Astraweb Error Compilation

[Beck38]

I posted (through Astra/US) a test file today, with JBinUp (100% confirmation), then retrieved it from the following:

1+ hour later:

Astra/US - 1 Block Error (out of 2914, .0004%)
Astra/EU - 14 Block Errors (out of 2914, .005%)
Astra/US+EU as fills - 100% (obviously, the errors between the two were not identical)
Blocknews/US - 100%
Binsearch - 100% cataloged/indexed
NZBIndex - 100% cataloged/indexed

Obviously, Astra/US accepted and propagated all the blocks which allowed Blocknews, Binsearch, and NZBIndex to get full completion. They just simply don't have all the blocks they accepted and propagated any more, after 1 hour.

Retrieval will be re-run at daily intervals from this point forward, to see how Astra continues to corrupt itself.

[Beck38]

Day 1/24 hours:

Astra/US - 100%
Astra/EU - 2 Block errors (out of 2914, .0006%)
Astra/US+EU as fills - 100%

Things have improved, particularly Astra/EU. My ticket is still open, and not responded to as of yet.

[Beck38]

Day 2/48 hours:

Astra/US - 100%
Astra/EU - 2 Block errors (out of 2914, .0006%)
Astra/US+EU as fills - 100%

NO change from 1 day/24 hours. Looked back a few weeks/couple months, and no real change (still the number of errors ramps up the further back).

[Beck38]

Day 3/72 hours:

Astra/US - 100%
Astra/EU - 55 Block errors (out of 2914, .02%) 3.9% by Multipar
Astra/US+EU as fills - 100%

Astra/EU errors increased, needs (as shown) 3.9% pars to fix if another server is not used for fills.

Sill no errors on Astra/US.

[Beck38]

Day 4/96 hours:

Astra/US - 100%
Astra/EU - 8/127 (.7%) damaged
Astra/US+EU as fills - 100%

Last nights run was probably extra-poor due to typical Sunday PM problems on Astra

[Beck38]

Day 5/120 hours:

Astra/US - 8/127 (.6% damaged)
Astra/EU - 17/127 (2.3%) damaged
Astra/US+EU as fills - 7/127 (.5% damaged)

Getting some block errors on Astra/US, will have to see tomorrow (and further) if that stays, increases, or was just some transmission error.

Well, re-ran the Astra/US about 2 hours later and came up with the same damage.

[Beck38]

Day 6/144 hours:

Astra/US - 12/127 (1.0% damaged)
Astra/EU - 17/127 (2.8%) damaged
Astra/US+EU as fills - 11/127 (.9% damaged)

Damaged parts continue to increase, particularly if one is using Astra/EU as primary w/o Astra/US as secondary fills, at least 2.8% pars would be required to 'fix' the archive.

It appears that the 'slope' of damage is, in fact, far steeper than original thought (or it's simply getting worse). Meanwhile, my original ticket is still open, but still not responded to.

[Beck38]

Day 7/168 hours:

Astra/US - 13/127 (1.1% damaged)
Astra/EU - 18/127 (2.9%) damaged
Astra/US+EU as fills - 13/127 (1.1% damaged)

Both servers continue a downward trend; I had to run the AstraUS/EU twice, the first time it really came back bad, 78/127 (8.9% damaged). Don't know why, perhaps just hit it the US server at a bad time.

Ticket still open, no response.

[Hypatia]

Damn..it's really disappointing.

Please, send these results to astraweb...

I wonder what' going on with AW.. as in general.. have they run out of money to pay for a proper infrastructure\hardware\software support etc.

[Beck38]

Day 7/192 hours:

Astra/US - 13/127 (1.1% damaged)
Astra/EU - 19/127 (3.3%) damaged
Astra/US+EU as fills - 13/127 (1.1% damaged)

Both servers continue to slowly degrade, still no reply to the ticket I opened a week ago.

[Beck38]

Day 8/216 hours:

Astra/US - 13/127 (1.1% damaged)
Astra/EU - 18/127 (2.9%) damaged
Astra/US+EU as fills - 13/127 (1.1% damaged)

EU slightly improved, first time that happened, perhaps it's because the Atlantic trans-oceanic link was slightly less loaded due to it being the weekend. We'll see if it increases error rate again in the coming days.

[Beck38]

Finally got a response to the ticket I opened on Astraweb, they are investigating. Will continue to check the test file I uploaded over a week ago, and the several nzb's going back 6 months or so to see if I see any change, once I see any change to the test file.

Wee shall see when/if things change.

Day 9/240 hours:

Astra/US - 13/127 (1.1% damaged)
Astra/EU - 55/127 (10.9%) damaged
Astra/US+EU as fills - 13/127 (1.1% damaged)

EU errors jumped, maybe because of usual Sunday PM problems; it will be interesting (as usual) to see what the next day yields.

At this time, don't see any improvements in Astra/US as of yet.

[Beck38]

Day 10/264 hours:

Astra/US - 16/127 (1.9% damaged)
Astra/EU - 23/127 (3.4% damaged)
Astra/US+EU as fills - 15/127 (1.8% damaged)

Both servers continue the downward trend; I ran a few nzb's upwards of 8+ months previous, and saw no change in the amount/number of damaged parts, so nothing seems to have changed as of yet.

[Beck38]

Day 11/288 hours:

Astra/US - 116/127 (20.0% damaged)
Astra/EU - 121/127 (33.1% damaged)
Astra/US+EU as fills - 116/127 (20.0% damaged)

Well, somethings going on; at first, I thought (and it's still somewhat possible) that there is some problem with the transmission system (I'm on Comcast, and 30-60 days ago they were having tons of problems in my area, so much so they gave everyone a $20-30 rebate two months in a row (and anyone who's dealt with them knows this is really something out of the ordinary) but I use a vpn so can route things around and head into either the US/San Jose server or the EU/Amsterdam server by several different routes, and they all came up the same, although some speed/throughput differences, but the same error rate.

Will have to see what happens tomorrow.

[Beck38]

Did more testing of my system/transmission links, and found that everything is working 100% (downloaded and tested my test files from Blocknews). There is either something serious going on with the tier one inputs to Astra/US (but would have to be mirrored by Astra/EU) which would mean either Level3/Cogentco, or something in the front-end of both Astra/US and EU. I'd tend to thing it's the front-end of both plants.

Astra is obviously doing something (at both plants); I'll continue monitoring it until things 'settle down' and give some reasonable data, but I'll continue to post daily updates as to the 'situation'.

No change on either plant of the time/date stamp on this message; both are experiencing massive error rates on my test files, will test some of the older files in a bit; the automerge function on this board is set WAY to loosely, it shouldn't be merging messages 4.5 hours apart.

[Beck38]

Things still looking pretty sorry, getting lots of connection errors, resets, you name it.

Other servers (Giganews/Blocknews) both operating without any problems at all, despite being 2-400 miles further from me (in the case of Giganews/US in LA) or 2000+ miles (in the case of Blocknews/US in Virginia); if one watches the connection speed, you can see the connections to Astra are showing intermittent speeds and such while Giganews/Blocknews are running full speed ahead without any slowdowns at all.

There may be some problems with Level3 around the SF/SJ/SC area, I can't 100% confirm this, but it could be contributing to the connection problems with Astra/US. Those who follow (or try to) these kinds of problems will remember that less than a year ago, Level3 ran into problems with it's tier1 Cisco routers when they attempted a f/w upgrade, that caused nothing but tons of problems for a couple weeks. All we need is to have two major problems beating their heads against one another.

As far as Astra is concerned, folks need to remember that the last time (2-3 years ago) that massive retention failures happened, it took at least 2-3 weeks to fix things, and it did get worse, much worse, before it started getting better. If, of course, it does get better this time; we'll just have to wait and see.

[Stehle]

Still watching this thread... and yes I hope they figure what is wrong out too. :unsure:

[Beck38]

The test file I posted some 15+ days ago has been coming up >30% corrupted parts for the last week+, on both US and EU servers.

No real change on the 'older' (1-6 months) stuff that I can see (upwards of 10-20% corrupted), I haven't gone back to the really old stuff (3+ years) to see of that has changed any, but will in the next few days if I get the time.

Again, it may take upwards of a month to see any real improvements, but I'd say that without a doubt, this is the worst failure I've seen in Astraweb in 15+ years of use.

[megabyteme]

"Houston. We're getting our first look at the service module now. One whole side of the spacecraft is missing. Right by the high gain antennae a whole panel is blown out, right up. Right up to our heat shield."

[piercerseth]

"Houston. We're getting our first look at the service module now. One whole side of the spacecraft is missing. Right by the high gain antennae a whole panel is blown out, right up. Right up to our heat shield."

My god, it's full of stars.


EDIT: Astra is still borked.

[mjmacky]

Things still looking pretty sorry, getting lots of connection errors, resets, you name it.


Juice boxes. Are you getting lots of juice boxes? While you're out, can you pick up a roll of aluminum foil? Oh, and some plastic bags. Wait, no, I'm picky about bags. Fuck it, just the aluminum foil. You know what, I could use some juice.

[Beck38]

At over 25 days, I don't see any improvement whatsoever in any of either the 'test' file posted or on any previous files posted in the last 6+ months. Astra sent me an update on my ticket saying that they've 'fixed' everything. I don't see it at all.

Just for 'fun' I re-posted the exact same test file (but in a different newsgroup) but through Giganews. We'll see how that fares on either US or EU Astra.

UPDATE: Came through 100% on Astra/US and EU (So Giganews propagated and Astraweb received just fine). Now we'll see (once again) how the files degrade over time (most probably).

[Beck38]

No change after 24 hours on the new posting (still 100% on both US and EU).

File posted 30 days ago still pathetic yielding around 30% corruption on both US and EU.

I gave the Astraweb folks a fair piece of advice on how to track server corruption, maybe they'll take it or maybe not.

[MrBogus]

I get better completion rate these last days.

[Beck38]

I get better completion rate these last days.

Which nzb, how old, which server? Virtually nothing I d/l from about 2+ weeks old to 6+ months is pretty hosed, same from either Giganews or Blocknews are 100% complete.

[MrBogus]

I get better completion rate these last days.

Which nzb, how old, which server? Virtually nothing I d/l from about 2+ weeks old to 6+ months is pretty hosed, same from either Giganews or Blocknews are 100% complete.

elementary s03 DVDRip from a couple of days ago was 100% complete. In astra EU.

[Beck38]

You just answered the question; if the file was posted only 'a couple of days ago' then of course it's 'ok'. Keep that nzb and give it a try 2-3 weeks from now, you'll see distinct errors creeping in. Give it a month or two, and unless it has a huge amount of pars, unrecoverable.

UPDATE:

The Giganews posted test tiles took their first errors, right at 5 days in. .1% (both US and EU), but there nonetheless.

If it follows the previous tests, it'll start getting really bad (>10% errors) around 10 days, and drop off a cliff around 20 days (>20% errors).

Those earlier test files are getting really bad, exceeding 45% errors at the 30 day level.

NO response from Astra as to my latest update (4 days ago) to the ticket I originally opened.

[MrBogus]

I understand now what the problem is. I will try those nzbs in a few weeks.

[Beck38]

Exactly how the retention degrades is, to me, a really good question. It's been 20+ years since I ran a usenet plant (either did so or provided technical assistance to folks going back to the mid-80's), and it appears that the Highwinds group got tired of whatever they were using several years ago, and spent the money to develop their own NNTP software, which I gather they transitioned all of those plants they bought up to that 'standard'.

Giganews in particular is proud of their own 'in-house' software development team; I don't think they have it available on the open market for any other provider.

Don't know what Astra uses, there's no information as to what they run (on their website), although there are copious 'upgrade' messages abounding ever few months going back years, so they may have either some software they developed themselves, took an older package (that's no longer actively supported), and are keeping it running by making 'improvements' (my guess), and what is causing these degradations (that keep happening at pretty regular intervals) may be something buried somewhere in the original code they haven't yet figured out.

If so, they need to have a very rigorous error checking program to catch when things begin to go 'off the rails', and quite obviously they don't. What's interesting to me is that as things go south after a few days/weeks, it stays pretty bad for several months, then going back further things 'magically' get better, at least the things posted 6+ months ago do.

It may be that their plant s/w transitions posted articles from 'near-term' storage to 'long-term' after a few days, then to even 'longer-term' after a month or more, and that's where the errors creep into the 'system'.

Whether or not things posted right now will get better (after getting very much worse), is probably a crap-shoot, and probably (!) they'll figure out what's causing the degradation before we hit that point. I have, upon occasion, done reviews of 'cloud' systems that were being run for large corporations, and found that the checking programs they had in place had holes one could drive a Mac truck through, and from what I see with Astra, it's about the same.

[stucky]

I've been reading your reports with interest Beck38. I'm sure you don't need any 'atta boys' but I do appreciate what you are doing and the time you have spent monitoring astraweb. Thanks for posting your findings.

[pworm]

Beck38, I suffer from Astraweb's mediocre performance as well and I appreciate all your efforts very much! Thanks a lot.

[shaina]

Beck38...

It is really appreciated on all the hard work and spare time you have to do this study on Astraweb, but if anybody is not locked into a long term deal (which is nuts to do it the way UseNet is today and hope you agree??), why the heck would you even stay with the provider??
I am and always will stick with Giganews , and yes after so many days things start do degrade or disappear(in some cases), but Usenet today, you really have to budget to have 2 providers (one in the US and one offshore), if you look back and want something posted lets say 1 year ago. And that would also depend on what binary group it was posted in, plus or if it was removed, which I am still skeptical of , considering that one provider it is gone or downloading with lots of errors, and the same NZB used with another UseNet provider it is all there and have no problems downloading. But the automatic response is it is gone and someone requested it DMCA.
You really do have to budget today to use Usenet, I really don't think there is any way around that unless you choose to move to Torrents.
And the big problem with any of these Usenet providers is..... They really don't give a shit!!!
Giganews may answer you and see if there is a connection problem but really do they have anything to do with what is being posted or taken down (I mean the operator you speak to)?? I would think not...
I went back and forth with Astraweb for a while, and finally said I had enough, and to save what ever to be locked into a long term with anyone in this Usenet business is just ridiculous...And you do have to raise your budget for using Usenet today as well.....
Again what you are reporting is very interesting and appreciated, but in reality anyone who stays with a provider that they are not getting there needs or wants from the service.... Cancel there Ass and try a new one. It is not like there is a shortage of them right??

The next question is what alternative would you suggest?? Us or Offshore??
That to me would be better information, plus I am always willing to try out new providers.....

PS. Some private NZB sites also re upload files(members rename them plus do some of there own re encodes) to other binary groups as well, to try to hide them and still give you access(as long as your Usenet provider has/gives access to that binary group (another issue with some providers) before they are found and either removed or blocked access (like I said I am still skeptical on the full removal of the files or just blocked access).

[Beck38]

The basic problem is, despite what a lot of folks (even IN the US think) a large majority of the US population lives not on the east coast (where many usenet plants, huddled around 'telecom row' in east Virginia/DC are), but on the west coast. If one watched US television news, for example, and where the political 'centers' are, one would come away with the idea that Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina have huge populations and the majority of electoral college votes, yet nothing would be further from the truth. (I'm old enough to remember 50 years ago before all the gerrymandering, and states like Washington, Oregon, and California were the last primary states, and made a difference; I might add those states have more electoral votes and larger populations than ANY of the so-called 'primary' states that run the parties now).

So as it stands, there are two major providers on the west coast, Giganews (LA) and Astraweb (San Jose). Pricing wise, one is 3-4 times as expensive as the other. Yes, one can use one of those Virginia-based plants, but one's 'bits' need to travel 4000 miles cross-continent; when the ISP speeds were 'slow', it probably didn't make much difference, but with 50-100Mb/s being the 'standard' these days, getting that performance is hard to impossible; if one was thinking that getting things from Europe (Amsterdam) was any better, forget it: I get, on average, around 20Mb/s yanking bits 'across the pond' and then across the continent.

So, it comes down to how much time (and effort) one want's to go through to (perhaps) grab what one wants to.

Astra is cheap, pure and simple. It would be nice if Supernews was still on the west coast, like it was 20 years ago (Mountain View, CA). But it's now in Virginia as well. Again, too much is 'eastern centric'.

Just for fun, I just re-ran a d/l from Blocknews (hq in Virginia) and the speed to the west coast (San Jose/Santa Clara) was 40Mb/s at best, where Astra easily swamps out my ISP bandwidth at 100+Mb/s. So things would take over twice as long traveling across the continent.

So, even forgetting about the price differential, that 1/3rd of the US really can't use those eastern centric plants.

[shaina]

Beck38....

Why are we now talking about speeds?? I am in Canada and I never come close to maxing out my ISP (250Mbps and get 80-120 on average, but that could be because of my older pc to process the downloads even know it is a gigabit Ethernet connection), who really cares?? it is still faster than Torrents....

Yes speeds do matter in a small part (how many connections are you testing??), but the retention far out ways the speed, if you cant find the best of both worlds right??

And doesn't Giganews have junction or port locations all over the place/world (may be wording that wrong my apologies), and to be honest I really don't care.....
To me some information is really not needed, I use them, they fill my needs, and I stick with them(tried a bunch and always go back to them and I pay $19.99 US a month with all the unlimited crap. I didn't know astraweb has that much cheaper price??)
As the Usenet providers out of the Amsterdam and Netherlands there is a speed difference but not a huge difference (Maybe in Canada it is different giving you the benefit of the doubt). But the retention can be day and night for older files in certain Binary Groups that I can tell you, especially being in this game just as long as you, and seeing the changes over the years..
Again if you are a regular user and you do most of your downloading daily, and I would think most people do that are heavy users of Usenet. Any big provider is pretty much the same, but your testing and weeks later without pars in the Big Binary Groups you do see depletion on files and it seems the offshore providers do get access or better retention, Why?? I have no bloody Clue nor do I care. My purpose is to get what I want in the easiest way possible, and I am now seeing a bigger cost to do that, that's all!!.
Now if a friend asked me to see if I could get something, and it was not re uploaded and it is posted a while back, and can tell you without a doubt depending on the Binary Group it was posted in, Giganews doesn't always grab the files, but my offshore account does, hence the extra cost...
Now my comment that if I Send a ticket into Giganews and yes they do respond fast (live chat access!!), if my speeds are good and the connection is strong, that is as far as it goes with them, they don't give a crap what is in the Binary Groups nor if you can get the files or not.
For you worrying about East Coast and West Coast means nothing to me... Someone uploads the files to the Binary Group, and I want a provider that will give me the ease to get them without doing more work (getting lazier from the old days loading headers and jamming up my PC with Xnews), if the speed is a little slower, oh well, that I will live with, but loading all the par files to fix the broken ones all the time or not able to get the files at all, that is a pain in the Ass!!!!.

Again Supernews is part of Giganews and I used them for a while, the speeds were good but the reliability is still much better with Giganews....and why or technical crap means nothing to me I used them both and Giganews was better for me...

I know you are a smart guy, but I am going to ask you when you do the speed tests you are actually downloading something and not just testing the connection right?? I do know in my experience that downloading from different Binary Groups do change the download speeds as well, and I assume it is the same for you right??
I did subscribe to a offshore account and it offered a 50Mbps deal, and I felt that was enough for me at the time for my backup provider, and that maxed out on most of the Binary Group downloads, and sometimes went over, so I don't really know how accurate Downloader I use really is...

Do you have any other offshore Usenet providers you would recommend?? Again speed is second to retention....

[megabyteme]

-
Stevie (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000492/?ref_=tt_trv_qu): Trevor, I'm worried about you.
Trevor Reznik (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000288/?ref_=tt_trv_qu): Don't worry. No one ever died of insomnia.
Stevie (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000492/?ref_=tt_trv_qu): [giggles] I hope not. You're my best client. Can't afford to lose you.
Trevor Reznik (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000288/?ref_=tt_trv_qu): Gee, thanks.-

[Beck38]

Beck38....

I do know in my experience that downloading from different Binary Groups do change the download speeds as well, and I assume it is the same for you right??


All modern usenet s/w has no differentiation between newsgroups, they are all handled the same. Way back 15+ years ago that was true, not now unless that plant is running a VERY old s/w.

I've never seen any plant where there is much of any difference in d/l speeds due to the newsgroup, in at least that 15+ years. In fact, I don't believe I've seen much difference at all in the AGE of the files, I d/l things in the 5+ years range all the time, and have no problem swamping my link.

[shaina]

Beck38....

I do know in my experience that downloading from different Binary Groups do change the download speeds as well, and I assume it is the same for you right??

All modern usenet s/w has no differentiation between newsgroups, they are all handled the same. Way back 15+ years ago that was true, not now unless that plant is running a VERY old s/w.
I've never seen any plant where there is much of any difference in d/l speeds due to the newsgroup, in at least that 15+ years. In fact, I don't believe I've seen much difference at all in the AGE of the files, I d/l things in the 5+ years range all the time, and have no problem swamping my link.

In your wording I can assume you mean a Binary Group(example alt.binaries.triballs), I have in Canada especially the bigger more popular ones the people frequently upload too.. and when the files are uploaded to a lesser one used I see a slight increase in speed (a difference of maybe a minute or so on a bigger file to be completed)
And to be honest I have never seen the plant or server farms where the files are actually stored.. and nor do I care...

Now you mention going back 5 years and the retention is still good??(you say d/l things I assume you mean upload right??) What binary group are you downloading the files from that they are still whole and not degrading?? is it text files or actually binary files??
and What Usenet provider are you using to get them?? Is it a US or Offshore provider??

Simple Questions .... I would appreciate simple answers not technical jargon that is not necessary to know

Thanks

[Beck38]

Virtually all providers list the retention level, most right on the front page of their web sites. For instance, Astra 'claims' 2572, Giganews 2367, Blocknews 2400(+) days; that all generally works out to March 2009 or earlier (Astra works out to August, 2008, which is actually when most plants issued press releases saying they weren't going to let any binaries 'roll off'. Most plants have text retention about double that, so we're talking about 16+ years back.

As I've said on many occasions, this amount of retention is not matched by the public search engines (NZBIndex/Binsearch) out there (3+ years at best) so one has to use other means to grab the nzb's. Many Newsreaders have built-in searchers, which are linked to one provider or another usually (example: Newsrover uses Giganews, but if one has a GN account, their 'MIMO' can be used to do the same).

Use the Google to find the specs on usenet plant s/w, it will give you information on how it works.

I grab nzb's that are several years old all the time, and well within the retention of all the premium providers, all the time. That's the beauty of Usenet, as opposed to torrents. Of course, if all you are interested in is the latest low-quality TV shows and Hollywood junk, then going that route will probably work better in the short term.

[shaina]

Beck38....

I agree with you, but private NZB sites do offer NZB's or call them links to access files further back, but using Giganews and going back even 2 years, there are times that the files are just not accessible, but a offshore account seems to download them fine, and that is using the same NZB Link, why or how it works again, I don't care, all i care about, that it does work.

As for torrents... To me they seem to get the pirated shit faster than Usenet does, the only advantages to Usenet for me is, if it is a older movie or tv show, game etc. I am looking for, if there is no seeders on Torrents, you are screwed, with Usenet you have more direct access and don't have to rely on anybody once it is uploaded to a server, and that does add extra costs.
But your comment on retrieving Usenet files I do agree the best way to search or access Is by a Header or File name using Newsrover type programs, but I have just become lazy and use/rely more on the NZB way to get what I am looking for, plus some of the ways the uploaders are naming these files are not as easy to spot or know what they are unless a NFO is attached with them. I now leave it to people that have the patience to do the raw searches for me and it is much appreciated.

And you do know that Torrents also have 1080 versions of everything as well right?? Anything you get on Usenet is all available on Torrents plus more(remember my first choice is Usenet).. Now downloading at speeds I like, well Usenet just blows it away...

Now I noticed you mentioned Astra, Giganews and Blocknews ....Have you tried any others you may want to share or recommend??

[Beck38]

And you do know that Torrents also have 1080 versions of everything as well right??

They absolutely DO NOT. Of everything I d/l, maybe, at best, 1 out of 1000 is available in 1080P on torrents (notice I said 1080P, NOT 1080i), most are in 720P.

There are a fair number of folks who 'cross-post' things from torrents to usenet, but again, usually are all 720P resolution. I post around 2-4 1080P/HDaudio movies per week to usenet, when I'm in 'full production' (everything I've ever processed is on a RAID array), and in the last 6+ years I've yet to see any of them show up on any torrents (when I look for them); now, I could easily miss them, I'll grant you that, but as they are all 1080P/HDaudio, torrent folks (who have, again, apparently the hots for 720P video) they are probably simply passed over.

Of all that I have, zero have been 'taken down' over the past 6-7 years (the way they are hidden is extremely simple yet effective). I re-test the nzb's all the time, randomly, and that's how I find 'gaps' and 'fades' in poorly run server plants (unfortunately, like Astra), but have over the years identified such even on Giganews (but is extremely rare, and when I do, they have jumped on it and repaired the problem quickly).

I've used other plants than Astra, Giga, and Blocknews 'back in the day', but they are the only ones I use consistently these days, although I do have some blocks left on Usenet-News as well as others, that once in a while I'll check just for fun.

I came to the conclusion long ago that folks who get things taken down (quickly or slowly) simply don't do two things, they don't sit down and figure out good schemes to hide things efficiently, and don't check their postings to see when/if they get taken down, and change their hiding scheme and re-post. Most simply get into this 'wack a mole' routine where they figure folks have a 'quick d/l' setup that will grab the files quickly before it gets pulled down, and if you don't run a machine 24/7 you're just simply out of luck because it will never be re-posted. Which means that all this huge amount of retention means zero.

[shaina]

Beck38....

Just on Kickass Torrents (public, and IPT has as well) there is over 10,000 1080p movies that were posted there(or whatever you call it when they load onto torrents), so time to update your knowledge on Torrents...
But they are all re encodes not too many true BD rips(you know the 30-60gig rips) , plus who the hell wants to bog up there internet that long to get that format on torrents, good luck to them, I am not interested in that...

But in instance even tonight.. I tried to get a tv show episode I missed a few weeks ago and using giganews it was a no go(alt.binaries.teevee). I just looked up on Kickass torrents, and it did take longer to download but I got it...I usually download daily but a few do slip by.
Right now I am only running Giganews , but if I really want something I can't download, and it is a bigger collection of files, I will pay for another offshore Usenet. I have used Eweka and Xs usenet, and they usually pick up what Giga misses, and I mentioned Giga is only $20US a month, how much less is Astra??

You have mentioned again that you do upload to groups... I know it is a touchy subject for you but if they are still there you are obviously uploading for a Private NZB site, are you willing to reveal that or share??

Plus members of the NZB private sites are now doing a lot of double postings in different Binary Groups for members to have a chance to get the files for a longer period of time, and they were talking about a lot of the big pirate's are still using IRC...
There was a few others offshore accounts that were mentioned at my other paid NZB sites I may try but I have no need at this point..

I just picked up on your post that said most of the retention means zero, I agree with you, especially if the files are corrupt or degraded, and it seems to be happening a lot more now then it did in the earlier days of Usenet..
You also said Giganews repaired the problem quickly... What did you say to the person(I have used online chat plus sent tickets in) to correct retention??
Every once and a while I will have a connection issue with them that is fixed really quick, but when I have asked them I can't access files in a Binary Group, they usually don't say much or say they are not responsible for what is uploaded in a groups...

There was a few others offshore accounts that were mentioned at my other paid NZB sites I may try but I have no need at this point..


Thanks again Beck38....









There was a few others offshore accounts that were mentioned at my other paid NZB sites I may try but I have no need at this point..

[Beck38]

I gave Giganews the same info that Astra got, the posting date that things got flaky, and at what point back they seemed to get okay.

Cost differential between GN and Astra is about $150/yr., comparing the GN 'Platinum' (max retention, 20 connections) v. Astra 'Unlimited DSL' (also 20 connections), IF one gets an Astra 'deal' of $8/month. Some folks have problems getting maximum throughput with 20 connections, I easily 'swamp' my ISP bandwidth with 15, in my tests I easily get 100Mb/s with as few as 12.

Giganews is a bit slower; they also have what might be termed 'hyper-ports' from major cities that give folks a direct connection to the server plant in LA., but the 20 connections with the 'Platinum' level just barely gets the throughput up to around 80Mb/s on a 'good' day, which is why they offer 50 connections with their 'Diamond' plan (some $260+ above Astra's).

The retention on the last posting (26Jul) seems to be holding, after a slight dip at 5 days in, it actually appears to have 'cured' itself a bit. But the 1Aug posting is still very bad, as is all those previous to it, I see no improvement going back to the first of the year.

[shaina]

I gave Giganews the same info that Astra got, the posting date that things got flaky, and at what point back they seemed to get okay.
Cost differential between GN and Astra is about $150/yr., comparing the GN 'Platinum' (max retention, 20 connections) v. Astra 'Unlimited DSL' (also 20 connections), IF one gets an Astra 'deal' of $8/month. Some folks have problems getting maximum throughput with 20 connections, I easily 'swamp' my ISP bandwidth with 15, in my tests I easily get 100Mb/s with as few as 12.
Giganews is a bit slower; they also have what might be termed 'hyper-ports' from major cities that give folks a direct connection to the server plant in LA., but the 20 connections with the 'Platinum' level just barely gets the throughput up to around 80Mb/s on a 'good' day, which is why they offer 50 connections with their 'Diamond' plan (some $260+ above Astra's).
The retention on the last posting (26Jul) seems to be holding, after a slight dip at 5 days in, it actually appears to have 'cured' itself a bit. But the 1Aug posting is still very bad, as is all those previous to it, I see no improvement going back to the first of the year.

Like I said I am in Ontario Canada and I have the Giganews Platinum plan (ran a promo with 25 connections wide open), and to me if I use 10 or 25 connections there is not that much difference in download speed for me, and It is higher than 80mbps(the plan is still open bandwidth) depending on what binary group it is being downloaded from changes the speed it is showing on the program(Alt Binz), but I have never come close in maxing out my ISP speeds (250Mbps plus). But I am using Alt Binz (yes it is old but I like it:)), and I have tried other Usenet downloaders and the speeds show they are downloading faster but the time completion is almost the same as the other programs (I still extract manually no auto stuff) it just shows a different download speed, so I could never answer honestly on the true speeds or bandwidth it is using.

And you saying about where the Usenet plants are located(eg. Giganews) do make a difference in the speeds, they never advertise/tell you that, not even in fine print.

And to get the $8 dollar deal with Astra you have to purchase a year of service(normally $12-$15), and as I said to save money in Usenet, and be locked into an unreliable/temperamental service like Usenet, I would never do. Not saying $150 or so isn't a lot but you end up paying more when you are locked into a shitty service, and have to get out or now end up with 3 providers instead of 2 (which they are now recommending 3 anyways to get no loss in downloading).

Again I will ask(nicely:)), the files your are testing are yours you uploaded, you are still not willing to share on the uploaded locations :yup:
So sharing the fruits of 1080p uploads from you are off limits for the regular folks right??:whistling
Just mentioning it again because you won't give an answer on that:), but you do mention your uploads are more reliable:yup:

Shay

[Beck38]

All the files tested were ones I uploaded (to Astra/US, and went through a test routine on all), and if one were 'quick on the draw' the $8/month deal is available 'month to month' when they run (or ran) 'deals'. That's what I'm locked in at, payment through paypal.

All the uploads are properly 'scrambled' (filename as well as rar/passworded) but extremely easy to 'decode' if one has about one nano-watt of brainpower to use. I'm sure you've tripped over all the different 'easy' filename scrambling (reverse letters, you name it), I came up with one that is even easier than that (take the filename and run it through 'the google') and process the download as you normally would and the rar/password (again) becomes very apparent.

Reliable? No more so that anyone else, but I do monitor NZBIndex and Binsearch to see if they capture 100% (or nearly so) of the parts posted, and run download checks on various servers (again, Astra and Giga primarily). I also don't try and 'skimp' on pars, never going below 10% and with smaller rar packages (<10GB) going up to 20%. So it takes an extra few minutes to generate, and a few more to post, no big deal.

In the last 15 years of using Astra, I've caught their plants (both US and EU) 'fading' a good half dozen times, and during the same period caught Giganews once.

This current Astra loss is affecting newer posted items, but I'm re-running a 'long duration' test right now, and it appears that a fairly high loss exists even going back several years, which when I first became away of the problem some 2 months ago, there was a distinct 'cliff' to the loss right around 6+ months previous, where things all of a sudden got very good (<1% errors). Re-running that now is showing upwards of 10% loss on things as far back as 2-3 years, I'm running more tests going back further right now. As always, I test the 'bad' files on Giganews and/or Blocknews, and they come back 100%.

UPDATE:
Every time I've ever seen a large scale 'fade' on any retention (particularly Astra), there has been a 'cliff' point where the fades disappear; at the first week in August, I found that point to be about 5-6 months back of where the fading started, i.e., it started about 2 weeks previous to that August point, and pretty much disappeared by the end of January (2015) and things posted in late 2014 (Nov/Dec) were coming in at near 100%.

That's all gone. Although there are 'good patches' of an occasional fair (<5% corruption) nzb retrieval, going back 4+ years and the majority of files are corrupted to the 15-25+% level. The US plant also appears to not maintain good connectivity, dropping the number of connections you have set (I set the number of connections to 15, which gives me max 100Mb/s, and it drops to as low as 3-4) slowing significantly the throughput.

I think at this point, with my ticket at Astra still open, that I'm moving base operations to Giganews, and folks who aren't 'locked-in' to Astra start seriously thinking about jumping ship.

[shaina]

Beck38...

That is amazing you got a $8 on a monthly basis is amazing.... I think the cheapest I paid was $10(most of them were) and at the time Giga was $15(not unlimited). It was always more than every one else, and if the speeds dropped that bad on Giga it would be fixed fast, and all the years I have used them the speeds have never done that, there was connection problems but once that was fixed the speeds were always consistent, plus I thought it was a scam when Supernews popped up and they were running a greedy launch to get into the price wars, and pick up people from Astra, because there was a period that there takedowns were much less then Giga, but now seeing your testing , I am sticking with Giga and just pick up a offshore account if needed.

But really in your opinion... What really could be causing it?? If the uploader is possibly using Astra to upload to the servers(binary groups), I would assume he can see the files are not complete, and if I remember the good posters would go back and load more par files, so it is funny that it works on some Usenet providers with ease and some, well you showed us that. And some of the regular uploaders must have incredible upload speeds, because they are uploading all the files in minutes....(like open pipe connections up and down). To me I have to say it is strange that it is happening, and I assume the Binary Group is the same for all the providers right??

Again myself being persistent and kind of pushy would you mention the group or the name you are posting with (I do accept PM's :lol::lol:). There just may be a few that are gone from other posters and be nice to get :D

And again I think it is going to be hard for a lot of people that are locked in or paid for the year in advance, I guess you just have to say bye or keep it as a spare and join one or two more Usenet providers to pick up the slack...and if I was not locked in I would have dropped there ass and moved on to someone else in less than a week of that crap. I refuse to pay money for shitty service no matter what excuse they use. People just forget they can always cancel the new provider and go back anytime they want...

Thanks Beck38

[Beck38]

Several years ago, apparently when Astra was needing some more monthly folks, they'd run the $8/month thing just about every other month. I'll keep it for a bit more time, but more to see what happens in the next 6 months or so.

I've just about come to the conclusion they don't know what's going on, and don't have the smarts to really come to grips with the actual problem. I think that the s/w they are running is old, creaky, and at this point a patchwork of 'fixes' and such, and they've let the folks who were there a bit closer to the start of it all (say, 10+ years ago or so) take a hike, so their possibility in running the problem down is pretty slim at best. I've been on projects with companies that did exactly that (get rid of the older, expensive people and hire folks off the street to do the job) but they ended up redoing their entire system 2-3 years later since all those newbies couldn't tie their shoelaces. The cost, of course, was much greater in the long-run, but the 'executives' that made that initial decision had gotten their bonuses and moved on down the road.

But it does come back and bite them in the rear. From all the complaints here and elsewhere over the last couple of months, Astra may end up really damaging their user-base.

[shaina]

Beck38

It is funny that you would figure with all the competition in this business they would train the front staff to be more helpful and try to resolve problems. It is not like a ISP company that there may be 3-5 choices If!! and that is it, and in those instances I never speak to the first person who answers on the other end. Usually the first thing out of my mouth is hello, confirm my personal information, give my Pin ID(some make and request), and put me right through to retention (cancellation!!), they have all the true deals and power and do care to keep you as a customer by trying to resolve any problems you really have. But that isn't so in Usenet so those front people are the most important, and they are too stupid to realize it.. Oh well, plus I know with some of the providers I used in the past said if you come back within a certain period they will honor your original price you were paying.
For Instance..... I was paying $25 for Giga and they ran a promo on one of the judging sites for $20 , so they dropped my monthly price and game me a few months free, plus if I did leave them for a few months they always reinstated my lowest price, and if they added new features I got those added automatically.

Again I agree with you on Astra, but the problem is it will be too late because of the front people not giving 2 shits if you stay or cancel and the new people in some the positions hired are called lackies and the higher up jobs are consultants paper pushers/ass kissers that have no idea what is going on.

I will tell you a true story that happened this year.... My sons girlfriend just graduated her 4th year of university(graduated computer programing and graphics engineering), she was flown down to Seattle, Amazons Headquarters, and was offered a 2 year contract over $100,000.00 plus moving expenses and bonuses a year without blinking.
You have to ask yourself Why??
It is very simple the older people there have consulting experience to run a project but have no idea what the project is about, call them the paper pushers!!.
Now these young hungry people coming out of university can be molded and at least have knowledge on what is being designed or they can troubleshoot.
She did turn it down because she is now doing her Masters, but they said there will be other positions around the world and didn't shut the door on her..

But even the front people that make less have to be motivated to work and if a company doesn't do there homework they are fucked. IBM not long ago just got rid of all the older consultants and project managers (buyouts), because all they did was performance reports and had no clue or knowledge of what the project entails, be it software writing or building a prototype of something. These kids coming out of College and University have more knowledge in 4 years then they had in there lifetime...

I do think Astra will be ok and sooner or later and get there shit together, and they will run a promo out there and get customers back. But I guess time will tell.....

Shay

[stryk]

Holy shit this thread is incredible! I'm kinda sad I only just discovered it, but I don't often visit the forums. Although I ditched Astra several months back (gleefully), this is still a very interesting read.

Beck38, you obviously put in a lot of time & effort on this, thank you for sharing your results.

[Beck38]

Unfortunately, all this kinda happened right in the middle of me moving, so it basically blindsided me when I got things set back up and running (luckily, same ISP although I moved 100+ miles).

Right at the same time Astra took a dump, so did Giganews/Supernews, and as it sits right now none of them (except slight improvement at Supernews) have recovered at all, and Giganews has gotten worse (posted articles begin to degrade at 2 weeks old).

For those who 'look down' at the Highwinds providers (Newshosting through Blocknews et. al.) they are clean as a whistle all the way back to early 2009. So for those who need a good fills provider, there is no better than Blocknews or Usenet-News or any of the Highwinds blocks. For those who can 'jump ship' on Giganews/Astra, there is no better than Newshosting/UNS, although the Newshosting search engine (provided through their own 'Usenet Browser' app, has proved to be better than the 'built in' searcher in UNS. Compares favorably to Giganews' 'Mimo'.

I'll keep a lookout on Giganews/Astraweb to see if they ever improve, but at 3 months into this, it appear they simply don't care.

[St0ry]

Anyone else experiencing severe completion issues with Astra starting a couple days ago? Not a huge issue as I have a fairly reliable EU backup but is significantly slower.

It may be time for me to look into another provider...

[Stehle]

I've been alternating with Frugal (Under 300 days retention.) and Astra (Over 300 days retention.)

(Still a pain, but allows me to pluck audio books posted 1000+ days (Never it seems to be posted again.) and the more current stuff with nary an error. ;)

Thanks again Beck38 & shaina for providing such detailed information. :)

(Ohh... hitting about $15 per month achieving the above.)

Still watching... ;)

[Beck38]

Astra/US and Giganews/US haven't improved one bit in the last month+; everything older than a couple of weeks to around 2+ years old are hosed (anywhere from 15-30% parts corrupted. If one goes back 3+ years it's in fairly good shape.

So, from the earliest complaints (going on 2+ months now), no improvements whatsoever.

[alecoddlyiv]

Anyone else experiencing severe completion issues with Astra starting a couple days ago? Not a huge issue as I have a fairly reliable EU backup but is significantly slower.

It may be time for me to look into another provider...

yeah ive been having probs with a lot of new season tv stuffs, whats your EU backup?

[Beck38]

If you're chasing unencrypted/unobfuscated tv fare, which generally has a big 'DMCA/Delete me' sign stuck on it, you're going to be out of luck unless you're running a 'quick grab' system triggered by some semi-hidden trick, or hope that some eu server (or maybe some us one for that matter) drags it's feet for a couple of days, but has found that no banks will process their subscriber fees.

This thread has nothing to do with that, but with the overall performance (or lack thereof) of both Astraweb/US and Astraweb/EU.

[Hypatia]

Beck38

For those who 'look down' at the Highwinds providers

but you know it's not that... it's just we can't stand Highwinds anti-usenet business practice..trying to monopolize the whole thing and then do who knows what..

[Beck38]

All I can say is that, for right now (and it looks like the foreseeable future) that the highwinds plants are being run far better than the other two 'big boys' on the block, Giganews and Astraweb.

Astra is now having major problems with their outside payment processor as well, in addition to the data retention foul-ups, to the point I may end up dropping them.

I don't believe that highwinds will buy up Giga or Astra, although maybe Astra could be targeted (it being the smaller of the two).