new mailserver cannot send to mx{1,2,3,4}.earthlink.net

I've put quite some time into this.

Summary:

1) New mail server ("red") with a leased IP from an upstream provider. The
DNS is correct to my understanding, which while not guru level is competent
(I manage bind deployments for a couple of enterprises). Will provide
details if necessary but see following.

2) I've thoroughly searched block lists and the IP address doesn't appear on
any of them.

3) The new server can receive mail from anywhere AFAICT (many different
tested, all ok).

4) It can send mail to anywhere AFAICT (many tested), EXCEPT to
earthlink.net; it fails on a 'connection timeout'.

5) I can ping (and traceroute, etc) the earthlink mail server(s) from host
'red' no prob (all these things hold true for any and all earthlink
mailservers):

[ccy@red ~]$ ping -c 1 mx3.earthlink.net
PING mx3.earthlink.net (209.86.93.228) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from mx3.earthlink.net (209.86.93.228): icmp_seq=1 ttl=247
time=28.7 ms

--- mx3.earthlink.net ping statistics ---
1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 28.737/28.737/28.737/0.000 ms
[ccy@red ~]$

6) The mail timeout is confirmed by the fact that when I try to troubleshoot
via telnet to port 25 on any earthlink mailserver, I cannot connect:

[ccy@red ~]$ telnet mx3.earthlink.net 25
Trying 209.86.93.228...
<wait... wait... wait... ^C>
[ccy@red ~]$

7) I can happily telnet to earthlink mailservers from other hosts I manage
(on different networks), eg:

[ccy@pica ~]$ telnet mx3.earthlink.net 25
Trying 209.86.93.228...
Connected to mx3.earthlink.net (209.86.93.228).
Escape character is '^]'.
220 mx-austrian.atl.sa.earthlink.net EL_4_2_10_GMA_31 ESMTP EarthLink SMTP
Server Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:48:55 -0500 (EST)
quit
221 mx-austrian.atl.sa.earthlink.net closing connection
Connection closed by foreign host.
[ccy@pica ~]$

<...>

It appears I'm being blocked at their firewall.

Any ideas on how to get this mailserver connecting to earthlink?

TIA
cy
.

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