Best newsgroups provider for someone new to usenet..

[gmcbpi]

Hello, I would like to try out usenet and the newsgroups etc... I was wondering which provider was the best out of the ones advertised here or ones that you guys think are good. :fst:

[Beck38]

Your title is a bit off, you mean 'news-server' not newsgroup.

But it basically comes down to three:

Giganews - very expensive, very solid. You tend to get what you pay for, but that doesn't mean that they don't sometimes run off the rails, so to speak.

Astraweb - very inexpensive, runs off those rails a lot more (skips and such), but has been getting better and better over the last couple of years.

Usenet-News - king of the third party providers. Very solid, if one goes with Astraweb they are the best for 'fills'

I'm sure everyone has a favorite from the tiers below these three, but it comes down to speed, connections, completions, and retention, and all three of these are within a couple of percent of each other.

FYI, only Astraweb and Usenet-News do 'block' accounts, 'pay as you go', with blocks that never get 'old', or 'roll off'. Giganews hasn't done blocks in at least 15 years, their accounts are more time/transfer rate based.

If you want to dip your toes in, a block account is the way to go.

[gmcbpi]

I'm up to trying astraweb but do you know if supernews is any good?

[c0ld]

I'm up to trying astraweb but do you know if supernews is any good?Supernews is just a giganews company with reduced retention. It's not value for money when compared to astrawebs kleverig (http://www.news.astraweb.com/specials/kleverig-11.html) deal (but then, nothing is really).

[gmcbpi]

Ahh thanks, I'll just go with the kleverig deal.

[hdjunky]

FYI, only Astraweb and Usenet-News do 'block' accounts, 'pay as you go', with blocks that never get 'old', or 'roll off'.


No, there is also Blocknews as well and at the beginning of this year was the go-to provider to use when astraweb had there big eff up and usenet-news / highwinds was not much better. There was a big thread about it on the matrix. The prices are also better than usenetnews now too.

for the first poster unless you know how much you will use or download a block account may be better, or at least until you get into it more. You figure if you can make a blocknews account last for 3 months at least you are down to about 8 bucks a month already.

[ericab]

word of advice:

stay away from astraweb.

their heyday is over.

look into supernews; or usenetnow

[zot]

The first thing everyone should do is find out if your ISP offers free usenet. Although most American ISPs dropped Usenet in the past few years (due mainly to childporn worries) there are still a few that offer complimentary usenet access. The better ones will typically "resell" a premium service such as Giganews, Highwinds, or Astraweb.



stay away from astraweb.


Is there some reason to avoid Astraweb? I don't know any. Astraweb had a spell of completion problems back in January, which they fixed in a few weeks, and some people (like myself) who set up block-account fill-servers probably never noticed any problem.

I think most people would agree that Astraweb is one of the best values for the money.

[bonkers]

no problems with astraweb here price very good and service no complaints at the moment

[c0ld]

no problems with astrawebSame. I regularly download several hundred gb a month and the only time I ever have a problem, it is also reflected by completion problems on index sites too, so the problem is usually caused by a failed upload.

They get less takedowns than supernews/giganews too (ie you'll see lots of people complaining that none of the articles exist). I sometimes need to check other peoples comments about unrepairable reports on newzbin by downloading it myself to check it. Most of the time it turns out to be a problem with their provider.

Add to that the fact that most of the regular scene uploaders post to an astraweb account, so astraweb get it first hand, while others get it after its been passed around the net a few times.

[gmcbpi]

I went with astraweb, maxes out my speed, I used ssl, etc... Now is there any reason to use a vpn with usenet? Because I have one that's bound to expire soon but I don't see a point to use it since a) astraweb doesn't log downloads, although no one knows for sure and b) SSL is in place.

[c0ld]

I went with astraweb, maxes out my speed, I used ssl, etc... Now is there any reason to use a vpn with usenet? Because I have one that's bound to expire soon but I don't see a point to use it since a) astraweb doesn't log downloads, although no one knows for sure and b) SSL is in place.

No, a VPN is redundant with SSL. Only thing it'll do is hide the endpoint, but there's nothing illegal about simple using a usenet service, so it's pointless.

[c0ld]

I sometimes need to check other peoples comments about unrepairable reports on newzbin by downloading it myself to check it. Most of the time it turns out to be a problem with their provider.Some recent examples of this;
http://www.newzbin.com/browse/post/5670754

Irreparably damaged on Giganews.
http://www.newzbin.com/browse/post/5667460

3 blocks missing (Giganews)
Basically, Giganews sucks.

[Hypatia]

asically, Giganews sucks.yadayada



http://www.newzbin.com/browse/post/5670754

try 611 days ago. Works like a charm/
What? Newzbin doesnt support more than 240 days? Well, i guess newzbin sucks



http://www.newzbin.com/browse/post/5667460

3 blocks missing (Giganews)

NOTHING is missing on Giganews here. But HEY!! Im downloading it not via stupid nzb from Newzbin com.


Basically ALL news providers MUST comply with DMCA take down notices.Thats why its better to use scene titles on popular stuff,yeah

PS im not a giganews fan , i despise their price policy but i wont tolerate stupid bashin' either

[c0ld]

try 611 days ago. Works like a charm/
What? Newzbin doesnt support more than 240 days? Well, i guess newzbin sucks What has newzbins retention got to do with giganews' completion?



NOTHING is missing on Giganews here. But HEY!! Im downloading it not via stupid nzb from Newzbin com. Yeah, that would make all the difference, wouldn't it?



Basically ALL news providers MUST comply with DMCA take down notices.So maybe avoid companies that get more DMCAs?


PS im not a giganews fan , i despise their price policy but i wont tolerate stupid bashin' eitherYou won't 'tolerate' it? Wtf?

Thanks for the lulz.

[Hypatia]

What has newzbins retention got to do with giganews' completion?

u have a choice.Bitching or downloading. Thats what i did. I downloaded.:lol:


Yeah, that would make all the difference, wouldn't it?

Yep. Sometimes NZBs are screwed up.Deal with it. Or get another means of downloading stuff from usenet. U used NZB ang got 3 blocks missing or whatever. I used another means of gettinf the data and zero missing blocks. No repair was necessary.


So maybe avoid companies that get more DMCAs?
Avoid. Who cares.Im all for having a choice available to switch to whatever provider suits u best

I used Astraweb for a long time but when the shit hit the fan and there were lots of incompletes+ uploads were totally screwed up to the point u had to reupload stuff i switched back to giga.



You won't 'tolerate' it? Wtf?
Yeah, glad i made ur day :D
Thanx for the lulz,too

[c0ld]

Yep. Sometimes NZBs are screwed up.Deal with it. Or get another means of downloading stuff from usenet. U used NZB ang got 3 blocks missing or whatever. I used another means of gettinf the data and zero missing blocks. No repair was necessary.You're obvious quite the expert in these matters. Do you want to point out where the corruption in that nzb is, so anyone who might read this can look out for it in future?

[sassan]

Astraweb here to, I had no issues. Usually PAR files fixes incomplete files anyway. But as they say 99% completion rate.

[Hypatia]

You're obvious quite the expert in these matters.

Im not an expert by any means. But i as well as others had such experience with nzb files.I presume usually it is something on the hosting server side.I have no other explanation since when u get the data u need not using these corrupted nzb files its fine. Thats not the case of cause if articles are removed from the server itself mind you

[c0ld]

You're obvious quite the expert in these matters.

Im not an expert by any means. But i as well as others had such experience with nzb files.I presume usually it is something on the hosting server side.I have no other explanation since when u get the data u need not using these corrupted nzb files its fine. Thats not the case of cause if articles are removed from the server itself mind you
Wow, that's amazing.

[mesaman]

...some people (like myself) who set up block-account fill-servers probably never noticed any problem.

And I didn't notice any problem downloading Newzbin Report #5670754 from Giganews with Blocknews filling in 11 MB.

[saminca]

Giganews is overpriced. Period. For the life of me I can't figure out why some here think that Astraweb is 2nd rate. Don't confuse low price with service rendered. Giganews retention rate is a bit redundant now that binsearch is 600+ days. Also use a VPN service when downloading torrents. ACEVPN is only 15 bucks a month and their servers in France are lightening fast and torrent friendly.

[Hypatia]

Wow, that's amazing.
Indeed. use logic, not the force, Luke,yeah

[zot]

...some people (like myself) who set up block-account fill-servers probably never noticed any problem.

And I didn't notice any problem downloading Newzbin Report #5670754 from Giganews with Blocknews filling in 11 MB.
Something I don't quite understand is the logic of using a block account fill-server with an expensive provider like Giganews. I would agree that using a secondary provider as a fillserver can make a big boost in completion rates on marginal usenet providers, such as the free usenet still provided by a few ISPs, or cheap (and unreliable) pay-providers. So combining any cheap low-completion server with a block account fill can yield close to 100% completion.

But one of the reasons that Giganews is twice the price of Astraweb is that they have a lot of additional storage redundancy, so (at least in theory) there is much less reason for a fillserver when using Giganews. (though that 11MB missing from Giganews seems a lot)

Or maybe I should say, when using a fill server like Blocknews, it would seem that there is much less reason to subscribe to a high-cost provider such as Giganews, rather than a low-cost one such as Astraweb. Or am I missing something here?

[mesaman]

For Newzbin report #5670754, Giganews was missing 11 MB because their DMCA takedown team removed 11 MB. Otherwise it would have been complete. I think Giganews follows the DMCA notices to the letter and removes all article message-ID's listed in the notice. I don't know why the agent or law firm representing the content owner doesn't include all of the article message-ID's for the whole post.

[Townsend]

usenext's the one I would suggest. Not the lowest of all prices, but I liked the software better than any other. It's very helpful especially for noobs

[c0ld]

usenexthaha, classic.

[zot]

Exactly. Cancel your membership, believe everything is OK, then two years later get harassed and threatened by a debt collector agency demanding 130 euro for service you never even used. No thanks.

[Townsend]

I signed up for this service two years ago and I'm still using it. Never had any problems. Always worked well.

[SonsOfLiberty]

I'm up to trying astraweb but do you know if supernews is any good?Supernews is just a giganews company with reduced retention. It's not value for money when compared to astrawebs kleverig (http://www.news.astraweb.com/specials/kleverig-11.html) deal (but then, nothing is really).

Yeah the one thing everyone misses about those 2 companies (well same company :lol:) and Newsdemoon, they are very prone to getting take down requests, any HBO show or Showtime show gets deleted the next day.