Forums are abuzz with Hotmail users unable to send e-mails from their accounts. What miffs users more is that they are unable to find a direct contact at Microsoft to report the problem.

An excerpt from iTwire:

According to a consultant who contacted iTWire, the Hotmail issue is affecting a number of business customers significantly.

“One of my customers in the recruitment industry has this problem and job applicants use hotmail rather than their employers email to ensure privacy. Obviously it is hitting their business significantly,” the consultant said.

The technet forum has posts from several users who were unable to send e-mails but had no problem receiving them. It’s interesting that the link to Hotmail’s postmaster page or the troubleshooting page mentions no direct contact e-mail address.

The diagnostic messages seen by users resemble the following:

Reporting-MTA: dns;bay0-omc2-s36.bay0.hotmail.com

Received-From-MTA: dns;BAY116-W19


Arrival-Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 08:46:32 -0800

Action: failed

Status: 5.5.0

Diagnostic-Code: smtp;554 Transaction Failed (650058837:169:-2147467259)

The problem seemed to have surfaced after the Thanksgiving holidays. While some users were later able to send e-mails, most users still face the issue.

Are you experiencing problems with your Hotmail account?