What provider right for me?

[.KNK]

I imagine there's quite a few threads on this topic but Iv got some specific requirments.

1. I'm on sprint mobile broadband. Out in the country it's the only thing available. It's actually through a reseller, $70 per month for unlimited. My speeds are about 2MB down.

Also I live in texas. I'd like to get 300+retention but don't want to pay a bunch per month for good service.

I think I'm going to give astraweb a try, and then take their $96 1 year plan if I like it. Any advice?

[zot]

Are you aware that -like most other mobile broadband- Sprint imposes a 5 gigabyte per month limit on its "unlimited" service? Go over the 5GB limit and you'll then be charged by the byte and could get slapped with a very painful bill.

I think that Clearwire is the only wireless broadband service that offers anything approaching "unlimited" bandwidth - but Clearwire is available in only a few places, Texas being one of them.

Back to usenet providers. There are many choices available, but I think most people here will agree that you won't go wrong choosing Astraweb. I use Astraweb and so do many other FST members.

[.KNK]

The reseller is called Millenicom, they work off sprint and verizon. In some areas they're offering truly unlimited service with sprint. I assume sprint is only letting areas with a small amount of users get this service. It costs $10 more than regular Millenicom service.

[zot]

Millenicom does not seem to have a hard-cap like most of the rest, but I bet they will start throttling you if you start racking up big numbers.

Please note our service is not for those who require heroic usage (continual or excessive amounts of any of the following: gaming, online TV, file sharing, video streaming, movie downloading etc).

http://www.millenicom.com/mobilebroadband/

In the pre-cap days of Sprint and Verizon, quite a few people complained of being throttled, but the rules were apparently very inconsistently applied.

If "excessive" usage turned out to be 5GB/month, I'd like to know what bandwidth amount it takes for usage become "heroic"

[.KNK]

That's their $60 dolor service, I'm on the $70 unlimited one. Though I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't last too long.

I got 25GB for $10 from astraweb, seems good so I'll probably get the 1 year deal in a bit.

[ericab]

rock on
cant go wrong with astraweb. njoy

[NewsgroupRev]

The best deals I know of are the Astraweb and UseNetServer annual accounts which are both around $96 a year. I prefer monthly commitments but agree that Astraweb is a solid choice.

[EyeBaller]

Depending on how much you're downloading (esp with a 2mb stream) the $25 block account of 180gb might be better.

[hdjunky]

1. I'm on sprint mobile broadband. Out in the country it's the only thing available.

Hello fellow Sprint user! Only thing different from my setup is that i get about 1 - 1.5 MBit down, however when I need to go on a usenet download binge, I have WiFi networks in town that I hop on. Unlike you though, I have a 5 gig cap.

Anywho, to answer your question, I have tried about all sites out there for usenet. Because our connections are fairly slow, they can all pretty much max out our speeds, although it does not take much.

Somebody mentioned block accounts, your best deal is most likely with Blocknews.net....200 gigs for the same astraweb charges for less. Actually, Blocknews prices all around are the best block prices, even more so than usenet-news

They also got unlimited accounts with Usenetnow.net...Same deal as astrawebs yearly account except you only have to pay for 6 months instead of a year. If you are thrifty with money, you should see it actually works out cheaper since that extra 50 bucks is still in your hands , earning interest instead of in Astrawebs possession.

Astraweb is good to, so is Usenetserver, although usenetserver has some making up to do to there customers from yester-year! In the end it is your money though! Cheers!

[mentallo]

I'd get a large GB block acct from Astraweb.com or Blocknews.net (sister site of Usenetnow). I doubt you'll even DL more than 50GB a month and if you do you'll get a call from your provider.