Which provider?

[Nukewire]

So I have heard good things and bad things about all of them and I am new to usenet. Currently I have binverse and I'm on a free trial. I'm wondering are they a good provider or should I switch? I sorta like the look of the giganews diamond plan. But, astrawebs $11 plan looks good too, people say astraweb can be sketchy with speed and completion though too..

So basically what I'm asking is what should I go with? Whats the best for the price/security etc... :unsure:

[EyeBaller]

I use astraweb without any problems. Set up the .us server as primary, then the .eu as a backup.

I also have a small block account with blocknews as my 2nd backup, hardly used a few mb on that one because astraweb is good.

[Nukewire]

hmm that sounds like a cool idea. I'm highly considering that.
But how is usenet in the way of security. I know like giganews comes with free VPN on their diamond plans. will i be safe with ssl? i'm sorta new to usenet coming from torrents.

[EyeBaller]

hmm that sounds like a cool idea. I'm highly considering that.
But how is usenet in the way of security. I know like giganews comes with free VPN on their diamond plans. will i be safe with ssl? i'm sorta new to usenet coming from torrents.

There are plenty of recent threads in this forum discussing these issues, just read through the first few pages and you'll find them.

In short though, you'll be fine with usenet and SSL.

[MultiForce]

hmm that sounds like a cool idea. I'm highly considering that.
But how is usenet in the way of security. I know like giganews comes with free VPN on their diamond plans. will i be safe with ssl? i'm sorta new to usenet coming from torrents.

I'm still with GN now just because of the VPN. It's nothing you really need for Usenet downloading since you get SSL anyway but I have put the VPN thingie to good use with other stuff, and that's why I'm staying.
I can even play counter strike through the damn thing without lag or bad ping :P

[Beck38]

I use astraweb without any problems. Set up the .us server as primary, then the .eu as a backup.

I also have a small block account with blocknews as my 2nd backup, hardly used a few mb on that one because astraweb is good.

Hmm, like minds think alike, as I have the same setup except Usenet-News as the 2nd, and blocknews as the 3rd.

The block accounts, esp. the usenet-news, I've had for years and years. I just checked, and I've used 20K on it in the last 6 months (and I d/l LOTS of stuff > 250 to 350+ days old).

Astra has days of 'gaps' in it's 'coverage', but I found when I changed over from GN that wonder of wonders, both Astra and GN had about the same 'gaps', while Usenet-news had the missing parts.

Usenet-News says their system auto-fills gaps by using the pars posted. Seems to work.

[Nukewire]

Okay, that is most likely what i'll do. I dont download but maybe 10-15gb per month, you think It would be better to go with block accounts all together?

[Rart]

I would say so.

With download quotas such as those, block accounts are much cheaper.

Try Blocknews/Astraweb and look at their block accounts.

[Nukewire]

okay, I went ahead and bought a 180gb block account from astraweb. and did what a few suggested and bought a small block account from blocknews too as a fill sever. that should last me awhile. thank you guys for your help.

[zot]

okay, I went ahead and bought a 180gb block account from astraweb. and did what a few suggested and bought a small block account from blocknews too as a fill sever. that should last me awhile. thank you guys for your help.

Good choice. Hard to go wrong there.

For anyone previously using Binverse (or UseneXT) they will just need to use a different newsreader --one that supports backup servers-- since the proprietary Binverse client is hardcoded to only work with Binverse's service.

[Nukewire]

Yeah I'm using SABnzbd+ is that a good client?

I have the astraweb US server as primary, the astraweb EU server as backup, then blocknews and then Usenet-News as another backup, have not had ANY problem with the older 350-400 day files. So I am happy with my choice so far.