jordanlund , 5 months ago

To expand on that analogy… certain services need entry into the building and then from there, they get distributed throughout the building.

Water comes in on the water line.
Electricity comes in on the electric wire.
Internet may come in on coaxial or fiber.
Gas comes in on the natural gas pipeline.

Your computer has ports to deal with basic tasks. These are called “well known port numbers”.

geeksforgeeks.org/50-common-ports-you-should-know…

So while, in theory, you COULD get email in on a non-email port, that wouldn’t be expected and would be like feeding water through a natural gas line.