diff --git a/server/notify.py b/server/notify.py
index d28edc0..f2cf8d6 100644
--- a/server/notify.py
+++ b/server/notify.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ number and a deep link, not the work-package contents.
 """
 import os
 import smtplib
+import socket
 import uuid
 import logging
 from email.message import EmailMessage
@@ -107,7 +108,13 @@ def send_email(s: dict, to_addr: str, subject: str, body: str) -> None:
     port = int(s.get("smtp_port") or 587)
     user = s.get("smtp_username") or ""
     pw = os.getenv("SMTP_PASSWORD", "")
-    with smtplib.SMTP(host, port, timeout=15) as srv:
+    # local_hostname pins the EHLO name. Without it smtplib calls getfqdn() on
+    # EVERY connect, and that reverse-DNS lookup stalls ~5s per send whenever DNS
+    # is slow or unreachable - sends are sequential background tasks, so a batch
+    # of notifications trickled out one per five seconds. gethostname() never
+    # touches the network. Found 2026-08-20 when the office link dropped.
+    with smtplib.SMTP(host, port, timeout=15,
+                      local_hostname=(socket.gethostname() or "wp-suite")) as srv:
         if s.get("smtp_use_tls", True):
             srv.starttls()
         if user: