Block account advice

Looking for a block account (fill server) to diversify or another service outright to go along with Usenetserver.

Any suggestions for EU or non EU? I tried Tweaknews and they are not bad, just slow but are there any other that I should try or just go with them. I usually like to run at least one, maybe two so I ask for any info you might wish to share -- feel free to PM me if you like as well.

I have been with UNS for years and have no real issues, just the occasional takedown but in the past while using two I had less issue - like to get back there.

Regards

Depends a bit on what you're looking for, a 'major' or 'semi-major' with great to excellent retention, or something way off the 'beaten path' with slow takedowns but most probably with low retention.

Other than any of the 'majors' that still offer block accounts (Astra, UNS, etc) the best is probably Blocknews (both US and EU servers). The blocks don't 'expire' (like some; I have a rather large/cheap bucket 'o bits I bought several years ago that I'm still nibbling away on) although they do 'charge' somewhat for headers (they give like a 10% overage to account for that), but like I said, it never 'expires'.

Thanks for the reply. I am pretty much looking for get something with "less" takedowns since retention means little to me. I think a block account would be ideal but I would be okay with a decent monthly server too. UNS and tweak are decent together and I have no issues yet other than speed with Tweak but I would like to have that third option available in case things go south. Appreciate any advice.

does uns it get the same missing files as tweak.i see ur having speed issues with tweaknews does the same issue arise with the (uns) as i would prefer something faster than tweak as i suspect ur having the same issues with speed that i and many others have.what speeds were you getting with tweak if you dont mind me asking.

UNS and Tweak have different backends so for me they work okay together. As for speed, with Tweak I was getting 25-30mb, about half of my line speed most days. Not too bad overall since I use it at a fill server so..

I've used Blocknews. Pretty useless. Wouldn't recommend them. Other than that... :idunno:

Search the forums here or over at reddit/usenet

Question has been asked and answered plenty of times.

@Skiz - will add blocknews to the no thanks list, thanks again and Μολὼν Λαβέ



Mods -- can close this thread if you wish. I pretty much got it sorted. Peace

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Originally Posted by DohMein

@Skiz - will add blocknews to the no thanks list, thanks again and

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Blocknews is the best of the USA providers. If you are going to sign up with different providers thinking you can download targeted content several days old or older you are going to have a bad time regardless of who you choose.

It sounds like you download on a regular basis so really any of them should be fine except astraweb.

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Originally Posted by hdjunky

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Originally Posted by DohMein

@Skiz - will add blocknews to the no thanks list, thanks again and

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Blocknews is the best of the USA providers. If you are going to sign up with different providers thinking you can download targeted content several days old or older you are going to have a bad time regardless of who you choose.

It sounds like you download on a regular basis so really any of them should be fine except astraweb.

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I would tend to agree, especially as Astra/US is my primary 'feed', but would (as I and others have repeatedly said over the years) use the 'opposite' feed (EU if US is prime, or US if EU is prime) as the first 'secondary', THEN put Blocknews (and perhaps even another secondary feed) as 3rd or 4th selections, if your downloading s/w allows it (SABnzbD certainly does).

In terms of pricing, Astraweb seems to have the best non-expiring block pricing. 1TB for $50 U.S.

I use Newsgroupdirect. They have many block sales. Email alerts for their sales (eg. Terabyte Tuesdays) 1Tb for $40 -50 . Depends on sale. $20, $30 ones -- 300GB-500GB. It varies. Signup for email alerts to catch them.

I'm not advocating them one way or another, but NGD has $80 3TB blocks for the next 34 hours as of this post. Just saying.

EDIT: Expired.

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Originally Posted by Skiz

I've used Blocknews. Pretty useless. Wouldn't recommend them. Other than that... :idunno:

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I'm curious as to what problems you've had with Blocknews? They've been pretty decent for me, but then again I don't download nearly as much as I used to.

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Originally Posted by Rart

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Originally Posted by Skiz

I've used Blocknews. Pretty useless. Wouldn't recommend them. Other than that... :idunno:

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I'm curious as to what problems you've had with Blocknews? They've been pretty decent for me, but then again I don't download nearly as much as I used to.

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Blocknews was decent for me, but I'm finding they've been suffering for a lot more takedowns lately. I ran into two things today that were taken down within 30 to 45 minutes of posting. It sucks because my main server is Sunny Usenet and they've gotten really bad too... so both my main server and fill server have crapped the bed..... luckily my year is almost up on Sunny.. time to find a replacement.