best provider thats cheap

[RealitY]

These guys are sponsors for the site if you want to try something and support the site...

FRUGAL USENET

FRUGAL USENET Special at $4.99 Per Month

- UNLIMITED access
- 300 Days of retention
- Free SSL - Posting included
- 30 connections

http://billing.frugalusenet.com/go.php?r=1639&i=l0

139384

[gordyb83]

want to try some different providers

[BiggerH]

was with Astraweb for a few years, btu changed to Frugal recently - £ 3.50 per month for 300 days retention - a bargain

[minimalist]

After every year I look at different providers but always end up with Astraweb. Never have issues with their servers.

[mattdam]

I have jumped around a bunch whenever I see a good deal. Currently with NewsGroupDirect Unlimited Plan for $5/month. Probably not the best around but hard to beat Unlimited for $5/month. Thundernews has the same deal going on now, http://slickdeals.net/f/6592554-thundernews-newsgroup-usenet-for-5-month-for-life, they are both Highwinds resellers, so you will basically get the same service from Thundernews as NewsGroupDirect.

[piercerseth]

If you're fast, or run an automated setup the above are fine. I'm not going to slag any provider, other than to say you need to be kinda nimble with Highwinds and Giganews is expensive. Having said that, the Astra $15/2 would be good for a US primary. And $6 cheaper than their $96 yearly if you can do math.

[gazza]

take a look at easyusenet, never had any problems and price plans for diff server download speeds.

[tre]

Have used Astaweb for year, the ability too bulk buy bandwidth and use it when I want rather than per month was always a large factor in that choice.

[lard]

If you are based in Europe, have a look at the Dutch providers.

[gazza]

yup easynet is holland

[patzelpuh]

Sunnyusenet is worth a shot.

[joebot]

I'm using Usenetserver, the 10$/month Binsearch promo account. Unlimited, 20 connections and 1984 days retention, it working great for me so far.

[n0k]

I've been buying blocks from NewsGroupDirect when they have their sales (holidays mostly, but now they have "Terabyte Tuesdays" and "Happy Hours" promotions). Last year, I got 250gb blocks for $12, this year I added a 1TB block for $35. They've had 500gb blocks for $20, as well. The two promotions I mentioned have email notification available for when they go live. Check their site for info, it's well worth it.

[geojetson]

I've been using Astraweb for several years with no problems. I guess it depends on what you download. I pay for the annual subscription.

[phyl0x]

yeah i do the annual astraweb

[shnpz]

Helpful topic... thanks for all the ideas guys.. I've been looking to possibly change up

[gordini]

Hi everybody.....I notice nobody mentioned News Demon....I have been with them for 2 years now ...unlimited download $10. per month with free newsreader

[MrBogus]

Since I'm in europe I have no problem with the dutch providers, after having used for many years newshosting and astraweb, i left because of all the takedowns. Now, I have no complains.

[Ellios]

Astraweb Europe with their offshore payment service which continually scares the jeebus out of my c/c company each time a payment is taken!

[Kaesebroetchen]

I'm in my second year with sunnyusenet and am pretty happy

[cnj411]

newshosting here

[Endosmok]

I'll say I moved to Frugal news a couple of years ago and never looked back... the only issue is if you need to grab a really old nzb... other than that I don't ever recall it being down whilst a subscriber.

[FreakIndeed]

I've been using Newshosting... have always liked it up until recently. It seems my speeds have dropped to about 1/5 what they were. Has anyone else noticed this with them? How about you cnj411?

[CraweN]

astraweb. Does have some missing posts but it has gotten better I feel.

[BiggerH]

if you're a Virgin Media customer in the UK, you get free access to their newsgroups (I think it's actually Highwinds servers)- only 30 days retention, but works fine as a backup (takedowns seem slower than others)

[tlrbradley]

I am a fan of astraweb. Some content seemed to get pulled really fast last year, but I haven't noticed anything like that lately.

[thoristic]

astraweb all the way

[vettmann]

Currently using newsdemon in the US and it seems pretty good for ten bucks a month.

[nksparky]

hitnews for me...fast and cheap.

[lavangbay]

Have anyone use Tweaknews? What's your experience with them?

I'm trying to find a good provider that does not have dcma take down issues...

Newsdemon is not that great, all of Catching Fire are taken down already....

[bluex415]

I currently use providers from Europe. as long as you utilize par files, you'll get your movies.

[kmcke26]

which service has the lowest take downs?

[jonsky13]

i used to use astaweb for years but they started to do a lot of take downs, a friend hooked me up to tweaknews .i had them both a the same time everything astraweb could not do tweaknews did.i let astraweb go and have been happy with tweaknews.

[morpheousbung]

After every year I look at different providers but always end up with Astraweb. Never have issues with their servers.

Same here. Have been using Astraweb for few years now.

[bluecenter]

I've been using Astraweb for a good while myself. I've noticed, like jonsky13 said, that takedowns have been much more frequent the past few months.

[arradastra]

I went to tweaknews after having takedown issues with Astra. Been satisfied. Get 30m even pulling from EU to USA.

[dixie_normous]

been astraweb for over 3 years...haven't considered changing...is tweaknews that much better?

[pythoncancer]

anything that is charging you $1 a day is OVERPRICED .SSL is must .usenetserver hit hardest .Almost everything gone

[smart151]

Newsgroupdirect has been pretty good for me. They have block sales pretty often. I think I got a terabyte for $35.

[munkyfunkster]

been on astraweb for years, even prior to signing up here. fixed at $11 a month. you need to be smart about updating credit card details when you get a new card. if they try to take payment and card is expired they cancel subsription and you have to set up new one at whatever deal is on at the time.

[flipflop1968]

I use sunnyusnet 900 days Retention very cheap prices. also have a block account with Newsgroupdirect and also have a block account with astraweb.

[thrasher]

Ok thanks for the suggestion.

[getsome]

I vote suppernews

[sportsguy33]

Newsgroupdirect with Astraweb as a back up.

[shoalweaver]

Frugal works for me, I go with the cheaper year deal to avoid monthly. It's more risky in case the service deteriorates, but it's been working fine for me for over a year. The retention is reasonable.

[seandean]

usenet has been good for me

astraweb was great for years then started having issues occasionally usenet has been 0 issues

[B8mbino]

I've been using SunnyUsenet (http://www.sunnyusenet.com/) for two years now. Perfect service, super cheap :-) .

[oldn07]

Use newshosting here which are doing a special at the moment but still no where near as cheap as Frugal, might have to give them a try

[chrisjan]

I use tweaknews 10Mbit special offer, 9.95 EURO for 3 months.

[selsiusx]

I am reasonably happy with http://www.sunnyusenet.com/
it's € 3,83 p/m :cool:

[aboo4u]

I have been with Astraweb for a few years, never had any problems.

[msdurian]

Another vote here for Astaweb ;)

[Iain]

does anyone know if sky or bt have free access to news servers the same as virgin?

[bergy10]

does anyone know if sky or bt have free access to news servers the same as virgin?
I think that BT has a free news server but it's speed capped.

[cardboardbox]

to the sunnyusenet users: Any idea if it has more take downs than tweak? I read a lot of good comments about usenetbucket and was ready to switch but it had way more take downs than tweak when I tried their free trial.

[isolect]

I just get blocks from newsgroupdirect, seems to be the best option for me.

[avionixx]

I'm using UsenetBucket, the completion rate is fairly good and I hardly ever run into takedowns, but they are there on occasion. Mostly with really popular movie releases. Was a Giganews member for years until they got nazi-fied with the takedowns.

[bfnewman71]

tweaknews.eu
I pay by the gigabyte, but I am really only a passive user.
great retention

[mckr32]

Tweaknews for backup here on a block account... Seems to notice a few mixing articles with them so jumped to another provider

[zma]

I have good experience with sunnyusenet, not many takedowns lately, but there was a period when a lot of fresh stuff was removed

[flyinonice]

I just use some of the free newsgroups and rely on sick beard to grab stuff fast. If there is anything older I grab a trial account from a variety of places and use that. Don't have much trouble that way and don't pay a dime.

[vigor5000]

Im looking for a cheap provider to add on with Astraweb so I can get faster speed, any recommendations?

[justlooking]

40Mbit Usenetbucket would be around $4.60/month with a 25% off coupon, if that's still good. Nice to have a Euro server as a backup to an American company.

[fpsfreak]

40Mbit Usenetbucket would be around $4.60/month with a 25% off coupon, if that's still good. Nice to have a Euro server as a backup to an American company.

wheres the coupon?

[justlooking]

40Mbit Usenetbucket would be around $4.60/month with a 25% off coupon, if that's still good. Nice to have a Euro server as a backup to an American company.

wheres the coupon?

http://slickdeals.net/f/6780400-usenetbucket-25-off-year-of-10mbit-for-34?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SlickdealsnetForums-9+%28Hot+Deals+-+SlickDeals.net+Forums%29

[CyberCitizen]

I just use some of the free newsgroups and rely on sick beard to grab stuff fast. If there is anything older I grab a trial account from a variety of places and use that. Don't have much trouble that way and don't pay a dime.

Yes some of those free providers provide decent retention 850-1665 days.

[gweely]

Using Giganews, recommend, but more expensive than most

[Stabber]

Cheapest is xennanews , it's FREE

test.xennanews.com

no username or password required

[anon]

Cheapest is xennanews , it's FREE

test.xennanews.com

no username or password required

Interesting. What are retention, maximum connections and speed like on it?

[Beck38]

Im looking for a cheap provider to add on with Astraweb so I can get faster speed, any recommendations?

I'd really like to know what are you using for an ISP, and what is the route (do a tracert) from you to Astra(US/EU).

Most providers are at the same number of connections (20) as Astra, I easily 'swamp' my 30Mb/s with running 15 and I have swamped it with 10 (but keep at 15, leave 4+ for additional connex to EU server or for Blocknews 'when SABnzbd thinks it's 'necessary')

This is on Docsis3, not fiber (fiber in my area is literally one block away but they won't 'wire' my cul-de-sac due to back-room deal with Comcrud).

I'm 850+ miles from the Astra/US plant, as the fiber runs. And I go through a VPN on top of that (great server from that provider).

So until I see your route, I don't know why you're getting poor service speed/transfer wise.

More: Just fer fun, I needed to suck down a nice BD50 today, and set my SABnabD down to less than the usual (15) connections, and didn't see the throughput start to be affected (<30Mb/s) until I got below 8 connections. With 6, it was obvious.

Now, you also didn't say what kind of machine you are using, in my case, it's a 4-core AMD/P2 Black 3200Mhz+ with fair (not top of the line) ram, but top line WD/Black HD drives, and an older (for today, top line when built 5 years ago) Asus MB w/ gigabit lan. In short, for today, pretty middle or even below middle of the road. Yes, stuff gets 'old'. Not my 'best' machine, but those that are better are busy with other, more CPU intensive tasks ( recode city).

Maybe I got good internet (for what I throw at Comcrud every month I should!). I lust for fiber. I MAY move this summer onto FIOS so we shall see.

[vigor5000]

Im looking for a cheap provider to add on with Astraweb so I can get faster speed, any recommendations?

I'd really like to know what are you using for an ISP, and what is the route (do a tracert) from you to Astra(US/EU).

Most providers are at the same number of connections (20) as Astra, I easily 'swamp' my 30Mb/s with running 15 and I have swamped it with 10 (but keep at 15, leave 4+ for additional connex to EU server or for Blocknews 'when SABnzbd thinks it's 'necessary')

This is on Docsis3, not fiber (fiber in my area is literally one block away but they won't 'wire' my cul-de-sac due to back-room deal with Comcrud).

I'm 850+ miles from the Astra/US plant, as the fiber runs. And I go through a VPN on top of that (great server from that provider).

So until I see your route, I don't know why you're getting poor service speed/transfer wise.

More: Just fer fun, I needed to suck down a nice BD50 today, and set my SABnabD down to less than the usual (15) connections, and didn't see the throughput start to be affected (<30Mb/s) until I got below 8 connections. With 6, it was obvious.

Now, you also didn't say what kind of machine you are using, in my case, it's a 4-core AMD/P2 Black 3200Mhz+ with fair (not top of the line) ram, but top line WD/Black HD drives, and an older (for today, top line when built 5 years ago) Asus MB w/ gigabit lan. In short, for today, pretty middle or even below middle of the road. Yes, stuff gets 'old'. Not my 'best' machine, but those that are better are busy with other, more CPU intensive tasks ( recode city).

Maybe I got good internet (for what I throw at Comcrud every month I should!). I lust for fiber. I MAY move this summer onto FIOS so we shall see.

Sorry for the late reply, so I have Docsis3 cable internet too(150/10) and I did a tracert to the US SSL host and was wondering why it gives me a 207.246.207.xxx address and sometimes a 216.151.153.xxx address.I have a OCed quad core and using WD BLack + SSD's so thats not the issue,although I used to have problems with the repair + unrar stopping my downloading on my Seagate drive.I signed up with a UNS Holdings reseller for the times I cant max out my connection, helps on Sunday nights.Just curious why do you use Giganews? when there are cheaper alternatives.



traceroute to ssl-us.astraweb.com (216.151.153.11), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
1 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) 10.406 ms 6.714 ms 6.281 ms
2 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) 9.096 ms 11.296 ms 7.716 ms
3 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) 11.115 ms 12.883 ms 11.538 ms
4 10ge7-4.core1.tor1.he.net (209.51.164.81) 15.284 ms 7.855 ms 16.899 ms
5 100ge13-1.core1.chi1.he.net (184.105.80.5) 20.531 ms 18.469 ms 17.972 ms
6 10ge3-2.core1.den1.he.net (184.105.213.86) 43.525 ms 42.934 ms 10ge11-4.core1.pao1.he.net (184.105.222.173) 72.350 ms
7 * * *
8 eqx-ix.sj.astraweb.com (206.223.116.89) 73.017 ms 71.576 ms 71.307 ms
9 unknown.sj.astraweb.com (216.151.153.11) 69.902 ms 74.682 ms 71.296 ms




traceroute to ssl-us.astraweb.com (207.246.207.130), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
1 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) 7.471 ms 7.326 ms 9.885 ms
2 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) 10.132 ms 10.714 ms 11.881 ms
3 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) 12.255 ms 12.402 ms 14.530 ms
4 10ge7-4.core1.tor1.he.net (209.51.164.81) 9.237 ms 10.639 ms 7.976 ms
5 100ge13-1.core1.chi1.he.net (184.105.80.5) 17.674 ms 20.040 ms 22.840 ms
6 10ge11-4.core1.pao1.he.net (184.105.222.173) 78.819 ms 69.494 ms 10ge3-2.core1.den1.he.net (184.105.213.86) 51.222 ms
7 10ge13-5.core1.sjc2.he.net (184.105.213.105) 82.466 ms 70.621 ms 72.004 ms
8 eqx-ix.sj.astraweb.com (206.223.116.89) 72.589 ms 71.417 ms 72.991 ms
9 207.246.207.130 (207.246.207.130) 73.488 ms 71.595 ms 84.006 ms




traceroute to ssl-us.astraweb.com (216.151.153.21), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
1 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) 8.631 ms 8.017 ms 11.217 ms
2 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) 7.724 ms 11.060 ms 11.923 ms
3 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) 12.196 ms 10.761 ms 7.882 ms
4 10ge7-4.core1.tor1.he.net (209.51.164.81) 8.048 ms 15.439 ms 7.789 ms
5 100ge13-1.core1.chi1.he.net (184.105.80.5) 17.508 ms 24.999 ms 18.585 ms
6 10ge11-4.core1.pao1.he.net (184.105.222.173) 78.869 ms 70.312 ms 10ge3-2.core1.den1.he.net (184.105.213.86) 43.807 ms
7 10ge13-5.core1.sjc2.he.net (184.105.213.105) 70.509 ms 70.753 ms 68.901 ms
8 eqx-ix.sj.astraweb.com (206.223.116.89) 131.413 ms 197.555 ms 203.877 ms
9 unknown.sj.astraweb.com (216.151.153.21) 72.809 ms 84.839 ms 69.993 ms

[Beck38]

I have am extremely low-end GigaNews account that you can't even buy anymore (grandfathered) for $2/month. It's what I use to 'test' propagation from Astra block account used to post, leaving my 'unlimited' Astra account open for whatever ('leech'). This is account specs (particularly the Astra block account) what you'll find most serious uploaders use.

Astra/US 'flips' which feeds you are being 'fed' with every few hours, so that any Tier1 provider doesn't feel like they are being 'hammered' particularly. I see mine change from Level3 to Comcast to Congentco and that's just the last 30 miles from my hosting facility (VPN) in SF to the Astra facility in San Jose. Now of course, it still runs on whatever Comcrud uses for their main connectivity (mostly Level3 in these parts), so from the 'local loop' here to SF is over their plaint (I helped redesign lots of Level3 on the West Coast from Seattle to San Diego about 15 years ago, probably been done yet again for sure since).

I rarely find that Hurricane Electric is 'in the mix', although they are Headquartered right there in Fremont CA (used to live there years ago). One would think that isn't quite the problem, but if that's your ISP's 'main squeeze' for internet connectivity, you may be stuck with them; this may be 'fallout' from not having decent net neutrality laws in this country.

Once (if ever) I get on fiber, things may change (different provider, 2-3 times the speed I have now at half the cost). But if that's your main constriction (what looks like Toronto to Chicago to Palo Alto to San Jose) there may be some 'squeeze' going on there, most probably in the Toronto to Chicago loop. It was better than 20 years ago I did work on fiber coming out of Toronto 'going south' so it's really out of date. But Hurricane 'may' be routing things wrong, they could be sending your traffic out Toronto through Winnipeg BACK to Chicago then out to Palo Alto, who knows (not going through routers in Winnipeg, simply what's called a wavelength point to point connection, perhaps because the Toronto to Chicago waves are 'full up'.

Only someone either at your ISP or Hurricane would 'know fer sure'. But over the years, folks in the north land have always had problems of one type of another.

[vigor5000]

So the reason why I get slow speeds sometimes is because "Hurricane 'may' be routing things wrong, they could be sending your traffic out Toronto through Winnipeg BACK to Chicago then out to Palo Alto".So since the plant is far away and because of the routing this is normal then for me to experience slow speeds ,and there is no solution?When it is slow I got to use more then 10 connection to make it faster.

[piercerseth]

vigor5000, is your reverse traceroute identical? http://www.news.astraweb.com/tools/tracepub.cgi

Secondly, have you tried running connections to both the US & EU sides simultaneously? Like a ghetto load balancer. Start 50/50 and then bias the # of connections whichever way provides the greatest speed.

[Beck38]

Knowing, of course, that the route would be Toronto through NYC then out to the trans-Atlantic fiber systems (most landing stations these days are either on Long Island or New Jersey shore vrs Rhode Island 'back in the day', those stations are mostly now shut down w/ cables decommissioned.

Also, since Sept11, every big interconnection point in NYC has been rebuilt a couple of times (from WTC1/2 sub-basement which was the largest fiber interconnect in the world at the time, some building in NJ is supposed to be now, between North Bergen/Union City and Fort Lee if I'm not mistaken, and probably am) but all should be super-speed at this point. As long as your bits can get OUT of Toronto in decent fashion.

For me, Cogentco redid a bunch of wave connections (multiple 100G) across the US to SF a couple years back, and that really helped connecting to Astra/EU. I await someone to redo them again to multi-Terabit.

He has a goodly amount of bandwidth from the ISP. I could be that fast but I simply won't pay the $300+/month to Comcrud, when the fiber is 1/2 to 1/3'rd that. I REALLY got to move.

[vigor5000]

vigor5000, is your reverse traceroute identical? http://www.news.astraweb.com/tools/tracepub.cgi

Secondly, have you tried running connections to both the US & EU sides simultaneously? Like a ghetto load balancer. Start 50/50 and then bias the # of connections whichever way provides the greatest speed.

Hey ya it looks the same but I used the SSL server hostname to do tracert too it, don't know if it matters.I have tried using US and EU at same time but I was doing 10 connections each,I will try lowering the connections and see how it works out,at the moment I am having no speed issues getting 16-17MB/s.Exactly one week ago I was experiencing slow speeds on Astra,Supernews,Newsdemon(slowest to highest speed) I switched through the different providers and increased the connections but could not get more then 3-5MB/s on astra and like 6-8MB/s on Supernews and then was able to get 10-14 MB/s on Newsdemon , this lasted for few hours till I was able to get full speed on lower connections.I tried my Usenetbucket free account out durig that time too and was able to get full speeds no problem.




Traceroute from us.news.astraweb.com:

Hostname Best Worst Avg
0 gw.eqnx.sj.astraweb.com (216.151.153.1) 0.28 0.36 0.32
1 10gigabitethernet2-3.core1.sjc2.he.net (206.223.116.37) 1.39 6.03 3.30
2 10ge5-2.core1.pao1.he.net (72.52.92.69) 1.98 12.30 6.71
3 10ge12-8.core1.chi1.he.net (184.105.222.174) 53.01 93.01 70.11
4 100ge9-2.core1.tor1.he.net (184.105.80.6) 62.76 94.62 73.20
5 10gigabitethernet3-1.core1.tor1.he.net (xxx.xx.xxx.xx) 62.23 62.87 62.57
6 (xxx.x.xxx.xx) 63.57 67.40 65.51

[Beck38]

You know, the one thing that hasn't come up in this conversation, is the possibility that the ISP is throttling usenet traffic; where changing the port you are using (SSL or non-SSL) may help. Astra does support a couple of really non-standard ports on both SSL/non-SSL transmissions.

Another 'work around' (especially since you are crossing an international border) is a VPN service. The best ones (paid) are excellent speed wise (so far and according to unsolicited reports the one I use is good to go for 1Gb/s fiber speeds) but of course add to overall costs. But try swapping the ports around if you already haven't.

Using a VPN router means ALL the traffic you generate goes through the VPN, your ISP and even intermediate carriers don't know squat about what your traffic is or the destination, until it reaches the outgoing port at (changeable) city X. I wouldn't use a cable internet service without it, and haven't since the day I got off DSL several years ago.

Anyway, it's yet some more thoughts; it's probably pretty frustrating not to get the speeds you're paying for (probably through the nose). When I see my 'shared' cable service speeds take a dive every evening as the working folk get home and fire up their links, even though I'm on a 'commercial' line and paying dearly for it, I grind my teeth and know I've got to get off my rear and MOVE to fiber. It will happen, just got to get all the ducks in order so that all the costing results in, at the end of the day, lower pricing all around (energy, internet, taxes, etc.).

[vigor5000]

You know, the one thing that hasn't come up in this conversation, is the possibility that the ISP is throttling usenet traffic; where changing the port you are using (SSL or non-SSL) may help. Astra does support a couple of really non-standard ports on both SSL/non-SSL transmissions.

Another 'work around' (especially since you are crossing an international border) is a VPN service. The best ones (paid) are excellent speed wise (so far and according to unsolicited reports the one I use is good to go for 1Gb/s fiber speeds) but of course add to overall costs. But try swapping the ports around if you already haven't.

Using a VPN router means ALL the traffic you generate goes through the VPN, your ISP and even intermediate carriers don't know squat about what your traffic is or the destination, until it reaches the outgoing port at (changeable) city X. I wouldn't use a cable internet service without it, and haven't since the day I got off DSL several years ago.

Anyway, it's yet some more thoughts; it's probably pretty frustrating not to get the speeds you're paying for (probably through the nose). When I see my 'shared' cable service speeds take a dive every evening as the working folk get home and fire up their links, even though I'm on a 'commercial' line and paying dearly for it, I grind my teeth and know I've got to get off my rear and MOVE to fiber. It will happen, just got to get all the ducks in order so that all the costing results in, at the end of the day, lower pricing all around (energy, internet, taxes, etc.).

I have tried switching the ports around,I get better speeds on 443.I have also tried a VPN but the best speed I got with it was 4MB/s.

[Beck38]

I have tried switching the ports around,I get better speeds on 443.I have also tried a VPN but the best speed I got with it was 4MB/s.

4MegaBYTES or 4MegaBITS. Don't fall into the Euro trap of confusing the two. If 4Mb/s (BITS) then it was a pretty poor excuse for a VPN service, although even 4MBYTES/S (which would equal 32Mbits/s) would still be pretty poor. The service I use has been tested by folks with FIOS (>300Mb/s symmetrical in the eastern US) and with those with 1Gb/s download (various non-Google fiber around the US) with excellent results. But I'll admit that both the client h/w (VPN router plus accelerator) is a bit steep (>$700US) and the cost for the service is >$20/month. So not cheap by any means. I have the VPN router sans accelerator which is about half that h/w cost, and can add the second accelerator part later on when I get on fiber.

People have tended to call me a bit 'nuts', but I tell them, as I'm retired, that it all keeps me 'off the streets'. (!)

[vigor5000]

I have tried switching the ports around,I get better speeds on 443.I have also tried a VPN but the best speed I got with it was 4MB/s.

4MegaBYTES or 4MegaBITS. Don't fall into the Euro trap of confusing the two. If 4Mb/s (BITS) then it was a pretty poor excuse for a VPN service, although even 4MBYTES/S (which would equal 32Mbits/s) would still be pretty poor. The service I use has been tested by folks with FIOS (>300Mb/s symmetrical in the eastern US) and with those with 1Gb/s download (various non-Google fiber around the US) with excellent results. But I'll admit that both the client h/w (VPN router plus accelerator) is a bit steep (>$700US) and the cost for the service is >$20/month. So not cheap by any means. I have the VPN router sans accelerator which is about half that h/w cost, and can add the second accelerator part later on when I get on fiber.

People have tended to call me a bit 'nuts', but I tell them, as I'm retired, that it all keeps me 'off the streets'. (!)

Yes 4MegaBYTES, usually I see it like MB/s or MiB/s. Well i guess since it was a $5 vpn service I wouid only get that kinda speed.What VPN provider are you with if you don't mind sharing?

[Beck38]

You need to 'turn on' your private mail here. But really, none of it is really some kind of secret.

Go to these folks:

http://www.sabaitechnology.com/

they do just about all the VPN services, I was one of their first customers (h/w) years ago, and go through:

http://strongvpn.com/strong_vpn_accounts_usa_new.php?gclid=CMfir82uz70CFZZqfgodBy8AJQ

for VPN services. I'ms sure there are cheaper, but none perhaps faster. Good selection of cities, openvpn or pptp or both (get a good discount on multiple).

Like I said, though, it isn't 'cheap' and if you know your ISP is doing nastiness (like deep packet inspection) in order to send more adverts your way, it's a good deal. Also, of course, means that anything they are trying to block doesn't work any more.

Works for me. 99.99% effective.

[piercerseth]

Go to these folks:

http://www.sabaitechnology.com/



The RT-N66 is a great router, but you can get one off newegg or amazon for $150 less and just flash a VPN build of Tomato yourself. Lot of tutorials out there, process takes less than 30 minutes.

[Beck38]

And tons, and I mean tons, of folks who tried to do just that, and ended up getting the Sabai OS package after running into major problems with that approach. Latest version is well worth the money, especially if one has various multiple devices (I have over 14) with a mix of VPN/non-VPN attachments, as is the accelerator package for folks who have or need the added speed. My original setup was 'taken out' by a UPS failure that also took a gigaswitch and an older PC which is just now being replaced.

[piercerseth]

*shrugs* I think it's disingenuous to sell what's essentially an off-the-shelf part with nothing more than a pretty UI at such a high premium. Bless the N66, but as it lacks any kind of crypto acceleration it loses serious steam at line speeds above 50Mbit.

For what'd you'd shell out, you could repurpose an old machine with a pair of gigabit NICs. Install pfsense, m0n0wall, Sophos' UTM etc. Spend the savings on your favorite vices :D

[Beck38]

Sure thing. Of course, you don't add in when the old thing dies, or the cost of supplying a good power (UPS) or the monthly cost of powering the thing (at my location, my electrical cost of 12+ machines running 24/7 is around $200/month).

And Yes, the N66 runs out of steam around 8-10Mb/s or so (works for me now, as that's the upstream speed I currently have, and I won't pay for the next 'tier' which is twice as expensive for double the bandwidth), which is why there is a dual-CPU box that takes some of the load off and jumps it up past 50Mb/s (when/if I get on fiber, then I'll get it, meanwhile a cheap secondary VPN fills out the 'leech'/download mode).

Again, yes, you probably could achieve the same with a dual-cpu box, but then again, the electrical cost and other incidentals, like keeping a hard drive and associated OS running (and yes, one could cobble together 'yet another' linux box, I have close to 10 already so no sweat there) but really...the costing just doesn't work out in the long run.

And electricity is the main sustaining cost at the end of the day. Putting together such a machine is about the same cost as the VPN router + accelerator, and together they pull about 10w of power (about the same as a CFL). A 'PC" doing the same job runs about 20 times as much current. That's another $20-30/month thrown at the power company that is STILL paying off Enron because FERC won't let them out of the 10 year old contracts the federal power supplier got sucked into.

I'll stay with the little boxes, thanks you.

[Stabber]

Cheapest is xennanews , it's FREE

test.xennanews.com

no username or password required


Interesting. What are retention, maximum connections and speed like on it?
retention about 900 days , maximum connections 25 and speed i get 1mb/s which is full for my connection