Which Usenet provider do you use, and how happy are you with it?

[KultNavn]

Personally I use Newshosting, and I very happy with it. I signed up with them about three years ago when I first started using usenet and just stuck with it. The price is fair and I have never had any issues with them.

Which one do you use, and how happy are you with it?

[MultiForce]

Giganews. Never had a problem or downtime so I'm happy.

Their price could be lower but it is pocket money anyway so I don't care.

[ericab]

Astraweb + Giganews.

very happy with them.

they are the best servers avaliable.

[KultNavn]

Considering switching to astraweb, seems like it gives the most value for the money. Not sure yet, very pleased with newshosting, so if it ain't broke why fix it i guess.

[slammers]

free usenet servers ;)

[dalebailey1987]

hitnews neva had any problems with it and its cheap

[cooldude75ph]

First used newshosting then switched recently to astraweb.
Very satisfied with astraweb :D

[saulin]

Easynews, happy with the web interface and the retention on the web interface but not so much with the NNTP access. I have got lots of incomplete using NNTP.

[piratebot]

...

[EyeBaller]

Astraweb, no complaints at all.

[SonsOfLiberty]

Free IPv6 ones and Astraweb, Giganews is just too expensive, when Astraweb has better retention now and are closer to me :)

[Imoustim]

another astraweb user here

[coltraz]

no one uses powerusenet... is there something wrong with it?

[Mystic]

I signed up for Astraweb's unlimited $11 a month plan. I absolutely love it, you can't beat it for the price. I had been considering whether or not to sign up for a while, when I heard they were increasing retention for 270 days that sealed the deal for me.

[coltraz]

it sounds like i should switch to astraweb before my trial with powerusenet comes to an end. true??

[KultNavn]

Leaning more and more towards astraweb myself.Will check it out when my subscription expires after this month.

[Mystic]

it sounds like i should switch to astraweb before my trial with powerusenet comes to an end. true??
That decision is up to you, but the $11/month Astraweb package is the best deal IMO.

[coltraz]

I realise it's my decision but I am new to this and require as much guidance as I can find. I figure if the majority is using and recommending astraweb, it must mean I should switch to astraweb. ;)

[GWashington]

Astraweb - quite satisfied

[MultiForce]

Leaning more and more towards astraweb myself.Will check it out when my subscription expires after this month.

Astraweb did not give me full speed when I tried them (about 6 months ago). Tried both NGT, Get and Ventelo but all the same only 50-80% of cap.

Just a heads up so you don't go on a 3 month deal or something right away since you are in the same country :P

[SonsOfLiberty]

I got the 3 month deal from Astra and never looked back, cheaper is about the only difference between them and Giganews, those 2 are the best...Astraweb has better deals, Giganews is normally 100% completions, but I found so is Astraweb...Giganews thinks there number uno so they can charge whatever they want...and the speeds are the same I think and if anything is capping you it's your ISP not the newshost, plus SSL supportthrough Astraweb is free, Giganews you have to pay, and if I was any usenet user I would start using SSL.

[coltraz]

I just switched to Astraweb since my trial @ Powerusenet had not yet expired. I got a very low speed on my download from Astraweb... but I'm at a coffee shop so I'll have to try when I get home. But now I'm nervous...

[piratebot]

I just switched to Astraweb since my trial @ Powerusenet had not yet expired. I got a very low speed on my download from Astraweb... but I'm at a coffee shop so I'll have to try when I get home. But now I'm nervous...
why would you bother at a coffee shop?

[KultNavn]

Leaning more and more towards astraweb myself.Will check it out when my subscription expires after this month.

Astraweb did not give me full speed when I tried them (about 6 months ago). Tried both NGT, Get and Ventelo but all the same only 50-80% of cap.

Just a heads up so you don't go on a 3 month deal or something right away since you are in the same country :P

Thanks for the tip! ;)

[coltraz]

I just switched to Astraweb since my trial @ Powerusenet had not yet expired. I got a very low speed on my download from Astraweb... but I'm at a coffee shop so I'll have to try when I get home. But now I'm nervous...
why would you bother at a coffee shop?

Why not? I wanted something. :rolleyes:

[MultiForce]

why would you bother at a coffee shop?

Why not? I wanted something. :rolleyes:

Police man + donuts. Explains it all.

[coltraz]

How did you know I was Police?

[MultiForce]

How did you know I was Police?

Too many movies :P

[coltraz]

Yeeeeeah... 140k/bs max with astraweb. Why, oh why did I switch...

[piratebot]

Yeeeeeah... 140k/bs max with astraweb. Why, oh why did I switch...
you're doing it wrong.

[coltraz]

Nope I'm not. Tried a different trial and it was fine again. Luckily I have sent a cancellation request to astraweb within a 24 hour timeframe and can can get my $ back according to their policy. I'm now using "Newsfeeds". Great so far because I'm getting the full use of my connection.

[dutchmaster420]

I always max my 30mb connection with astraweb

[SonsOfLiberty]

Me too :) Including SSL ones.

[mariner]

ngroups and satisfy me :D

[ThEpRoPhEcY]

Giganews all the way you just cant beat the content the speed and the retention. Well worth the few extra buxs

[gonefromhere]

Been using usenetnow.net for the past couple of months, cant be happier. Retention is a bit higher than Astraweb at the moment to so I cant complain!

[SonsOfLiberty]

Giganews all the way you just cant beat the content the speed and the retention. Well worth the few extra buxs


No it's not, Astraweb will have more retention, the same content and the same speed, unlimited use $11, and free SSL...you have to pay for SSL for Giganews, so it is not worth it.

[K4BS]

Only used Giganews upto now and never seen any reason to change. Although recently with the Pound going down it costs me about £3 more than it used to but that's not down to Giganews as their price is still the same as it was when I first joined.

[KultNavn]

I'm going to try astraweb at the end of this month. Will post about it later.

[twister]

I used giganews for months but I just recently switched to astraweb because it's more bang for my buck :P

[jdeiro]

Well, I'm new to Usenet and have signed up with Powerusenet after testing their services and having an excellent result. I get to max out my connection all the time.

Now, since I'm a newbie, I don't understand some of the things you guys talk about, as when you mention the completion rates.

I have been searching for NZB's on the NZBMatrix (excellent, I just became a VIP user) and I always seen to download the files correctly.

Now, since I'm using this "tracker", is there any difference on the news server I'm actually signed up to? Could I have different results using Giganews, Astraweb or Powerusenet when downloading from the same NZB?

Cheers!

[sdwillie]

Is it just me or is Giganews retention going backward?

I know they stated that the increase in uploads was more than their increased capacity could handle and that while they would further increase their capacity, there'd be a slight decrease in retention until those upgrades were in place. That was 2 months ago, when rentention of anything up to 220 days was near complete and there were few problems with anything at 230 days. Two weeks ago I found 210 days to be a little iffy, and now it's more like 190 days.

[erRor67]

Well, I'm new to Usenet and have signed up with Powerusenet after testing their services and having an excellent result. I get to max out my connection all the time.

Now, since I'm a newbie, I don't understand some of the things you guys talk about, as when you mention the completion rates.

I have been searching for NZB's on the NZBMatrix (excellent, I just became a VIP user) and I always seen to download the files correctly.

Now, since I'm using this "tracker", is there any difference on the news server I'm actually signed up to? Could I have different results using Giganews, Astraweb or Powerusenet when downloading from the same NZB?

Cheers!
No, you should not get different results. I suppose it is theoretically possible if you are using a really bad usenet provider. But all the major usenet providers like Giganews, Astraweb or Powerusenet should give you the exact same articles. And depending on their retention and completion rates, you might get missing articles and then have to use par files.

[Quasit]

Can you max 100 Mbps at Astraweb from Sweden? It's so cheap (compared to Giganews) that I might just switch from bittorent to usenet.

[UsenetGuy]

Can you max 100 Mbps at Astraweb from Sweden? It's so cheap (compared to Giganews) that I might just switch from bittorent to usenet.

You may be able to, it depends on the route it takes to the server. I know someone from sweden who is able to get 60Mbps constantly. You could try it for a month and see how it goes :)

[KultNavn]

Just joined astraweb. So far I'm very pleased. Getting maximum speed higher retention and ssl encryption all at a lower price than before! So very happy so far!

[ericab]

Can you max 100 Mbps at Astraweb from Sweden? It's so cheap (compared to Giganews) that I might just switch from bittorent to usenet.

not sure about sweeden, but my dedicated box in france uploads & downloads from astraweb at about 9.5 megs a sec... that's roughly 75 megabits. sweeden probably has similar results.

[KultNavn]

I just very pleased with moving to astraweb! and now that they are upgrading retention to a whopping 365 days I see no reason to choose anyone else!

[buscuitboy]

I have tried several including the following:



Astraweb
NewsgroupDirect
NewsDemon
Altbinaries
Teranews
Easynews
Here is my take on each:

I currently subscribe monthly to Easynews. Have been with them for about 2+yrs now and like their web interface (although, recently it has had major problems), but I am probably going to cancel with them soon cause better deals can be had elsewhere. The thing I have always liked about Easynews was their rollover option. Unused bandwidth rolls over to the next month & accumulates. I'm sure there are some others that have this option too.

I also currently have block accounts with NewsgroupDirect and Astraweb. Both have been great too & I have been happy with them. While most here probably use the $11/month unlimited plan with Astraweb, I also like how they have block account options. I don't really download a lot each month so a block account option fits my needs & budget better. And with their recent announcement of increasing retention to 365 days, it can't be beat. NewsgroupDirect is at 200 days too so not to shabby either.

I had a trial account with Newsdemon and have been taking note of their service as well. They were pretty good while I had them and would definitely consider them on a permanent basis. Especially since they have announced their retention levels being upgraded to 400 days. This is the largest I have seen in the usenet industry (except Newshosting=400 days too). I suspect others will probably follow suit though. Also, Newsdemon has a good cheap $2.99/month basic account too that would fit my needs. Its only about 7.5GB of bandwidth, but if you're a light user, that would be ideal. This light account level doesn't include SSL though.

Altbinaries has been good too. Their retention might not be as high as others (around 200 days), but the one unique thing that attracted me to them was that you can customize your own monthly package with them (2-150gb/month) and can be changed as needed. Free SSL too. I just signed up with them & am checking them out with 3gb/month for about $1.44/month. I think they have the rollover option as well, but not 100% sure yet. They also now have an option of having a one time charge for a specified amount of bandwidth over a designated period of time. This seems like a unique feature too and I consider it sort of a hybrid type account. Cross between a block account and monthly account. So far, their service has been good too.

Finally, I have been with Teranews for about 4 yrs now & probably the longest for me. I have been under their free account option & its only about 62mb/day for a free account. I know, not a lot, but I have no monthly fees so its something. Their service has been good for the most parts in terms of completion. They recently added SSL too. Their retention levels aren't great compared to the others & nowhere near the big boys, but like I said, its free & I have no monthly fees with them so I can't really complain. I think rentetion for them is around 110 days.

Altbinaries, NewsgroupDirect & Newsdemon all offer a free registered copy of NewRover too so that is some pluses to consider. Although, I use Newsleecher with all and am happy with this as well so I'll probably just stick with this instead.

If I had to pick just one to stay with today, I would probably say ASTRAWEB. It's the best bang for the buck & probably the best deal out there going now. Monthly and block account options to choose from, great speeds, free SSL, good completion levels and extremely high retention. Although, Newsdemon is one I am keeping an eye on & close watch with too.



*

[coltraz]

...deleted.

[beansis]

free IPv6 all the way!!!

I wish I has SSL tho. . .

[Dougs]

please help me with my post..thanks