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Thread: Highwinds' retention improves, completion gets worse

  1. #1
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    The good news: Highwinds retention has been bumped up, now exactly matches Astraweb.

    The bad news: Highwinds completion is still piss-poor!



    Here's a sample (500 day) file from Highwinds (barely par-fixable) using NZB Download Checker:





    Same file on Astraweb (perfect completion):





    This was the first file I downloaded in several weeks. After my last report on Highwinds dismal retention, I had thought that Highwinds would have improved its completion by now. (*I thought wrong*.) Although it was salvageable, this file on Highwinds was only 2 par blocks away from being unrecoverable! Is it just my bad luck, or is this sort of piss-poor retention typical for Highwinds these days?

    Since Astraweb and Highwinds both started spooling retention at about the same time back in 2008, Highwinds has always lagged Astraweb's retention by a month or more. I would like to know where this extra retention (posts made 15August2008 - 15Sep2008) came from -- retention that Highwinds has never had for the past 3 years. It seems quite a "coincidence" that Highwinds and Astraweb now have identical retention. Unless maybe Highwinds bought --or stole-- the missing volumes from Astraweb's server?

    ........................................................................................................................................

    Interestingly, on Highwinds this 969-day-old post - at the very edge of retention range - has better completion than the above 500-day post.

    Last edited by zot; 04-15-2011 at 06:22 AM.

  2. Newsgroups   -   #2
    mjmacky's Avatar an alchemist?
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    I'm sniffing something... it smells like a "which NSP is better" fight is a brewin'

  3. Newsgroups   -   #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by zot View Post
    Interestingly, on Highwinds this 969-day-old post - at the very edge of retention range - has better completion than the above 500-day post.
    Shows the 'up and down' of their plant, where in the 900+ day range things were 'going good', then in the 500 day range things fell 'off the tracks'. And, they aren't using any 'fills' from other operators (Giga, Astra, et. al.) to 'back-fill' such 'fades' in their plant.

    Luckily, one can get 'block' accounts from Astra or others to help out, but it's been years and years since Giga did 'blocks', which is too bad.

    Every once in awhile I see little 'blips' in just about every server plant out there, a least in the groups/servers I tend to monitor, but for the 'super-majors' (Giga, Astra, etc.) it's few and far between (like maybe one 'blip' in 2-3 months or so).

  4. Newsgroups   -   #4
    @zot - we have had this discussion before - grabbing a file that is copyrighted material which subject to DMCA takedowns and using it as example to constitute calling all of any one provider's retention poor, for lack of a better word is just dumb. Don't know which provider you used, but this is obviously a DMCA takedown. What is important is the issue that the file was still repairable. No one really talks about it, but it is generally accepted in the community that Astraweb just straight up ignores DMCA takedown requests....Other reputable nsps not located in Syngapore don't have that luxury. And I don't have anything against Astraweb, but I am just saying so people don't confuse the issue. I am using Newshosting and the speed and completion are excellent, yes they do have to adhere to DMCA takedowns, but so goes Giganews and their incompletes on average are far worse.

    Here is a totally random file I grabbed from Newshosting that was 520 days old - its an image of Ubuntu - as you can see from the image below the file is 99% complete - hardly poor completion.


    This image shows that there was 2 puny little segments missing from the whole file set - that's is just 2 segments of one part (.rar) of the fileset - not even something to blink at
    Last edited by nntpjunkie; 04-15-2011 at 05:34 PM. Reason: Automerged Doublepost
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  5. Newsgroups   -   #5
    I did a test here on an NZB file of 938 days on newshosting and it worked fine .. Fast actually . Im here in the southern part of south america too traveling




    Message headers are only at about 700 days -- im getting a clarification on that from Newshosting but here is what my test on message header showed


    http://usenetreviewz.com/usenetserver-newshosting-and-easynews-retention-increases/
    Last edited by Skiz; 04-26-2011 at 08:38 AM.

  6. Newsgroups   -   #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by nntpjunkie View Post
    @zot - we have had this discussion before - grabbing a file that is copyrighted material which subject to DMCA takedowns and using it as example to constitute calling all of any one provider's retention poor, for lack of a better word is just dumb.
    I remember this discussion as well but what also I remember is that you either own or are part of that crappy site in your signature which has numerous highwinds ads on it so it is no wonder you are pimping them you are on there bank roll! They could turn off there servers and you would still pimp them out i bet!

    Why cant people factor in DMCA stuff when they look at how crappy a provider is? Us end users simply want to download. If a shit ton of stuff comes back that we want as missing it really doesnt matter the reason. Are we suppose to only look for stuff all the time that wont be taken down? If it is missing, it is missing, period and since it can be retrieved from other good providers then that is what sets the best apart from the rest. As an end user, all i care about is if it is there or not.

    I really dont think astraweb or usenetnow ignores them either. they have servers in the USA which could easily be seized if they did ignore them. Maybe it is just that highwinds and giganews provide there own lube so they can get f*cked by the **AA's?

  7. Newsgroups   -   #7
    it smells like a "which NSP is better" fight is a brewin' \\
    Unless they stop DMCAing stuff they are no match to AW

    but this is obviously a DMCA takedown.
    bollocks

    stuff that was DMCAed doesnt look like this


    Other reputable nsps not located in Syngapore don't have that luxury
    Its not a luxur. Its business

    Yeah!BINGO!Stop introducing lame MIMOs, lame VPNs, lame "private stash"service. Move your office to dmca free zone and be happy

    its an image of Ubuntu
    im sorry ,man,but who the fuck cares about your ubuntu that is a freeware?
    people pay for usenet not for this,and providers DO know it very well

  8. Newsgroups   -   #8
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    As to speculation that the *incomplete* file I posted above was the result of a DMCA takedown, that's a false assumption. Taken-down files are not going have completely-random articles missing, but instead show a regular pattern of missing blocks - which is generally the first segment in every rar/par file. At least that's how H.B.O. does it. Other copyright cops will have the release deleted in its entirety.

    Also, as to speculation that Astraweb ignores DMCA takedown notices - does anyone here really think that the company owners would want their million-dollar-plus server farm seized and carted away by the FBI? Because that's exactly what would happen if they were treat takedown demands like The Pirate Bay. Although its true that, like most foreign-owned providers, Astraweb apparently did not register with the US copyright office, the company claims to promptly remove all infringing/illegal content upon request.


    I might be accused of picking on Highwinds in particular, but as (probably) the world's biggest NSP, I expect more out of them.

    Considering that Highwinds is actually 5 *formerly-separate* usenet providers rolled-into-one, one might expect the service to be 5 times as good as others (or perhaps as good as 5 USPs combined). But it's certainly not. Maybe I'm a bit biased because I also don't think the public was served when Highwinds bought out most of its competitors and tried to corner the market, but that's another issue entirely.

    I think that Highwinds management probably would have made better use of their time and money by fixing their existing completion problems rather than adding a new slab of retention (which I assume they probably got from Astraweb). It's well known that Astraweb back-fills its missing articles by buying bandwidth from other companies - yet Highwinds would rather do nothing about its incompletes month after month.

    Although it seems that more and more resellers are dumping them, Highwinds is still the most-used American backend by far. Thankgod for block accounts and newsreaders that support fill-servers.

  9. Newsgroups   -   #9
    the company claims to promptly remove all infringing/illegal content upon request.
    With all due respect,zot, i claim to be Santa Claus


    Ive yet to find DMCAed release on AW. And i tried lots of stuff that is the main target of dmca mafia
    Im not saying that it will always be like this( considering globalisation) but i do think AW is safe ATM


    onsidering that Highwinds is actually 5 *formerly-separate* usenet providers rolled-into-one, one might expect the service to be 5 times as good as others
    I believe you are wrong on this assumption.
    Merging companies into one is a bitch. There will always be minor "glitches", problems in the middle of the process and for quite some time after it is done.
    The goal of a good company is to minimize those problems and get rid of them ASAP.
    Highwinds does seem not to care anymore.
    Last edited by Hypatia; 04-17-2011 at 01:53 PM.

  10. Newsgroups   -   #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hypatia View Post
    onsidering that Highwinds is actually 5 *formerly-separate* usenet providers rolled-into-one, one might expect the service to be 5 times as good as others
    I believe you are wrong on this assumption.
    Merging companies into one is a bitch. There will always be minor "glitches", problems in the middle of the process and for quite some time after it is done.
    I agree that it's no small feat cobbling together a half-dozen separate outfits to create the biggest usenet provider company on the planet. But that's now ancient history. How many more years do we need to wait before they fix these 'glitches'?

    If I remember (halfway?) correctly, Highwinds started its own service about 2004, then bought Newshosting in 2005, Easynews and Usenetserver in 2006, and Eweka.nl in 2007.

    In 2007, Highwinds shut down its two US servers (Phoenix and NY) and moved all customers to Usenetserver's Atlanta server. (That's when I started noticing service getting worse; slow speeds [especially SSL], no connection, poor completion, etc)

    Then in 2008, the Atlanta server (which had not had a retention increase in 2 years) was shut down and customers were moved to their Washington DC server. (Newshosting's server was already located in DC - but I don't know if Newshosting's server was shared or not)

    Nothing major has changed in the last 2.5 years. Highwinds has not bought any more companies with usenet server farms, or relocated farms or migrated customers. Events have been comparatively stagnant during this time. (Easynews went through a major disaster 2 years ago, but that's another story). Highwinds has now had plenty of time to concentrate on fixing the glitches and honing the quality of its service -- as well as backfill its ever-eroding completion. So what's Highwind's problem?

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