nb.sympatico.ca email servers, SPF and DMARC

nb.sympatico.ca publishes a single MX host, mx.bellaliant.net. With no backup host, a sender that can't reach it queues the message and retries until the server answers or the queue gives up.

The record on 5 November 2026 was v=spf1 mx include:spf.bellaliant.net -all.

In plain terms, it delegates to spf.bellaliant.net. The top level uses 2 DNS-querying terms; SPF allows 10 in total including nested includes (RFC 7208 §4.6.4).

It ends in a hard fail (-all): receivers may reject mail from any server the record does not list.

The record is v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; sp=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]; ri=86400; fo=1.

p=quarantine asks receivers to send failing mail to spam. Subdomains get sp=none.

Aggregate reports go to bell.net, so the domain's owner sees who sends mail as @nb.sympatico.ca.

What that means for you: if a contact gives an @nb.sympatico.ca address and you send to them, nothing changes. But never put an @nb.sympatico.ca address in the From line of mail sent through your own tool or ESP. It can't pass DMARC for nb.sympatico.ca, and this policy tells receivers to junk it.

Our checker treats @nb.sympatico.ca like any domain: syntax, MX, disposable and role checks first, then a made-up address to rule out a catch-all, then your address at RCPT TO, disconnecting without sending. We have not published a test of how mx.bellaliant.net answers for @nb.sympatico.ca, so we make no claim here about whether single mailboxes can be confirmed; each result carries its own reason.

DNS tells you where mail goes, not whether one person's mailbox still exists. For a list, run the whole file through a verifier before you send: invalid rows come out, risky rows (catch-all, unknown, refused) go in their own segment, and valid rows are safe to mail.