than using API-based Gm, MG, SG mailers.

Using a dedicated IP address for your site will have absolutely NO effect on your emails deliverability if you are using any mailer except Default.