Best pay-by-download provider?

[Oddish]

I hate the X GB per month deals since I don't download regularly. Sometimes I don't download via Usenet for a month. So... what's the best "pay-by-download" deal you guys have seen? Who's cheapest and doesn't totally suck? I'm using Astraweb right now and I can get 90 GB for $25 (usually it's 60 GB for $25). Anyone know a better deal?

[RealitY]

NewsDemon has 50GB for $15 and its reliable service.
You can also support FST with our refferal link...
http://www.newsdemon.com/?aflid=2273/

[lavep]

well I think ever if you don't download regularly, it's beter to get unlim account (it's only $15 a month with powerusenet or newshosting) one month you don't download anything next month you'll want to get all Friend's seasons. who knows. News providers aren't very expensive this days.

[erRor67]

Not sure of a pay per download provider, however you can check out easynews.

They have "roll over gig" meaning any unused gigs from the current month gets moved to next month. So if you used 5 out of 20 gigs on month, the 15 you didnt use goes to the next month (giving you 35 gigs). That way, if you download a little one month, you can download a shit load the next.

More info: http://faq.easynews.com/#30

And they even support encryption and thats always a good thing (few providers support encryption)

EDIT: Oh, theres usenet-news which does "block downloads" meaning you pay per gig. I think thats what you want. If you live in Europe you can use their encryption. If you live elsewhere, encryption isnt supported.

Oh, and I never tried either providers so I dont know how good they are. Just make sure to check out their other features (retention, max # of connections etc)

[gbilly72]

NewsDemon is not a PAYG provider; they charge monthly for that 50 GB.

Astraweb is PAYG and has been pretty reliable to me. No expiration.

[Windy72]

http://usenet-news.net/index1.php?url=home

Worth a look 0.30 USD per Gig if you buy 300 Gig. Headers not counted towards the gig bank. Retention not bad about 80 days.

[Beck38]

Usenet servers and services continue to evolve; few providers offer much in the way of 'block' accounts anymore, partially because the reliability/retention of most operations, coupled with low-priced 'unlimited' accounts, mean that the old 'nessesity' of maintaining a secondary server account to 'backfill' parts is mainly unnessesary, unless of course you are counting on ISP provided news-servers, or have some sort of capped account provided, again, with your ISP.

Or, you simply have a poor server; but those mentioned are almost the ONLY block account providers left these days, in particular usenet-news and Astraweb. I still have some Gigs left at an account at Astraweb, left over from before I switched to Giganews, and left the 'attempting to fill' days behind. But most large providers have excellent retention.

The best pricing, in doing a quick look-through, is Usenet-News, as low as 30cents/Gig. There are a few folks using 'Cingular' pricing, i.e., 'roll-over' plans that take your limited Bytes monthly accounts and 'roll-over' the unused bits. But in quickly scanning those deals, the bits DO eventually expire, just like the minutes on Cingular Cellphone plans. So, sounds good up front but watch the fine print.

What's interesting is the number of server plants that seem to be in co-location facilities under the 'Highwinds' company. (i.e., do a tracert to their servers). A large number of them seem to be located in Phoenix, AZ.