Chris Purser on "[Plugin: WP Mail SMTP] GMAIL "SMTP Error: Could not authenticate""

Hi - Yeah - haha - I did read about it. I still couldn't figure out it's purpose. It sends emails. But I have mailchimp that does that for marketing and gmail for interactions and that's all I send - except for those few that send from my website. And the SMTP issues I have ARE from sending emails from my website, which my host forbids via smtp for some stupid reason. And unfortunately, changing any time soon is out of the question.
If I could see a way through Mandrill to send the way I'd like, but their website is very glyphic. How would I get around the host - and still send emails 'from' my domain? It doesn't say anything like that. And also says get a developer before starting. haha
Any way - this plugin doens't work for me at all. I had to dump it and the (purchased) scheduling plugin that relied on stopping the goofy 'from' address: wordpress@mydomain.com - this after hours of fighting with it - and my host. Good luck. :)