I was working in a job running the campus email system some years ago when I got a call from the chairman of the statistics department.
“We're having a problem sending email out of the department.”
“What's the problem?” I asked.
“We can't send mail more than 500 miles,” the chairman explained.
I choked on my latte. “Come again?”
“We can't send mail farther than 500 miles from here,” he repeated. “A little bit more, actually. Call it 520 miles. But no farther.” …
“Okay, let me take a look, and I'll call you back,” I said, scarcely believing that I was playing along. It wasn't April Fool's Day. I tried to remember if someone owed me a practical joke.
Via MrBarrett.com [1], The case of the 500-mile email [2]
I can't say that I've had a problem this wierd to track down, but I can sympathize with the fellow—email just shouldn't fail due to geographical distances. Hops, yes, but miles?
No way.
But actually, way. Turns out to be a problem dealing with geographical distance, oddly enough.
[1] http://www.mrbarrett.com/mt/archives/2002_12_09.html#000514