Summary
When Orange.fr experiences email delivery issues, senders often encounter temporary bounce messages like 421 Service refused, please try later. OFR_108 [108]. These indicate a temporary server overload or incident on Orange's side, often accompanied by a request from Orange to hold or gradually resume sending traffic. Such incidents can significantly impact email campaigns, leading to delays and potential reputational damage if not handled correctly. Understanding the nature of these issues and implementing appropriate response strategies is crucial for maintaining your email deliverability.
Key findings
- Incident type: Orange.fr may experience significant service incidents impacting email delivery.
- Error codes: During outages, senders often receive specific temporary bounce messages, such as the OFR_108 [108] error.
- User impact: These incidents can extend beyond email delivery, affecting consumer login access to mailboxes.
- ISP requests: Orange may explicitly ask senders to pause delivery attempts to reduce load.
- Recovery time: Outages can last longer than initial estimates, sometimes extending to the next day.
Key considerations
- Defer sending: If Orange.fr requests, or you observe 421 errors, pause or defer sending to their domains. More information on handling these issues can be found in our guide on responding to email delivery outages.
- Monitor status: Stay updated on Orange's official announcements or postmaster pages for recovery information. Orange's commitments to trust highlight their communication channels.
- Gradual resumption: Once the incident is resolved, gradually resume your sending traffic to avoid overwhelming their servers.
- Review bounce logs: Analyze bounce messages for specific error codes like OFR_108, which are detailed in our article on OFR_999 errors.
- Protect reputation: Persistent sending during an outage can negatively impact your sender reputation, leading to blocklisting or throttling.
What email marketers say
Email marketers actively engaged in discussions during Orange.fr outages, sharing real-time observations and expressing appreciation for advanced warnings. Their experiences highlighted the direct impact on email campaigns and the need for proactive communication and flexible sending strategies.
Key opinions
- Valued warnings: Marketers found early heads-up about the Orange.fr incident highly beneficial for planning and managing their campaigns.
- Customer impact: The outage affected end-users directly, with reports of consumers unable to log into their mailboxes.
- Extended issues: Some marketers noted that the issues persisted longer than initial estimates, sometimes beyond a full day.
- Direct delivery problems: Marketers experienced direct email delivery failures and slowdowns to Orange.fr domains.
- Gratitude for info: Many expressed thanks for shared information, highlighting the community's role during outages.
Key considerations
- Internal communication: Ensure your team is quickly informed of ISP outages or deliverability issues.
- Customer service prep: Prepare your customer support channels for potential inquiries about delayed emails, as delays to Orange and Wanadoo can be slow, as detailed in our guide on email delivery speeds.
- Traffic management: Implement or review your system's ability to pause and queue email traffic during incidents, which is part of a broader email deliverability test checklist.
- Bounce processing: Ensure your email sending platform correctly interprets 421 codes as temporary failures, not permanent blocks.
- Stay informed: Follow deliverability news sources that report on Orange.fr's email delivery guidelines and updates.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks states Orange.fr was experiencing a serious incident and requested senders to temporarily hold delivery attempts for several hours to alleviate server load.
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks notes that early communication about the Orange.fr incident was extremely helpful for planning.
What the experts say
Deliverability experts weighed in on Orange.fr outages, confirming the need for senders to cooperate by adjusting their traffic. Their insights covered the technical implications of such incidents and effective strategies for recovery and maintaining sender reputation.
Key opinions
- Gradual resumption: Experts advise that resuming email sending to Orange.fr should be done gradually after an outage.
- ISP requests: Acknowledging the legitimacy of an ISP's request to temporarily hold delivery is crucial.
- Protracted recovery: The resolution of major ISP incidents can be prolonged, requiring patience and sustained monitoring.
- Communication: ISPs like Orange often communicate recovery plans and guidelines for senders.
Key considerations
- Queue management: Implement advanced queue management systems to pause and resume sending efficiently during outages or when Orange.fr is throttling legitimate emails.
- Continuous monitoring: Rely on robust monitoring tools to track Orange.fr's status and your sending metrics, including troubleshooting SMTP greeting failed bounces.
- Reputation protection: Avoid repeatedly attempting delivery to a struggling ISP, as this can severely damage your sender reputation.
- Leverage postmasters: Utilize Orange's official postmaster resources, which provide an efficient abuse desk for deliverability issues.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks advises that Orange.fr indicated potential recovery during the French night but requested senders to resume traffic gradually.
Expert view
Expert from Spam Resource highlights the importance of timely abuse desk communication and proper contact methods for ISPs like Orange.fr during deliverability crises.
What the documentation says
Official documentation from ISPs and email deliverability resources provides critical technical guidelines. These documents detail requirements for authentication, content, and proper communication channels for senders to ensure their emails are delivered effectively and compliantly, especially during network incidents.
Key findings
- Authentication standards: Orange utilizes SPF for email authentication, emphasizing its importance for sender identification.
- Email size limits: Orange has a specific cap on email size, with larger emails being rejected outright.
- Complaint rates: ISPs like Orange actively monitor and tighten complaint rate thresholds.
- Abuse desks: Orange provides an efficient abuse desk and contact forms for deliverability issues.
- Phishing reports: Official channels exist for reporting suspicious activities, like email brand spoofing.
Key considerations
- Configure SPF: Ensure your Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records are correctly configured, as this is a fundamental part of email authentication.
- Optimize content: Keep email content and attachments within specified size limits to avoid rejections.
- Monitor complaints: Actively track and work to reduce your email complaint rates to comply with ISP policies, as Orange tightens email complaint rates.
- Utilize official channels: When issues arise, use Orange's provided contact forms and abuse desk for technical assistance, rather than attempting to deliver to a potential email blocklist.
Technical article
Documentation from EmailKarma outlines Orange.fr's email size limit of 45MB, advising senders that larger emails will be rejected outright, necessitating careful content optimization.
Technical article
Documentation from University of Email by Pankaj Kumar advises using Sender Policy Framework (SPF) for email authentication, stating that Orange utilizes SPF to verify the legitimacy of incoming emails.
Related resources
6 resources
Related pages
How to respond to email delivery outages at ISPs like Orange?
What causes email delays and OFR_999 errors when sending to orange.fr?
Why are emails delayed to Orange.fr and Wanadoo, and how to resolve OFR_999 errors?
Why are emails to Orange.fr failing and what can I do about it?
Why is Orange.fr throttling my legitimate emails and how can I resolve it?
Orange.fr postmaster is tightening the screws: what their august 2025 deliverability updates mean for you
A simple guide to DMARC, SPF, and DKIM
Email deliverability issues: getting your messages to the inbox in 2025
Boost email deliverability rates: technical solutions from top performing senders
How to run an email deliverability test: a proven checklist
