Just last month I had someone complain about their email (I host their site).
They were having problems downloading mail on their old computer.
"It works fine on the other computer, and I don't have a problem with my Earthlink email. But my old computer doesn't download into Outlook Express, so if Earthlink works, then it's your server that is the problem."
When I suggest that the problem is that people are sending him 5mb files to his email (but not to earthlink address), and that his DIAL-UP just can't handle large attachments, he says:
Come on, Brian. My '98 has been receiving all kinds of messages over the last 10 years with very, very few problems. This is a recent phenomenon. The fact that I am receiving the same e-mails over and over again has something to do with your server. I've checked with Earthlink, and their server is clean, and shows no backed-up email traffic for my account. However, if you feel that your server cannot handle my e-mails any more, for whatever reason, I will respect that, and deal directly with Earthlink in the future.
Forget about the large files. Even after you had deleted the 2 files blocking the flow of messages your server kept sending the same e-mails over and over again, while Earthlink had no messages on their server. So, once you fix your problem, everything will be ok.
P.S.: At this time I see no benefit by switching to a high speed connection.
The '98 he refers to is his Windows 98! This email was from Feb 2010.
I had tried to explain that email habits have changed a lot in a decade, and that people don't think before sending large attachments. And perhaps the high speed connection might only cost $10 more a month.
Crazy stuff.