What about selfhosting a mail server at home in Finland? (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by Alfredolin@sopuli.xyz to c/finland@sopuli.xyz

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I know, many advise against it. But it does not matter, I just want to try, not (yet) host my important e-mails.

So it seems that by default port 25 is blocked by the internet service provider(s?). So I asked my provider to open it, and they answered that as per traficom rule, port 25 is reserved for the ISP and the ISP only, not to be used by private consumers.

The customer service could only give me this link, which does not explain why this port or the others are blocked. I also lack the technical background to understand this decision.

Can someone explain to me? And are there ways around it without using a VPS? What is/are an association for the defense of digital rights here, that would have content in English?

Thank You!

edit: typo

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[-] ananas@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 months ago

In the early days of internet, when people could host mail servers with their residential connections, there were plenty of people who did not understand how to secure their SMTP server.

That meant, even without those people realising it, their self-hosted mail servers were used as relays for spamming. That's why residential IPs SMTP ports are blocked AFAIK.

I'm not sure even digital rights associations (EFFI in Finland) oppose this. If you want to self-host your mail, you pretty much need static IP address with good reputation anyways to get anything delivered.

this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026

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