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Does anyone else think that NGroups sucks as a usenet service? I have been with them since they ran their October special, ($9.99/month) but I'm finding this deal is not worth it. Their encrypted server is SLOW and inconsistent due to overload, and their advertised 100+ day retention is not even close to 100 days (I had problems with files as new as 60 days). As the old adage says; you get what you pay for.
yes i agree with you :yup:
100 days retention was a fiction
i have been with Ngroups 3 months(Octoberfest),but i come to the same conclusion like yours.
i use astraweb [best priced service & retention 120 days(for the price)] or giganews never fails [200 days retention] but is a bit pricey
First of all, I assume that everyone knows that Ngroups - like probably about 99% of usenet "companies" [i.e., websites] out there - is a reseller, not a back-end provider. Therefore, the files you download actually come from a server farm owned and run by someone else.
Ngroups resells access to Highwinds/Usenetserver server farms, which is probably the most widely resold backend service provider.
It seems what usually happens is that the older files stored on the servers get corrupted somehow, and rather than just leaving files with a lot of incompletes, Highwinds will delete all those old files. I've seen retention suddenly drop more than 10 days at a time - across all groups.
So this is not just Ngroups, but all the resellers that use those same backend servers.
In contrast, Astraweb owns its server farm, and does not resell its service. But Astraweb is still having severe problems in the aftermath of a major disaster on both their US and EU server farms, so until they fix their problms, I would not recommend anyone buying an Astraweb account right now.
regarding encrypted SSL: I've noticed lately that the Ngroups/Usenet-News SSL server seems to be a lot slower per thread and requires a lot more connections to max-out my line. Even the Amsterdam server across the ocean is much faster per connection.
yes
When you know, you Giganews. :happy:
Yes, I suppose Giganews is the best, but I don't download enough to make it worth the money. That's why I went with NGroups, they were cheap at $9.99/month. I also liked the fact that they offered encrypted service at this price. Unfortunately, their encrypted service sucked bad, taking forever to connect and really S l O W.
So... I canceled Ngroups and bought 90gb of bandwidth from Astraweb. Realistically, that amount of bandwith should last me quite a while.
Hopefully Astraweb gets their problems handled.
Zot
Do you know what other news services use the Highwind servers? If there are many as you say, there must be a lot of pissed off people out there.
i got the same deal for 9.99 i use ngrups for like 5 months and every time have same crap whit SSL Connection, i change to giganews and never look back
Giganews here too.
Well worth every cent.
Lately I'm seeing a few more frustrated Giganews customers because they were unable to get a post that was nuked by a DMCA takedown notice.
Highwinds owns back-end providers Newshosting, Usenetserver, and now apparently Easynews. If you do a traceroute to the NNTP server address, you can see their details.Quote:
Originally Posted by colonblow87
For resellers, it seems SSL encryption is usually handled on the frontend server -- that's the server(s) that the reseller owns and maintains themselves. That's why SSL performance can vary greatly from one reseller to the next.
When Ngroups/Usenet-News first started offering SSL about a year and a half ago, on an experimental basis, it seemed a lot faster than it does now. I think that people should really only use SSL if they really need it -- such as if their ISP throttles usenet connections (on all ports) using packet shaping.
If you go to AnchorDudes Usenet Newsgroup Server FAQ - www.newsgroupservers.net - you can see the list of providers (actually resellers) that use Highwinds-owned backend servers.
Newshosting.com
Usenetserver.com
easynews.com
newsdemon.com
anonymousnewsfeed.com
blocknews.net
buzzardnews.com
flashnewsgroups.com
iunsenet.com
maximumusenet.com
meganetnews.com
news4u2.com
newsfeeds.com
newsgroupdirect.com
ngroups.net
teranews.com
thenewsgroups.com
thundernews.com
tigerusenet.com
titannews.com
uncensorednewsfeed.com
usenet.com
usenet.se
usenetguide.com
usenet-news.net
usenetrocket.com
cox.net (ISP)