Outlook, messages being sent by wrong account

I use a laptop to send & receive mail via Outlook 2003 but the following problem also happened with previous versions.

My ISPs are 1) NTLWorld (Broadband cable modem) from home, 2) Plusnet (Broadband adsl) from another location and sometimes 3) btinternet adsl broadband from my daughter's home.

Of course I needed to set up separate accounts for each so that the correct smtp server is located for outgoing mail.

However when I move locations and change the default account in Outlook I still get mail coming in which, default to the wrong smtp server when I reply. Therefore I get a 'system administrator' returned mail notification that relaying is not allowed.

The only way to avoid this is to remember to look at which account will be used to send the reply and change it to the one for the location I have moved to. After a few days Outlook realises that I have moved and starts to behave as it should.

Example; my brother just now sent me a fresh email (not a reply to one of mine). I received it at my NTLWorld location, having returned here from my Plusnet location a few hours ago. When I replied to him the reply defaulted to my Plusnet smtp server and failed.

 

No real idea why the system is taking so long to realize you've changed your default but it may pay more attention if you go into tools~email accounts, highlight the one you want as default, and use the Move button to put it at the top.

Outlook is supposed to reorder the list for you when you change default accounts but it may not be doing so for some reason. The top account is treated as the default.

 

Actually Outlook does that.