Fill Servers

Thank you for the comments. I did this because I was having trouble with completion on older articles with both UNS & BN (readnews reseller). The problems with older articles isn't just limited to Highwinds resellers. As I previously stated, I did not include Astraweb in this list for a couple reasons: 1) No free trial. Canceling in 24hrs is a bit silly, should be 3 days or 3GB min. 2) While there may be a very passionate following, there are just as many people reporting issues with Astraweb. 3) I'm not done yet! I'll get to them, I promise. I plan on purchasing a small block account for testing, and I will add them to the list asap.

Edit: Just purchased an Astraweb account: Very fast header d/ls.

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Eweka is owned by Highwinds.

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Are you certain of this? Their IP doesn't resolve to highwinds, and the information I have says that they are independent.

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News servers belonging to 'Readnews' resellers give false results to NZB Download Checker and NZB File Validator, if the checks can even be completed.

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This exact issue was the substance of a support request I had with BN. While the support is awesome, the issue is unresolved. NZB checkers stall when trying to verify the validity of an NZB on BNs servers. I'm not certain of the cause, but I get a "501 Newsgroup" error. Bottom line is, older movies struggle consistently on this provider, while older series seem to have great completion.

I have received emails from both Megabitz (6/7/11) & Cheapnews (6/8/11); I filed both tickets on 6/5/11.

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Beste ***Redacted***,

Er is gereageerd op uw ticket met ticketnummer: xxxx.

08-06-2011 - Cheapnews
Dear customer,

Last Monday/Tuesday we have experienced some troubles in our ticket system. We have had a delay of 24 hours in our system. We recieved all tickets and we are busy replying to all open tickets.

We apologize for the inconvenience,

Cheapnews

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Cheapnews did not have any parts of 3 movies I was missing from UNS or BN, neither has Hitnews, or Stealthnews, I'm just giving up on these files for now.

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Megabitz Webuser wrote:
> What is the status of your service? Your website looks quite out of date, and
server status shows a failed disk. I'm interested in getting an account, but
the lack of updates makes me wary.
> Thanks.

Greetings -

We are currently offering services. We have a vacancy in our website
dept., which explains the status of the website. The server status is
currently being worked on. Please feel free to open an account; we
offer an eight day free trial, so you've got nothing to lose!


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Thank you!

Megabitz Support

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I've run 3 websites (with small communities) myself. It doesn't take that long to update your website, especially if it's supposed to be your full-time job. If, in a forty hour week, you can't find the time after 6 months to fix your pricing, I'm not too optimistic about your ability to provide good service. I'll pass for now, if anyone has any experiences with them I'd still like to hear about it.

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Originally Posted by toastysoul

I did this because I was having trouble with completion on older articles with both UNS & BN (readnews reseller). The problems with older articles isn't just limited to Highwinds resellers.

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Agreed. I think you will find, however, that Highwinds is definitely the worst.

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Originally Posted by toastysoul

As I previously stated, I did not include Astraweb in this list for a couple reasons: 1) No free trial. Canceling in 24hrs is a bit silly, should be 3 days or 3GB min. 2) While there may be a very passionate following, there are just as many people reporting issues with Astraweb.

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Even a 3-day refund policy would be barely enough time on a weekend because Astraweb does not provide tech support over weekends -- even for new customers who are having trouble just getting started. (my biggest complaint with Astraweb) But I don't think Astraweb (or any other USP) refunds block accounts at all. But used as a backup/fill provider, an Astraweb block account is virtually risk free.

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Originally Posted by toastysoul

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Originally Posted by zot

Eweka is owned by Highwinds.

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Are you certain of this? Their IP doesn't resolve to highwinds, and the information I have says that they are independent.

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Who is telling you that Eweka is independent? One of the many dime-a-dozen "review" sites full of paid referral links?

If you "Google" Highwinds and Eweka, (and use Google Tranlate if needed) you can easily find the answer:

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Eweka overgenomen door het Amerikaanse Highwinds Capital / Eweka acquired by American (company) Highwinds Capital

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http://www.ispam.nl/archives/759/eweka-overgenomen-door-het-amerikaanse-highwinds-capital/

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Also, Eweka apparently has the same retention and completion as other Highwinds llabels. Also shares Highwinds numerous DMCA takedowns, which it seems, other Dutch providers rarely get hit with.

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Originally Posted by toastysoul

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News servers belonging to 'Readnews' resellers give false results to NZB Download Checker and NZB File Validator, if the checks can even be completed.

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This exact issue was the substance of a support request I had with BN. While the support is awesome, the issue is unresolved. NZB checkers stall when trying to verify the validity of an NZB on BNs servers. I'm not certain of the cause, but I get a "501 Newsgroup" error. Bottom line is, older movies struggle consistently on this provider, while older series seem to have great completion.

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Reports of Readnews' inaccurate NZB Completion Checker results is news to me. I will say that Readnews article checks take an unusually long time to finish compared to other servers, although it never stalled on me completely. Unlike Highwinds, I never verified Readnews results.

At least Highwinds seems to be consistent (and very fast) in what gets reported to NZB Download Checker compared to what actually downloads. I know this because several times I went back and checked completion after downloading a very-incomplete file -- something I should have checked first.

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Originally Posted by toastysoul

Cheapnews did not have any parts of 3 movies I was missing from UNS or BN, neither has Hitnews, or Stealthnews, I'm just giving up on these files for now.

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It's also possible that the original uploader was to blame. Were the files reported as being complete on search engines such as Binsearch?

Regarding Megabitz: It was reportedly an excellent provider when it first started. Then one day the service stopped working, the emails went unanswered, and the company rep who had been a regular contributor on Slyck's forum suddenly disappeared and never posted again. Megabitz then went quiet for months - if not years. The webpage never changed. People who had bought multi-month accounts at Megabitz presumably lost everything. That happened several years ago. I'd be curious to learn when the company started answering emails again.