how-to block ads
|
Comments on news posted 2008-07-23 16:15:35: For years, ISPs have been either outsourcing their newsgroup access or eliminating it as a perk altogether. ..
| |
 mworks
join:2006-06-13
Faison, NC
| Usenet usage isn't down because its obsolete I have used usenet since 1996. It was the best place to get information on various topics and interact with others. The problem is that to keep it that way it required moderation by the isp. If you posted spam, or posted binaries in text groups your isp could ban your account.
ISP don't like extra work like handling problematic customers. So as people go away from usenet, they are cheering , as it is one more thing they will not have to do and they can still charge more.
The other thing that hurts usenet is that it is not as user friendly as the web. It requires knowledge of things people have to learn, and people just want to click, they don't want to learn. | |
| | a1_Andy
Premium
join:2005-12-29
Peterborough, ON
 ·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Bell Sympatico
| Re: Usenet usage isn't down because its obsolete said by mworks  : I have used usenet since 1996. It was the best place to get information on various topics and interact with others. The problem is that to keep it that way it required moderation by the isp. If you posted spam, or posted binaries in text groups your isp could ban your account. ISP don't like extra work like handling problematic customers. So as people go away from usenet, they are cheering , as it is one more thing they will not have to do and they can still charge more. The other thing that hurts usenet is that it is not as user friendly as the web. It requires knowledge of things people have to learn, and people just want to click, they don't want to learn. I so agree with the above statement. | |
| | Typhoon1k
join:2008-04-27
San Antonio, TX
| said by mworks :The other thing that hurts usenet is that it is not as user friendly as the web. It requires knowledge of things people have to learn, and people just want to click, they don't want to learn. Back then I was into fidonet, then fidonet / usenet. At one time even ran a point. Now it's internet forums.
Yeah people now just want to only click for anything, no work or thinking wanted. When I first heard of usenet / internet years ago, I had to learn use command lines and shell prompts. DOS was what I first used for access and you didn't call tech support they only knew windows (3.x / 95). | |
| 
DOStradamus
MVM
join:2003-11-04
Santa Rosa, CA
| SONIC.NET!! While the CableVos, TelCos, and some others have obviously adopted business plans, dictated by their bean-counting management, with the goal of offering a short-list of enumerated network services rather than Internet connectivity, a few "real ISP's" still exist that are operated by "real internet people". Sonic.net is one of those, and there's apparently no offer that could ever be big enough to tempt the owners to sell. I know personally someone who tried to buy into them years ago, and heard a rumor about how swiftly an offer of several million dollars made by an independent telco was swept back out the door.
The owners' commitment to the company is complemented by their reverence to the traditions of the 'Net, and treat USENET access in an accordingly reverent manner.
They've always ran an in-house nttp server, and I've heard that it currently has several TB of drives online. Right now, I just counted 35830 different groups there. They handle "add newsgroup" requests courtously, and usually within hours. Limited access to Supernews is also provded as a backup to Sonic members.
Get real. Get Sonic. I've been over 10 years.
-NK | |
| | pstewart
Premium,VIP
join:2005-10-12
Peterborough, ON | Giganews is best I use Giga and they are by far the best I've ever used.. dealt with at least a dozen of the years...
--
Nexicom High Speed Internet - »www.nexicom.net/ | |
| | flyingjoey
join:2005-11-07
Jersey City, NJ | easynews customer here. do people still use IRC and Gopher? | |
| | | pstewart
Premium,VIP
join:2005-10-12
Peterborough, ON | Re: easynews customer here. IRC yes - Gopher, never used it much at the time but do remember it well..;) | |
| | | Darkk
join:2003-10-03
Almont, MI
 ·Charter Pipeline
| said by flyingjoey :do people still use IRC and Gopher? Yes, they sure do. Lot of folks use IRC, but not many know about the Gopher underground. Gopher+ still alive and kicking though, and open source now. | |
| 
dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ | Currently nobody AS easynews is now highwinds[low-breeze] | |
| 
Scree
In the pipe 5 by 5
join:2001-04-24
Mount Laurel, NJ
·Comcast
1 edit | newshosting.com newshosting.com - One of the oldest and original (meaning not a reseller) with good specs and a very cool discounted yearly deal. And they still carry groups services like giganews decided to no longer carry (yes, "questionable content" or whatever ones). | |
| | 
Goober
Premium
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL
·Comcast
·WOW Internet and C..
| Re: newshosting.com said by Scree :newshosting.com - One of the oldest and original (meaning not a reseller) with good specs and a very cool discounted yearly deal. And they still carry groups services like giganews decided to no longer carry (yes, "questionable content" or whatever ones). I believe Newshosting.com is now a Highwinds reseller. At least for a few months now.
I've tried many, but Giganews and their resellers are the current best I think.
Who I've had over the years (in rough order of use):
alt.net
Newsguy
Easynews
Airnews
Randori
Teranews
UsenetNews
Supernews
Newsfeeds
Newshosting
Astraweb
Giganews
Powerusenet
The last four on the list I had for relatively long amounts of time (Powerusenet is fairly recent though). But, there was a spell where Usenet providers were really not very good in general. So, I burned through a lot of them really quickly during the early days. | |
| 
alanhdsl
Premium
join:1999-10-09
Phoenix, AZ
·Qwest.net
| Too much trash I used usenet for a long time (notably misc.transport.road, alt.fan.cecil-adams, alt.tv.simpsons), but the spam and net.kooks drove me to moderated forums. My killfile was getting enormous, and it still wasn't helping. There are guys willing to open hundreds of accounts and post thousands of trash messages for years (example, though this is only a small percentage of his messages).
I was never in it for the binaries. Although I somewhat miss it, moderated forums like this one are way better. | |
| kwilsonjr
Premium
join:2008-04-15
El Cajon, CA
·Cox HSI
| Giganews Giganews rules the ether. Been with them for 6 years now. ISP newsgroup servers have always sucked, with almost no retention time, fragmented postings and limited newsgroup offerings.
The ISP's are doing you a favor by eliminating their 'coverage'. They give anyone using an ISP provided newsgroup access an extremely poor example of what is out there. | |
| | blackstarinc
join:2006-01-19
Fort Lauderdale, FL
| Newsdemon Best After Tests I have tried a number of different Usenet providers over the 7 years I have used them. I've gone from Newsfeeds to Giganews and tried everything in-between.
I've stuck with Newsdemon. Why? Although they do not boast the 240 days of Giganews or offer dedicated newsgroup server addresses, they're fast and reliable. And over the years, that's whats mattered the most.
Newsdemon just doesnt have the hiccups that other Newsdemon providers have, and even recently, I am more attached after the extensive customer support I've received.
Yeah, it sounds like a commercial, but its all true. Also, if anyone is running from an ISP thats just turned off service, they're offering 15% off the subscription price for the LIFETIME of the account. I know of no other that is currently doing this either:
»www.newsdemon.com/blog/2008/07/2···-usenet/ | |
| markopoleo
join:2003-04-02
Bonne Terre, MO | I use usenetserver.com I been using usenetserver.com for about 2 years, love it. | |
| nygfan
Premium
join:2004-07-08
Springfield Gardens, NY
| Long time Easynews user I've been using Easynews for over six years and its still reliable although not nearly as cost effective as most of the other providers in terms of price/retention. I enjoyed using Giganews for awhile as well but I just didn't use it enough to justify the cost. The rollover gigs do help for those of us who don't download that much on a monthly basis, but I would recommend Giganews or Newsgroup Direct for the heavy users. | |
| 
DrewCapu
Giant Diehard
join:2001-12-19
California
clubs: | dslreports.com ftw | |
| Michiman
join:2005-08-09
East Lansing, MI
| usetnetmonster.com Been using »www.usenetmonster.com for about 5 years. Never noticed any outages and tiered pricing starts at $2.95 per month (5GB) with ROLLOVER GIGs! It looks like unlimited is just $13.95/mo.
If you do signup with them, toss me a bone and use referral code: UM48048MC1 | |
| 
0zero01
join:2000-08-01
Port Orchard, WA
| My Fav. Newsreader.com
30gig for $10 month. Go there for details. Hassle free.
99.999% up time. Been with them for 4yrs. My first experience with Usenet was in my dial up days. a.b.g.golf baby!!! on AOL no less (links LS courses). . .lol, with 3 modems shotgunned, it was freakin awesome! I can't imagine anyone who's been around for it all saying Usenet is obsolete? Sell out punks (management material)! Who needs pretty pictures and one click gratification? It's quite lame and unfulfilling . . .
--
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. -Thomas Jefferson | |
| satoru
join:2007-04-19
Wellesley Hills, MA
| newshosting.com or giganews.com are great I use newshosting.com with my FIOS account, since the one Verizon provides is pretty unimpressive. I use their 8 connection one for $14.99/month, and it is the only service that can consistently saturate my 20mbps connection on a constant basis. Also they've had very few outages in the 3 years I've been using them.
Giganews is also a great provider that Comcast used to use. They're a bit more expensive though. | |
| 
jblAZ
Premium
join:2008-09-19
Elfrida, AZ
| Using giganews I think counting by users, the illegal /questionable stuff is relatively low level. The main problem has always been the amount of traffic used for the binaries; as a percentage of throughput, it is of course huge. The 'useful' part of usenet is, I think, if not measured by bandwidth, is still a significant part of Usenet.
I have used it since the mid-80s, when text mail was the rule and text on Usenet was not much different. I'm still comfortable in that mode. I suppose it's telling that since I no longer have a unix-like setup (I started using variations on rn, then switched to a package in emacs), I get my mail and my news from the same client, Forte Agent.
I'm not sure how many paths to Usenet I have at the moment (I have several ISPs, though now I access them via the network rather than via direct connect). Some of them may still offer Usenet, but only to directly connected users, so I can't tell. Some allow remote access to Usenet by requiring user authentication.
My current access is via cybertrails, an Arizona ISP which began life offering dial-up service to lots of small towns in Arizona that were remote from Phoenix and Tucson. Judging by the headers in the Usenet articles, they are also providing (I don't say reselling, because it doesn't cost me extra) giganews. | |
| | | |
|
·
so I now use Usenet-News.net. I do subscribe to some techy groups, Microsoft, Adobe etc and occasionally some others 
·