Yes, this is super annoying.

I keep getting SMTP errors like: 334 VXNlcm5hbWU6 UGFzc3dvcmQ6 Authentication unsuccessful [BL1PR13CA0304.namprd13.prod.outlook.com 2026-01-22T20:59:23.476Z 08DE59C2EA6C3D25]

and: '550 (x.x) [x.x.x.x]:xxxx is currently not permitted to relay through this server. Perhaps you have not logged into the pop/imap server in the last 30 minutes or do not have SMTP Authentication turned on in your email client.'

See also:

https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=46725075

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46724812

https://www.reddit.com/r/msp/comments/1qk45c0/microsoft_serv...

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1qk3tg7/microsoft...

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1qk518l/email_ser...

At least they've updated a public site like https://status.cloud.microsoft so I can show this to all my clients who are calling (most of them can't login to the admin portal, which is down anyway). Let's all just go to the bar!

I’m endlessly frustrated with the Microslop experience over the last 12 months.

What are my alternatives? We utilize the entire 365 suite and it feels daunting to migrate everything to individual services.