What's so bad about Highwinds?

[Cabalo]

I've seen a lot of people badmouthing their service, and I'm curious to know what are the major recurrent issues they present to their users.

A couple of days ago I signed with thundernews, which IIRC is a highwinds reseller, and so far I haven't any complaints.

So, spit it all out.

[hdjunky]

They suck. Newsdemon which owns thundernews tends to cap people when they hit a certain amount of gbs downloaded. Completion blows on old stuff. They are cocky pricks of a company too.

[Radon0r]

I signed up with Thundernews as well and I like it so far. However, ages ago I was with Newshosting, and when they merged with Highwinds the service quality did take a hit iirc. It was a long time ago so I'm hoping they have their act together now. I think the people complaining about Highwinds have gripes from the past rather than gripes about their current service, but I could be wrong.

About the download caps...I don't think I download enough to hit any caps. I would be very upset it I did hit some hidden cap and started to have my connection throttled. So I hope that isn't the case.

[Cabalo]

What caps are we talking about? Around 300Gb ?

[hdjunky]

What caps are we talking about? Around 300Gb ?

I think people have said like 200 - 300 GB with newsdemon and considering they own thundernews it is prolly the same. I wonder if it is way lower though on the 5 buck plan. Someone with the accunt and a fast line should do a test. Run up 500 gigs or even a TB as a test and see what happens.

Also some people say cmpletion on the old stuff sucks really bad.

[tesco]

What caps are we talking about? Around 300Gb ?

I think people have said like 200 - 300 GB with newsdemon and considering they own thundernews it is prolly the same. I wonder if it is way lower though on the 5 buck plan. Someone with the accunt and a fast line should do a test. Run up 500 gigs or even a TB as a test and see what happens.

Also some people say cmpletion on the old stuff sucks really bad.

So highwinds/thundernews and newsdemon are all the same servers?
In that case, I agree with the others, because I have a newsdemon account and a giganews account, the newsdemon has sever completion issues.
I also used to (2 years ago) have a lot of connection issues with newsdemon as well, can't say how their service is nowadays though.
The same files that I could not download from newsdemon (and we're talking sometimes only 300 days old, they claim to have 700 days) I could download from giganews without issues...

[nntpjunkie]

What caps are we talking about? Around 300Gb ?

I think people have said like 200 - 300 GB with newsdemon and considering they own thundernews it is prolly the same. I wonder if it is way lower though on the 5 buck plan. Someone with the accunt and a fast line should do a test. Run up 500 gigs or even a TB as a test and see what happens.

Also some people say cmpletion on the old stuff sucks really bad.

I am using usenetserver which is on Highwinds network and the retention is excellent as well as the speed - I just downloaded several 697 day old files across multiple groups without any completion issue any missing parts were repairable - the top end of their retention is as advertised. For the price usenetserver has proven to be a favorite for me. Also download caps do not exist at usenetserver - newsdemon is a reseller they are not highwinds, newsdemon is responsible for the capping not Highwinds. Rather than speculating about services that use Highwinds and talking about what used to be back in the day, try talking about what is and that is that usenetserver is cheap and reliable as hell, $10, 700 days...done. Service is excellent.

[hdjunky]

try talking about what is and that is that usenetserver is cheap and reliable as hell, $10, 700 days...done. Service is excellent.

My bad, I will talk like it is, Usenetserver only has one server (US) and only has 700 days retention for 10 bucks. No deal in my book...plus highwinds dreaded DMCA crap. No thanks!

[nntpjunkie]

try talking about what is and that is that usenetserver is cheap and reliable as hell, $10, 700 days...done. Service is excellent.

My bad, I will talk like it is, Usenetserver only has one server (US) and only has 700 days retention for 10 bucks. No deal in my book...plus highwinds dreaded DMCA crap. No thanks!

Usenetserver does have one server farm that is true, but the network is solid that's what counts. By your educated statement of "DMCA crap", I assume you mean the DMCA takedown of articles - check the boards Giganews suffers from the most takedowns and whats more all providers are required to comply with the DMCA, if they do not, they are breaking the law. This is no secret to anyone who understands usenet.

Rather than argue based on an uninformed opinion, I suggest you actually try the service before you blast it - then you may have actual credibility as a contributor to FST.

[Monaco]

Technically, if they don't comply with a properly filed DMCA request, they simply cannot rely on any safe harbor protections for service providers and may be subject to liability.