re: 5MB e-mail size limit...

[tkraffty]

Hi - I've forgotten - is the e-mail size limit now 5MB or 10MB?

This is an older thread which moved around into other topics which I can't seem to find... Can someone tell me what the final configuration was?

Thanks

10MB message size


I tried to send a 7MBzip the other day that wouldn't gothrough becuase its encoding put it just over 10MB... Kinda silly but thats what happens.

[tkraffty]

OK - that's what I thought.. Oh - by "encoding", do you mean HTML vs. text message formats? Or the amount of header information added by router/anti-spam programs?

[Silverbug]

when you attach something to an email it is mime encoded, which makes the attached files take up more room than they actually are. (if that makes sence)

[generic]

I have a new client looking for email hosting only and he asked what the max attachment size was so I told him 10mb. My bad, I will recontact him after reading Matts 7mb failure. Guess I will have to create a few email attachments in various sizes 5mb-10mb to test it out.

[Brangwyn]

Why not make the limit 14Mb or so then ? Then at least we could say 10Mb to customers with a degree of confidence that they're likely to be able to send that much, most don't understand when I say the mail encoding accounted for 2+mb of the message and thats why it wouldn't send. Yes I could tell them 7Mb is the limit but thats such an odd number, would be nice if we could say 10Mb and know theres enough headroom for the encoding of such a sized attachement also.

Well, that's the logic that led us to quietly up it to 10MB... you have to draw the line somewhere or people will want it to be 14 tomorrow, 20 next week and before you know it you have architects and interior designers pushing 100 me{ga|bi}byte chunks of creativity through a groaning mail system again. Sound familiar?

[Brangwyn]

I recall the logic was we complained that 5Mb was too low and it was set at 10Mb .. I'd just like a "true" 10Mb (from a customers perspective, they don't really care diddly about overheads associated with encoding)

[MEELAN]

Originally Posted by Brangwyn

I recall the logic was we complained that 5Mb was too low and it was set at 10Mb .. I'd just like a "true" 10Mb (from a customers perspective, they don't really care diddly about overheads associated with encoding)

I think it is fair to back the Brangwyn asrgument.
But, on the other hand, I don't like to create another "never-ending-thread" where people will keep on asking for more!
Thats the human nature, after all :-)

[jetzkr8]

I had got stuck the last time sending Illustrator files EPS which bumped the 5Mb limit, would appreciate the higher limits for those special times. However I agree that this level of email attachment should not be the norm as performance issues will definitely crop up.

Is it possible to allow reseller control over this resource, then we can selectively enable for genuine custtomers who really need the big size while defaulting to maximum of 5Mb for all other accounts, or something like that? This would be great.

[nelsonke]

My vote in support of Brangwyn's suggestion. Explaining the "approximately 7 meg limit" is a pain.

By the way, in my own experience, today's architects and engineers ftp most of their big files as they are aware that most email systems have attached file limits. Architect firms and blueprint duplicating firms routinely have ftp sites.

In my own experience it is graphic deisigners who most typically send large attachments. (don't know if that helps or hurts my case).

A real "10 meg limit" would be a logical limit and a real help for the occaisional need to send a big file.

fyi, 3 years ago I had a hosting service who was willing to increase just my mail box to a 10 meg attachment limit. I occaisionally needed it to send large powerpoint files to clients. Of course they charge $20 a month to host 1 domain + email.

[Craig_Smith]

Lately I have been on a quest to help resellers setup sub-FTP for their clients on unix servers. This is really easy in H-SPhere. I have had complaints pertaining to ISP attachment limits of 5 MB which is even lower than our current limit. The 3 people I've been able to "convert" have reported very happy end-users once they were shown how to login via FTP either with a program or through IE.

This works especially well for designers or architects who regularly need to send/receive large files. They also like the fact that they can go back anytime and get these files via FTP.

Setting up small (20-50MB) FTP sites can also be a value-added service you guys can sell your clients. Showing someone how to use FTP is not nearly as bad as you would think, I even got my Mom doing it now with her very large pictures...and if she can do it anyone can.

[jmbeach]

to quote a famous poet...

"Craig's mom's got it goin' on" - with FTP, that is

I personally prefer to teach those who need it how to either use FTP, or in the case of those who are serious newbies, I just have a simple upload page where they can upload till the cows come home - after they upload, I get email notification so that I can go grab their file(s).

I'd rather not have to download large emails - besides I think my Inbox/Sent and various other client mail folders are well over a gig, and I'm not sure at which point my mail client is going to explode...

Just an FYI, 10MB message size will stay... There is no size that I could increase it to to ensure that a "true" 10MB file will go through... You could send a 10MB TEXT message through with no problems, a zip file might encode at 110% or 190%, depending on its compression rate, etc. Other file types encode differently. There is no way to get an actual conversion of 7MB to 10MB, etc. since its different for all files. I was just making an example that the 7MB file I tried failed... an 8MB BMP would probably work though.

[logic404]

Originally Posted by Craig_Smith

Lately I have been on a quest to help resellers setup sub-FTP for their clients on unix servers. This is really easy in H-SPhere.

I am so sure I have seen numerous posts stating that it's just not possible in H-Sphere to have sub-FTP accounts for Windows, but you can only in Unix.

Therefore, can I respectfully suggest that what's right for one is not right for all - Windows clients can't use FTP to bounce files around like that, unless we want to start giving out our "root" FTP info to all and sundry.

(btw, I don't really have an opinion on the 10MB limit - I think it's fine, and I can't see it affecting me, but I can see how others might get distressed over it).