PHPMailer: Using remote SMTP server, works under localhost, Connection refused (111) on remote server

Question

I've got a bizarre problem here. I'm trying to use PHPMailer to send an email, through SMTP. I have a website hosted by GoDaddy and it's that SMTP account that I'm trying to use to send the mail.

1. It works if I execute my PHP file on my localhost server.
2. It does not work if I execute my PHP file on GoDaddy's server.

The error message I get is:

SMTP -> ERROR: Failed to connect to server: Connection refused (111)

I checked phpinfo on both localhost and the remote server. Both have smtp_port listed as 25. I'm using WAMP on my machine and the server is some form of Linux (which I know nothing about and have no idea how to administer).

Here is the code in question:

INDEX.PHP:

<?php
date_default_timezone_set('America/Los_Angeles');
include_once("phpmailer/class.phpmailer.php");

$mail = new PHPMailer;
$mail->SMTPDebug = 1;
$mail->Port = 25;

$mail->IsSMTP();
$mail->Host = 'smtpout.secureserver.net';
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;
$mail->Username = 'username@site.com';
$mail->Password = 'super_secret_password';
$mail->SMTPSecure = ''; // tried ssl and tls, with same result

$mail->ClearAddresses();
$mail->AddAddress('receiver@hotmail.com', 'Receiver Name');
$mail->From = "username@site.com";
$mail->FromName = "Username";
$mail->Subject = 'Hi there';
$mail->Body = "This is a message";

if ($mail->Send()) {
    echo "Message sent!\n";
}
else {
    echo "Message failed!\n";
    print_r($mail->ErrorInfo);
}

exit();
?>

Answer 1

I think you should perform two step 1) check your port as suggested on godaddy support http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/319/what-do-i-do-if-i-have-trouble-connecting-to-my-email-account 2)use "relay-hosting.secureserver.net" as your host instead of "smtpout.secureserver.net"

GoDaddy does allow to send emails using Gmail as your SMTP, just need to get rid of the smtp.gmail.com and use their Host instead. This is my setup:

$mail = new PHPMailer();
$mail->isSMTP();
$mail->Host = "relay-hosting.secureserver.net";
$mail->Username = "your-account@gmail.com";
$mail->Password = "yourpassword";
// ...
// send from, send to, body, etc...

Reference (see first two posts) http://support.godaddy.com/groups/web-hosting/forum/topic/phpmailer-with-godaddy-smtp-email-server-script-working/

Answer 2

If your hosting has own email server, the server will use the following ports 25,465,587. Settings for GoDaddy:

$mail->isSMTP(); 
$mail->Host = localhost; 
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;
$mail->Username = 'example@gmail.com';
$mail->Password = 'password';

//$mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls'; 
//$mail->Port = 587;

For other providers you have to create a mailbox with your domain:

$mail->isSMTP(); 
$mail->Host = localhost; 
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;
$mail->Username = 'example@yourdomain.com';
$mail->Password = 'password';

//$mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls'; 
//$mail->Port = 587;