How Does UseNetServer & News Demon Compare To Giganews?

[orgzzs]

I've been with Giganews for years now, with no complaints about retention or speed. However, I'm starting to look at price more closely. How does UseNetServer & News Demon compare to Giganews overall? I appreciate any feedback.

[hdjunky]

Nwsdemon blows hardcore. Usenetserver and newshosting are only a bit better because of there lower price than newsdemon. They are all provided by highwinds and completion really sucks on several levels. Your best bet is eithr usenetnow or astraweb but remember! Usenet provider opinions arelike assholes everyone has there own. Don't trust the "review" sites because they get paid to say what you see written.

[jefffisher]

i don't know if people who complain about newshosting actually use it, but it's a lot better than people let on it really only falls out somewhere between the 600-700 day mark.
you've had giganews for years you probably already have all the 650 day stuff you want, for newer stuff and even most older stuff another server will work great.

[MultiForce]

I'm using AW and Supernews (GN) now and it's cheaper than GN.
I download 500+GB/month and have nothing to complain about.

[Malcontent]

I've been with Giganews for years now, with no complaints about retention or speed. However, I'm starting to look at price more closely. How does UseNetServer & News Demon compare to Giganews overall? I appreciate any feedback.

Since your basically happy with Giganews service (not price) then switching to 'Supernews' might be an option also. 'Supernews' is owned by Giganews and charges a lot less money. You could get unlimited 'Supernews' for $9.99 a month. There is a link to that special price around. Google for it. The only catch is Supernews retention is locked at 800 days. They have raised their retention in the past but there is no guarantee. Depending how much stuff you download that is over 800 days, a usenet block account with a provider could be used to get stuff over 800 days. The money you save would be more then enough to buy the usenet blocks. As others have mentioned, Usenetnow.net and Astraweb are also good choices.

[nntpjunkie]

Not a fan of Giganews or their resellers as I think they have largely preyed on people who thought they were the best and charged outrageous prices for as long as they could and in fact still are...I use newshosting and have nothing but good things to say about them. Right now their retention is at 1004 days and the unlimited accounts are $9.99/month

[Malcontent]

I'm not a fan of Giganews either. The OP's only concern with his experience with Giganews was price. He' happy with Giganew's service. For him, switching to Supernews would save him money and still get the Giganews service he's happy with. I don't understand why people are pay that much for Giganews usenet. Not when their is less expensive alternatives out there.

[zot]

There are many decent brands to choose from, I think the primary rule should be NEVER PAY MORE THAN $11/MONTH for unlimited. All the major providers/resellers offer it for $10-$11/month, usually through "limited time" specials that can last for years.

I would avoid Newsdemon, Usenetserver, and Newshosting -- and all other Highwinds resellers -- because the completion on old files is by far the worst of the major back-ends. Astraweb and Readnews (sold under Usenetnow and nGroups) are much better at the present time. Supernews is essentially Giganews with 20% less retention and 50% lower price.

Lastly, beware of accepting advice from people who personally profit by steering you to a paid-commission link.

[Hypatia]

i would say that the best available options are:

- Astraweb+ Blocknews block account

- Supernews + Blocknews block account

and perhaps this ( did they fix extremely slow speed on old files? can anyone with 100mbit line confirm it?)

-Usenetnow + astraweb block account (not so sure about this combo, but still.)


Personally i prefer the first one.

[MrMoneybags]

I thought UseNetNow is Highwinds? If they aren't, then whose servers do they use?

[Malcontent]

I thought UseNetNow is Highwinds? If they aren't, then whose servers do they use?

Their not Highwinds. They resell 'Readnews' usenet service.

[mesaman]

How much do you guys/gals download every month?

[zot]

I thought UseNetNow is Highwinds? If they aren't, then whose servers do they use?

Blocknews used to be Highwinds until about 2 years ago, when it was switched to Readnews. I don't think that Usenetnow (which was started much later by the same owner) ever used Highwinds.

[nntpjunkie]

How much do you guys/gals download every month?

250+ gigs/month

[mfalaura]

Usenet server is better than newsdemon. Because newsdemon support is very BAD...just send them a question via support form, you won't ever get an answer...so if you have a problem...

[nntpjunkie]

Lastly, beware of accepting advice from people who personally profit by steering you to a paid-commission link.

@zot - dude, it was filesharingtalk's link...I do believe in supporting the board don't you? Just sayin...

[toastysoul]

Currently, I'm use UNS + BN fill. I can't get anything over about 600 days, and miss a lot of stuff older than 450 days. I thought BN would be enough to fill in the gaps, but I have wasted 100's of GBs lately downloading unrepairable files. It's damn well aggravating. I'm almost considering getting a second block account with a 3rd provider to fill in what the fill server doesn't have. :lame:

Oh FWIW, don't buy any $10/mo usenet service expecting to get real support. UNS support sucks, unless you want to call and make a payment, then you get someone. Emails go unanswered, and using the chat support is enough to give someone a stroke. However, the speed is fast, and if you need anything less than 18 months old, your likely to get it. In the end, you get what you pay for. BN had good email support so far, but I don't have an answer yet as to why they seem to be missing parts that highwinds resellers are too.

[Hypatia]

its not a good idea to have this combo -Highwinds+ any fill block account.
You'll waste tons of GBs in no time.

get astraweb+BN

[MrMoneybags]

its not a good idea to have this combo -Highwinds+ any fill block account.
You'll waste tons of GBs in no time.

get astraweb+BN

I've found AW to be so good I haven't had a need for a filler nor have I had much of a need for PARs. I have had times where I've downloaded files that were about a week newer than AW's retention and they've downloaded perfectly fine, some without even needing PARs. I have been SO pleased with AW after switching from Highwinds. When Highwinds was at about 700-800 days of retention, I couldn't download anything past about 400 days. With Astraweb, I've been able to download just about everything. I've never dealt with a corrupt file that had PARs and I've downloaded quite a bit. I had one or two downloads that had a few missing blocks each but there were no PARs to fix them, but had there been PARs, I'm sure it would've been fine. I'm sure there are a number of files that are so incomplete that its PARs can't fix it but I haven't had an issue at all, so for me I have no need for a filler. Another issue I had on Highwinds was with a few downloads, on block was missing from each RAR in the download, which by my understanding has to do with the DMCA, and the PARs couldn't fix them because there were so many missing blocks including a block missing from each of the PAR files. I haven't had a single issue of that sort with Astraweb. And for $96/year, I'm very satisfied, so don't waste your money on Giganews. A year of Astraweb is less than 3 months worth of Giganews. Even if you got a separate premium VPN service, Astraweb would still be tons cheaper. So my advice is to not even bother with Giganews and go for a far cheaper service like Astraweb.

[mjmacky]

I've found AW to be so good I haven't had a need for a filler nor have I had much of a need for PARs.

I'll chime in to 2nd this notion. I don't know how it use to be back in the day, and I certainly understand that not every user has the same experience, but I've never used a fill server and never had one problem grabbing content while using Astraweb.

[Hypatia]

Yeah AW is really good. But __at the moment_ they are still doing some header maintenance resulting in slow header update rate and slow header downloading. Fortunately that doesnt affect articles. =)

[mesaman]

Currently, I'm use UNS + BN fill. I can't get anything over about 600 days, and miss a lot of stuff older than 450 days. I thought BN would be enough to fill in the gaps, but I have wasted 100's of GBs lately downloading unrepairable files. It's damn well aggravating. I'm almost considering getting a second block account with a 3rd provider to fill in what the fill server doesn't have. :lame:.

Blocknews EU is missing many of the same articles as Highwinds. I recommend adding Blocknews US and Astraweb as fill servers.

[mfalaura]

Usenet server is cheapest than giganews...newsdemon is not a good provider. They have an awful support...never answer to questions ! i prefer usenetserver and newshosting for the price.They have an unlimited offer...i use that one (i found it on this usenet comparison engine (http://best-newsgroup-provider.com)) at $8.33 (unlimited speed+download)