Mail refuses to send messages--please help

Hello all,
I am running system 10.8.2 on a newish iMac.  For the second or third time in recent months, Mail can't send any mail, although it can receive mail.  The message I get when trying to send a message is:
"The STMP connection to server "mail.optonline.net" failed.
Select a different outgoing mail server from the list below [note--all optonline.net] or click Try Later to leave the message in your Outbox until it can be sent."
I had not changed anything about my accounts when this happened--no password change, no changes to my settings.  I have restarted the computer to no avail.  I know the SMTP settings are right, because I can send mail from my older MacBook Pro on the same home network.  When this has happened before, it has resolved itself in a day or two.  This time it has been four days and counting.  I tried creating a new account, and that doesn't work either. 
Any thoughts?  Thanks in advance for your help!

The SMTP settings are pertinent to the individual computer that they are set on, not on the network.  So you could have the SMTP settings correct on your older MacBook Pro, but they coud still have changed and be wrong on your iMac.  I would double check them on your iMac.  In Mail "Preferences click on the drop down arrow at the right end of the line "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP):".  Especially note the settings in the window  resulting from clicking on "Edit the SMTP Server List",  box shown below:
Message was edited by: Radiation Mac

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