Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 24

Thread: ThunderNews throttling?

  1. #1
    Poster
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    15
    Anybody have an account with ThunderNews and find the speeds to be low? It seems each download thread is limited to about 8kbps...

    edit: I'm on their $5 special plan
    Last edited by yuit; 04-24-2012 at 05:44 AM.

  2. Newsgroups   -   #2
    newsgroupie
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    1,037
    The Thundernews $5 plan is notorious for throttling and canceling accounts of heavy users -- all while the company denies everything. There have been lengthy discussions about this on other forums such as Slyckdeals, whirlpool.net.au, NZBmatrix, and others, so I'd suggest checking there for stories of other victims like yourself. (as I remember from reading those horror-stories, throttling was just the first step. If you continue to download too much, they will cancel your account, keep your money for your unused time, and even refuse to email you back.)

    Thundernews and Newsdemon (both owned by the same person) have a long history of screwing over their heavy-use customers, with complaints going back years. The only reason (in my opinion) why they have so many review sites recommending them is because they pay high commissions.

  3. Newsgroups   -   #3
    Poster
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    15
    Thanks for the info.

    Looks like I'll have to change providers. Any recommendations?

  4. Newsgroups   -   #4
    newsgroupie
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    1,037
    It really depends on what your needs and priorities are. If it's mainly an ultra-low price you're after, there's frugalusenet.com ($6/month or $60/year) from the same owner of Blocknews and UsenetNow -- someone who is liked by most everyone for his honest dealing as well as helpful personal service. (kind of the exact opposite of what you've been getting at Thundernews) Swintec hangs out on DSLreports.com, which is semi-down right now.

    Please read this:
    Code:
    http://slickdeals.net/f/2418757-Unlimited-Usenet-5-00-For-Lifetime-Thundernews
    http://slickdeals.net/f/4149036-5-Unlimited-Usenet-Thundernews
    Last edited by zot; 04-24-2012 at 07:40 AM. Reason: inc. better link

  5. Newsgroups   -   #5
    Poster
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    201
    It should be criminal what they do but it is just more of the same from stupid ass highwinds sellers and they get away with it because customers let them. They go crazy over "unlimited" usenet for 5 bucks where for another dollar or two they can get actual unlimited usenet without bs.

    For what it is worth...I am on usenet just about every day so frugal usenets price and retention work great for me.

  6. Newsgroups   -   #6
    newsgroupie
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    1,037
    @hdjunky - what kind of retention do you now get at FrugalUsenet? I understand it's MUCH higher than the listed 300 days.

    As much as I dislike a lot of things about Highwinds, to be fair to them, I don't think that Highwinds itself has anything to do with any Highwinds reseller's throttling of users (unless of course their reseller policies might tend to encourage this behavior in some way). In my opinion, anyone who wants to get an unlimited account that feeds from Highwinds backend (not that I'm actually recommending this!) would probably be better off to buy it directly from Highwinds itself, as with (Highwinds' owned) UNS and Newshosting's $10 unlimited account 'specials' (and even put a few dollars in nntpjunkie's pocket in the process)

    I agree that what Newsdemon/Thundernews do should be illegal. I'm not against throttling (in fact I think it's a fair policy if openly stated) but I'm disgusted with the company's continuous lies and denials about throttling users. This causes a lot of users to waste their time, and the time of their ISP's tech support, trying to figure out why they are getting such slow speed.

    It's nothing short of false advertising, perhaps even theft since they are selling monthly unlimited service and don't give refunds for unused time when they step in and pull the plug.

    I know that a lot of light users (or those who pay full price) might have no complaints with Newsdemon/Thundernews service, but I would never want to do business with any company that selectively cheats people -- even if I felt that I personally was getting an excellent deal.

  7. Newsgroups   -   #7
    Poster
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    15
    FrugalUsenet looks good, but I need more retention for now. What's really annoying is that I haven't really used ThunderNews for the past 6 months..... and now I'm capped. Agree with zot. If you're going to cap, at least be upfront about it.

    edit: Astraweb looks good so far. Any experiences with them?
    Last edited by yuit; 04-24-2012 at 11:33 PM.

  8. Newsgroups   -   #8
    mjmacky's Avatar an alchemist?
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    day book
    Posts
    10,854
    Quote Originally Posted by zot View Post
    I agree that what Newsdemon/Thundernews do should be illegal.

    It's nothing short of false advertising, perhaps even theft since they are selling monthly unlimited service and don't give refunds for unused time when they step in and pull the plug.
    On the other side of that, most newsgroup users wouldn't want too much legal attention brought to this area.

    Quote Originally Posted by yuit View Post
    edit: Astraweb looks good so far. Any experiences with them?
    The only service I'd ever recommend personally. Fair prices, excellent retention and speeds, few takedowns. As long as you have both EU SSL servers and US SSL servers set up in your client, you'll get around any of their random connectivity glitches (maybe not so random, Sunday nights I think).
    Last edited by mjmacky; 04-25-2012 at 01:17 AM. Reason: Automerged Doublepost
    Everything is brought to you by Fjohürs Lykkewe.

  9. Newsgroups   -   #9
    I am also a major fan of Astraweb, its who my local ISP use for their newsgroups. I can pretty much download what ever the retention is great.
    Regards

  10. Newsgroups   -   #10
    Poster
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    201
    Quote Originally Posted by zot View Post
    @hdjunky - what kind of retention do you now get at FrugalUsenet? I understand it's MUCH higher than the listed 300 days.
    Well I don't like to point it out for fear of it being fixed but I will just say it is exceeding my expectations.

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •