Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups in AT&T Southeast http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20772923 en Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:22:44 EDT Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:22:44 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20935365 NormanS :
said by heat84 See Profile :

ts only happening to ISP newsservers.
Because the ISPs are tired of paying to maintain a service very few of their customers are actually using.

Comcast is outsourcing to Giganews for the same reason that AT&T is dropping the entire 'alt.binaries.*', which is way more groups than NYAG Andrew Cuomo was concerned about. Cost.

Giganews offers their lowest tier, 2GB per month, at just $7.99 per month. You want to move more data, you have to pay Giganews more money.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20935365 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:35:49 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20931478 heat84 :
said by TheDarkRide See Profile :

Not an AT&T decision. Repeat (for the slow people): NOT AN AT&T DECISION.

It's happening everywhere, stupids.

I'm sure you'll enjoy fighting IP filtering problems with cable.
Its only happening to ISP newsservers. If the poster before you moves to Comcast he would get around it because they outsource to Giganews. Of course Comcast has a 2GB cap on newsserver downloads. So he'll still be mostly screwed.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20931478 Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:50:55 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20917756 TheDarkRide : Not an AT&T decision. Repeat (for the slow people): NOT AN AT&T DECISION.

It's happening everywhere, stupids.

I'm sure you'll enjoy fighting IP filtering problems with cable.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20917756 Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:51:52 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20916386 anon : I too will be looking to switch.....if they are worried about kidie porn, then they should monitor better.....
Oh well no big loss, now I can get rid of ATT DSL AND my land line....
Thanks AT&T for making this decision a lot easier...

Cya ATT&T]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20916386 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:02:08 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20856946 gsorel :
Nroups.NET, speed is any good ?
Ngroups.net is a reseller of highwind; You can trust them

»www.ngprovider.com]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20856946 Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:05:43 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20842425 anon : Ngroups.NET discounts for Time Warner, Verizon and Sprint (and ATT/BELLSOUTH/SHITSOUTH)

ngroups.net — Following the limits or outright shutdowns of Usenet newsgroup services by the ISP:s Time Warner, Verizon and Sprint, Ngroups.NET offers a Usenet Newsgroup access package approximately 25% off the regular price for unlimited accounts. At only $29.99 per quarter, less than 10 dollars a month, it's probably the cheapest accounts currently offered.

i think this even better than "$6.00/month subscription to news service with Altopia »www.altopia.com"

but i have not tried it yet so i don't know about the speed but the retention is 100 days +, so

www.altopia.com (12 day retention 2 connections $6

Ngroups.NET (100 day retention 12 connections $10 (if you pay for 3 months)

any know if Ngroups.NET, speed is any good ?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20842425 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:47:30 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20839508 NormanS : I was not aware that AT&T had outsourced their NNTP service. Of course, I use the 'news.sf.sbcglobal.net' NNTP server, which is on an IP address in the 'prodigy.net' domain. Used to be run by Prodigy, so I am told.
And...
The IP address, itself, is actually owned by AT&T Internet Services, which was called, "SBC Internet Services" before SBC bought AT&T, then changed the name of the company.

--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20839508 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:20:59 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20835421 FAQFixer :
said by leaving ATT :

Just read this.

In its ruling Tuesday, the federal appeals court concluded that the Child Online Protection Act is unconstitutionally overly broad and vague. The court also ruled that the law violates the First Amendment because filtering technologies and other parental control tools offer a less restrictive way to protect children from inappropriate content online.
The best way to protect your company is to not offer the service at all. You don't worry about any law or court cases because they don't apply to you. Pretty smart huh?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20835421 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:06:16 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20834941 NormanS : Except that Andrew Cuomo isn't trying to protect children from access to salacious content, he is trying to prevent everybody else from accessing content involving underage participants in salacious activity. The latter is, in most jurisdictions, a criminal act (the depiction of underage participants engaged in salacious activity).

It is still overly broad, IMHO, to chop all binary groups when so few were problematic. But I don't think the NYAG cares that the ISPs are being overly broad, as long as they include his pet newsgroups in the access denied list.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20834941 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:37:55 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20834421 anon : Just read this.

In its ruling Tuesday, the federal appeals court concluded that the Child Online Protection Act is unconstitutionally overly broad and vague. The court also ruled that the law violates the First Amendment because filtering technologies and other parental control tools offer a less restrictive way to protect children from inappropriate content online.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20834421 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:03:59 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20823011 NetFixer :
said by Mizzat See Profile :

Start? It has been like that for a long time, I thought. You always pay a month ahead for phone service.
That was my thought too, but it has been several years since I had POTS service, so I could not be sure. I do know that my AT&T Wireless and AT&T CallVantage accounts are paid in advance.
--
We can never have enough of nature.
We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.
Test your firewall.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20823011 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:40:21 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20822965 Mizzat :
said by mikey12345 :

Not only are the removing some newsgroups, they are going to start charging in advance for phone service. Just received the notice. So look for two bills soon for the same month.
Start? It has been like that for a long time, I thought. You always pay a month ahead for phone service.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20822965 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:28:14 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20822781 NetFixer :
said by uhhhright :

Please tell me how they would charge in advance for phone service? It's not a flat rate with all customers. Factor in per use call return and LD/collect calls. How would that be applied? To the next months bill? What's the point? I'll believe that when I see it.
It would work the same way it has always worked for cell phone service. The base monthly fee is paid in advance, but any extra charges can be billed 30-90 days later.
--
We can never have enough of nature.
We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.
Test your firewall.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20822781 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:54:18 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20822213 anon : Please tell me how they would charge in advance for phone service? It's not a flat rate with all customers. Factor in per use call return and LD/collect calls. How would that be applied? To the next months bill? What's the point? I'll believe that when I see it.
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20822213 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:00:15 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20821935 anon : Not only are the removing some newsgroups, they are going to start charging in advance for phone service. Just received the notice. So look for two bills soon for the same month.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20821935 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:50:27 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20821896 Claybraker :
said by FAQFixer See Profile :

You can say you represent the .062% of customers that actually use newsgroups.
Woot!!

Used to think it was really kewl to be in the upper 1% on standardized tests, but the upper .062% of net users? Subscribe!1!!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20821896 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:41:31 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20821827 NetFixer :
said by Squeezer See Profile :

has anyone thought of emailling/calling at&t's board of directors and complaining?
That is an excellent idea. Make sure that you ask to speak to Ernestine, she is the executive assistant for customer complaints.
--
We can never have enough of nature.
We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.
Test your firewall.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20821827 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:29:56 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20821713 FAQFixer :
said by Squeezer See Profile :

has anyone thought of emailling/calling at&t's board of directors and complaining?
Yeah, I say do it. You can say you represent the .062% of customers that actually use newsgroups. You could go on to explain that you are part of the less than 5% of the binary newsgroup users who don't use it to illegally download copyrighted material...let alone child porn. You could even hit home the point that binary newsgroup users on average consume far, far, far more bandwidth than typical consumers. I probably wouldn't even mention the huge peering bandwidth though...that might push them to not rethink the decision.

Let us know how it goes.

/sarcasm]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20821713 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:03:40 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20821564 Squeezer : has anyone thought of emailling/calling at&t's board of directors and complaining?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20821564 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:31:53 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20817237 anon : Yes, AT&T removed all Alt.Binaries]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20817237 Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:28:55 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20813729 graysonf : There is no longer any such thing as a free news server that carries alt.binaries.* newsgroups and also had anything that resembles decent completion of multipart binary posts.

If you want alt.binaries.* groups, you are going to have to spend some money. The question is how little or how much.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20813729 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:37:30 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20812930 anon : Does anyone know of other "free" news groups? I don't want to pay for them, as I feel it should be part of my ATT plan that I'm paying for already.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20812930 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:48:52 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20804208 NormanS :
said by Mad as Hell :

I don't like child pornographers and I would like to see all of them rotting is jail. But censoring the usenet as a means of stopping child porn is not the way to go. How about tracking down and putting awy the people who post this crap.

Blocking all of the Alt.bin* newgroups is like closing the post office because someone might send a pornographic picture of a child through the mail.
If you believe the corporate propaganda; but AT&T is not "kowtowing" to Andrew Cuomo, it is using the NYAG as a convenient excuse to do what they have long wanted to do.

Keeping in mind that before AT&T bought Bellsouth, SBC bought AT&T, then re-branded from SBC to AT&T, perhaps this ancient link will prove revealing:

»newsgroups.news.prodigy.net/sbcminifaq.html

Also keep in mind that SBC bought Prodigy, along with two Baby Bells.

It isn't about child porn, it is about not wanting the headache of running NNTP servers carrying megafiles of binary data.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20804208 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:56:15 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20803867 Albert71292 : Have to admit I'm getting a kick out of the complaints on the bellsouth.net.support.news-service group. Sure, I use the Usenet service supplied with my DSL, but only read the text groups. No interest in the others. Apparently the only three "alt" groups I subscribe to are unaffected (as of now) by this change: "alt.fan.goons", "alt.fan.monty-python", and "alt.fan.letterman". The only four other groups I subscribe to on their servers are the BellSouth oriented groups.

I also subscribe to groups on other servers, but they are all text also(mainly, except maybe the last one, which has the occasional screenshot)"

news.grc.com
msnews.microsoft.com
news.mozilla.org
cnews.corel.com

Guess I'm getting a "kick out of the complaints", because I know, deep down, most of the people complaining are downloading movies, music, etc, and are upset they will no longer get their "free fix", and will make up any excuse to appear that they aren't.

The only regular media downloading I do is podcasts, from Leo Laporte, Revision3, and Cranky Geeks.

I know my opinion isn't going to be popular here, but I've never been one to deal in popularity...]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20803867 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:24:38 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20803031 Rebellious : Yeah it looks like they're deleting some newsgroups. Even Google took newsgroups out of their front search page, newsgroups are free (as in freedom from censorship) and Google et al want total control of the internet.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20803031 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:36:44 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20802193 graysonf : Ding ding ding.......Bingo. Well said, thank you.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20802193 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:44:17 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20802106 Airwolf7 :
said by TheDarkRide See Profile :

This thread probably could stand to be locked.

At this point everybody who "gets it" gets it and those who don't (or are just looking for another excuse to bitch and moan about Bell/AT&T SE and their services) won't. Ever. The necessary information and URLs regarding the politically-motivated alt.binaries.* freak-out is available, but I can't see additional posts doing anything but burying that info in an increasingly-dismal SNR.

AT&T wasn't the first ISP to bounce alt.binaries.* (or, in fact, alt.*). They won't be the last. If you want to stand up and make a political statement, go do it in an appropriate forum. There's really no actual support available for this "problem" because a) the deed's already been done (by AT&T _and_ others), and b) it's not a problem.

From the AT&T Southeast Forum FAQ:

»AT&T Southeast Forum FAQ
The DSLReports AT&T Southeast Forum is a customer information resource for the AT&T Southeast DSL Internet service. It's a place where users of the AT&T Southeast service can ask questions, share ideas, and exchange and gather information, but anyone is welcome in the forum.

I think the "information resource" ship has long since sailed as far as this topic goes.
Well that's the theory but in practice it goes something like this.

Zoder posted this as a topic of interest to FastAccess DSL users.

This is a controversial subject to some users and they feel a need to post their views on the subject and vent their frustrations.

Some users will feel the need to debate the subject amongst themselves.

Interspersed amongst these posts will be nuggets of useful information about the topic.

If things get out of hand the moderators will take care of things, but they don't seem to rule this forum with an Iron Fist because most users here have thick skins and things will take care of itself without intervention.

Sooner or later people will have said what they had to say and people will lose interest in the topic and it will work its way down the list and will end up not being on the front page.

People who are not interested or are no longer interested in this topic will not click on it and for sure will not reply to it.

By replying back to this topic you are not acting in your own self interests to see this topic die. You are interrupting the nature death stages of this topic.

If the continuation of this topic is a great bother to you then you are welcome to "Hey Mod" it and request it be locked. If the moderators deem it to be in the best interests of the forum to do so then they will.

You are more then welcome not to click on this topic and read it if it disturbs you so much and are advised to not reply to it bringing it back up to the top of the list if you wish to see it die due to natural causes.
--
.

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"

"Those who beat swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for those who don't."

Quotes by Benjamin Franklin.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20802106 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:25:32 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20801904 TheDarkRide :
said by chong67 See Profile :

Folks, having no newsgroup is not bad. Just pay somebody else and you can still get the feed. There are so many ways of getting anything you want and need. So please dont get mad.
You make a good point, and one that I agree with. What mystifies me at this point is how we can have dozens of random anonymous posters writing the SAME F#&$ING THING about AT&T's outsourced NNTP service and seemingly failing to realize that every major ISP is following suit (and some did well before AT&T).
--
It's already killed me, that's already killed me
It's already been here, that's nothing new]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20801904 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:41:13 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20801793 TheDarkRide : And now, to be more specific than a third-rate collection of American english colloquialisms:

From the AT&T Southeast Forum FAQ:

»AT&T Southeast Forum FAQ
The DSLReports AT&T Southeast Forum is a customer information resource for the AT&T Southeast DSL Internet service. It's a place where users of the AT&T Southeast service can ask questions, share ideas, and exchange and gather information, but anyone is welcome in the forum.

I think the "information resource" ship has long since sailed as far as this topic goes.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20801793 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:23:09 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20801654 JohnQPublic :
said by wolfsmane See Profile :

how does these "pay for" newsgroup services work, as far as
payment? do you have to pay several months in advance, or do they do automatic withdrawal from checking/CC acct?
I recommend you check out the filesharing forum if you're looking for more info about newsgroup providers.

Personally, I can recommend Astraweb.com as a great provider. You can pay by the download (a block account) or unlimited.

»news.astraweb.com/
--
Never knock on Death's door. Ring the bell and run, he hates that.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20801654 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:53:26 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20801104 chong67 : You make a good point.

Why not close down the post office bc someone could be sending child porno stuff too.

Or maybe close down the bookstore that sell P* magazine.

They just do this for economic reason.

I talk to my friend the other day in Australia and I said my fastest speed is 3 Mbps now or if lucky, get 6 Mbps. He said in Aust now it is 26 mbps for home. So we have the smartest weapon in the world, yet how fast is our internet?

Again its all about money.

Folks, having no newsgroup is not bad. Just pay somebody else and you can still get the feed. There are so many ways of getting anything you want and need. So please dont get mad.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20801104 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:23:29 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20800369 wolfsmane :

how does these "pay for" newsgroup services work, as far as
payment? do you have to pay several months in advance, or do they do automatic withdrawal from checking/CC acct?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20800369 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:05:52 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20800293 anon : Before you spread unfounded rumors it might be wise to check your facts first. The 5GB cap applies to AT&T wireless mobility customers only. It is not appreciated.

I will concede that I have seen news reports that AT&T is considering some other sort of cap for standard broadband users -- Comcast and Time Warner have had those for years. Check with any of their power users that have faced bandwidth speed limits after exceeding monthly caps. I have even read forums where some cable internet users have complained about receiving nasty letters about their monthly usage.

If AT&T does adopt such a bandwidth cap, it is more likely to be more like the 40 or 50GB/month cap common with cable ISP providers.

As of right now, I have absolutely no idea what my monthly total bandwidth usage is. My wife and I both use the web, my kids use Microsoft live (alot!) as well as other on-line games. So I'm not sure what to expect from such types of charges.

Also, for a usenet provider, you should check out newsdemon.com. I got 20gb of monthly downloads with 20 connections for $8/month.

They are offering 15% discounts to any AT&T, AOL, Time Warner and Verizon ISP subscribers.

I also stumbled on a newsdemon discount code on newsgroupreviews.com for a 20% discount. That code was newsgr20. This is the one I used and I got a 20% discount. (7/10/08)

These discount codes are recurring and do not expire as far as I can tell.

Good luck!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20800293 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:49:58 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20799565 anon : Ahh...I c...but i thought ATT was just attaching to other servers, and not a 'host' themself (meaning, they are basically a usenet customer too, downloading from another usnet server when a request from our newsgrabber is sent 'thru' them to usenet- and not storing all the articles themselves)
hence my comment about the att users still using the same bandwidth as they would before when switched to 3rd party. i didnt know they actually had dedicated host servers.

i actually DID sign up with altopia today- and are happy with them so far. I went for the 9$ a month (5 connections). they give you "unlimited" bandwidth and no download caps. (umlimited as far as your ISP speed i'm guessing). they also give you a few port numbers to try in case your ISP is limiting the speed on port 119 for newsgroups.

i doubt i can get ATT to lower my price. altho, i hear that this fall ATT is going to start "bandwidth charges"- download over 5 gig a month, they tack on an extra doller PER GIG. this may hurt more than having to pay for a 3rd party provider...im around 3 gig a day user :( which means i either wean down on usenet altogether- or fork over an extra $100+ a month OUCH!!

now i do understand that with new technologies, us consumers want more speed- sometimes more than can possibly physically be given, and that it takes $$ to generate it. but can they "bandwith share"?
meaning- the granny who uses att for 2 text emails a month to her kids and never surfs the net- wouldnt that add a little more balance to crazies like me? LOL

someone needs to start a binary html webservice usenet. not like the crappy html newsreaders that are out there now. i'm talking about a http website you get a subscription to that holds text posts and binary files on its server. hell, they could even charge an extra "assembling fee" for multipart files!

i have to laugh when i think about the fact that all anyone is complaining about are little 1's and 0's in a certain order, causes soo much trouble! :)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20799565 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:45:19 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20799523 anon : I don't like child pornographers and I would like to see all of them rotting is jail. But censoring the usenet as a means of stopping child porn is not the way to go. How about tracking down and putting awy the people who post this crap.

Blocking all of the Alt.bin* newgroups is like closing the post office because someone might send a pornographic picture of a child through the mail.

Besides, it will not simply work stop child pornography. Blocking the usenet to stop child porn is a little like blocking all access to a big city by setting up a road block on just one street. Their are just too many avenues available for distributing this stuff.

As for AT&T's wimpy response by marching in lock step with the likes of Mario Cuomo; AT&T should have grown a set of balls and told Cuomo to go back to NY. AT&T is no more responsible for the content of the internet than Cuomo is for any child pornography found in New York State. NY City is a cesspool of illegal smut, porn, prostitution, drugs, etc. Why didn't AT&t laugh Cuomo out of the room. Cuomo should clean up his own backyard before having the balls to insist on censoring the internet.

What's next? Will Cuomo insist on closing all of the banks to stop potential bank robbers? Or insist that we outlaw cars and alcohol products as a sure way to stop drunk driving?

In kowtowing to Cuomo, AT&T has taken to worst possible step -- short of blocking all usenet access. In the process they have effectively censored their subscribers and thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

Frankly I am sick and tired of companies like AT&T who would let their customers get screwed rather than stand up to the the do-gooder set.

AT&T you are spineless wimps and need to grow a set of balls.

AT&T should rethink their awful position on this matter.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20799523 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:36:38 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20799466 graysonf : You are only considering the bandwidth used by ATT customers when you compare the cost of taking an article from the ATT server vs a 3rd party server.

You are either unaware of, or ignoring the peering bandwidth used to propagate articles out to perhaps a 100 or more peers. Every article on a news server got there somehow. It was either posted to the server by a customer of the ISP who operates the server or it came in from another server via peering.

If you have peering arrangements with 100 other news servers, not at all unusual, then every article that originated from one of your customers is going to be offered out to others....100 others. If that was a several GB DVD image binary post, you are looking an expensive transport. If you have a lot of customers doing this, you are going to be spending a lot of money.

Suggestion for a high quality, inexpensive 3rd party news service. Try Altopia for $6.00/month. Cancel within two weeks if you are not happy and get your money back. You have nothing to lose. I don't work for them or get anything from them for referrals. I'm not even a current customer.

»www.altopia.com]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20799466 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:26:45 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20799046 anon : this is a bunch of BU*LS*IT. :mad: The 3 or 4 binary groups that i loved browsing and posting to NEVER had even ONE instance of "child porn" in it- nor ANY kind of porn. i am really pissed off. :mad: but what can i do besides bitch in comment sections and send a letter of really stern words to someone who wont give a s*it? Nothing. :huh: I guess I'll have to use one of the "pay" services still out there.

Hey, did they think of something- the are still providing internet access, so the company is allowing millions of child porn to still be seen and downloaded thru the web? maybe they should shut the web down too? :p
this is a case of overkill. shut down the porn groups if you want, NOT ALL OF THEM.

and why do they think this will save them bandwidth? the people that actually USE the binary groups aren't gonna just say "oh well"- we're gonna get a 3rd party server account at least, and still download the same amount- THRU our ISP lines! same bandwidth- hell maybe more- for a few extra dollars on some servers you can remove a cap and download hundreds of gigs a day if you want! whats THAT gonna do to the isp's bandwidth???? :D it still has to be physically routed THRU them to your house! dumbasses!

i am really pissed. :mad: I cant cancel my account or i would- because the only other service near us besides ATT is COMCRAP. :mad: and i am NOT f**king going back to them.

3rd party servers, here i come- :D
anyone have a list of good (and cheaper) ones??? thanx!!! :)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20799046 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:01:04 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20799030 Mizzat : Hi TheDarkRide,

Perhaps you're not fmailiar with the concept or definition of a forum.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as:
A public meeting place for open discussion.

Hope that helps!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20799030 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:57:07 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20797477 TheDarkRide : This thread probably could stand to be locked.

At this point everybody who "gets it" gets it and those who don't (or are just looking for another excuse to bitch and moan about Bell/AT&T SE and their services) won't. Ever. The necessary information and URLs regarding the politically-motivated alt.binaries.* freak-out is available, but I can't see additional posts doing anything but burying that info in an increasingly-dismal SNR.

AT&T wasn't the first ISP to bounce alt.binaries.* (or, in fact, alt.*). They won't be the last. If you want to stand up and make a political statement, go do it in an appropriate forum. There's really no actual support available for this "problem" because a) the deed's already been done (by AT&T _and_ others), and b) it's not a problem.
--
It's already killed me, that's already killed me
It's already been here, that's nothing new]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20797477 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:18:59 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20796851 chong67 : Friends,

There is nothing to worry about.

Newsgroup is not as important as it was before.

There are many ways of getting it, like sign up for another newsfeed for $10.

Or use .torrent

Its not the end of the world.

Its just that they use child porno as an excuse.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20796851 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:17:39 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20796727 kdroop : I have been beating my brain out.Is there any of these that support dual ip networking with decent retention?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20796727 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:55:57 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20795783 graysonf : Gone too?

Maybe you haven't been keeping up.... ALL of alt.binaries.* is gone along with some others and most common mispellings such as alt.bianries.*

I posted a list of the deleted groups a few days ago. Read it.

»[Services] List of purged newsgroups]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20795783 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:02:23 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20795704 anon : If you go to ATT newsgroup status you get message about damn removing the alt thing also:

Link:

»my.att.net/newsgroup/s/s.dll?spa···ly=y&ck=]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20795704 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:47:43 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20795697 anon : Can anyone confirm that all the warez newsgroup are gone too?

Did it started today?

I am now getting errors like this:

[16:35:53] SERVER=newsgroups.bellsouth.net, MSG=SendCommand - failed response: 411 No Such Group "alt.binaries.cracks"
[16:35:53] MSG=Unable to Select Group: alt.binaries.dvd.asian
[16:35:53] SERVER=newsgroups.bellsouth.net, MSG=SendCommand - failed response: 411 No Such Group "alt.binaries.dvd.asian"
[16:35:53] MSG=Unable to Select Group: alt.binaries.dvd
[16:35:53] SERVER=newsgroups.bellsouth.net, MSG=SendCommand - failed response: 411 No Such Group "alt.binaries.dvd"
[16:35:53] MSG=Unable to Select Group: alt.binaries.cd.image.linux
[16:35:53] SERVER=newsgroups.bellsouth.net, MSG=SendCommand - failed response: 411 No Such Group "alt.binaries.cd.image.linux"
[16:35:53] MSG=Unable to Select Group: alt.binaries.cd.image
[16:35:53] SERVER=newsgroups.bellsouth.net, MSG=SendCommand - failed response: 411 No Such Group "alt.binaries.cd.image"
[16:35:53] MSG=Unable to Select Group: alt.binaries.asianusenet]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20795697 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:45:42 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20795692 graysonf : Yer welcome. I started with them when they first started up back in 1995. I never, ever had a single complaint about the service.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20795692 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:44:52 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20795654 anon : you're right $9.00 is for 5 for which i seemed to've signed up for, anyway still happy with the service and most things I've read seem to be good thanks again for the lead ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20795654 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:38:06 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20793565 anon :
said by Hayward See Profile :

said by DaveO See Profile :

This article makes it sound like ATT is going to get rid of every alt.binaries newsgroup.

»news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080711/ap_···nography
ANd why woldn't they since without policing, vast majority are illegal. Why should they neet to police that... just do away.

Again the few spoiling things for the many.

There are TONS of CHEAP subscription NEWSGROUP feeds to subscribe to... I see no reason this should be part of ISP service, but for the freeloading 24/7 bloodsuckers.

Most can concede and addition $10/mo or so for all you can eat, and not impact the working of an essentially residential COMMUNICATIONS network, with occasional DL bursts..
Regardless of where the traffic comes from, whether it be AT&T's servers or another newsgroup provider, the data is going to flow down the same pipe 'impacting the working of an essentially residential COMMUNICATIONS network'. The only difference is it doesn't begin the journey within AT&T, it starts some place else. The savings to AT&T may be on the servers used for maintaining the service, but I would believe that this particular server or servers are totally separate entities from the rest of what they do. In other words, moving this traffic to another source will have little impact assuming everyone that is currently using this service begins to pay for it elsewhere.

AT&T is losing a possible revenue stream, and in the process, making their existing customer base upset with their knee jerk decision.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20793565 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:19:09 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20793435 Mizzat :
said by NormanS See Profile :

AT&T does not offer any ILEC service in New York state. (Repeating my caveat...As Far As I Know (AFAIK).) Mostly served by Verizon, though there may be some Embarq presence.

As far as ISP goes, AT&T Worldnet Service is a dial-up ISP, and a reseller of CLEC DSL service (Covad).

If you know of any place in New York state where a person can get ILEC service from AT&T, I'd like to know. Nearest state, again, AFAIK, with AT&T ILEC service is Connecticut, where a person can sign up for what used to be Southern New England Telephone service.
As I mentioned before I'm not sure why it matters if AT&T provides dialtone in New York as it pertains to this thread, but they do. To be honest if you mean do they provide local loop, I'm not sure what facilities they provide as far as last mile, that is fairly transparent on my end, but they can provide dialtone and ISP access, as it pertains to this thread, in New York.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20793435 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:38:04 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20793001 Hayward :
said by DaveO See Profile :

This article makes it sound like ATT is going to get rid of every alt.binaries newsgroup.

»news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080711/ap_···nography
ANd why woldn't they since without policing, vast majority are illegal. Why should they neet to police that... just do away.

Again the few spoiling things for the many.

There are TONS of CHEAP subscription NEWSGROUP feeds to subscribe to... I see no reason this should be part of ISP service, but for the freeloading 24/7 bloodsuckers.

Most can concede and addition $10/mo or so for all you can eat, and not impact the working of an essentially residential COMMUNICATIONS network, with occasional DL bursts..
--
»haywardm.com (Hayward's Key West)
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20793001 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:31:37 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20792174 NormanS : AT&T does not offer any ILEC service in New York state. (Repeating my caveat...As Far As I Know (AFAIK).) Mostly served by Verizon, though there may be some Embarq presence.

As far as ISP goes, AT&T Worldnet Service is a dial-up ISP, and a reseller of CLEC DSL service (Covad).

If you know of any place in New York state where a person can get ILEC service from AT&T, I'd like to know. Nearest state, again, AFAIK, with AT&T ILEC service is Connecticut, where a person can sign up for what used to be Southern New England Telephone service.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20792174 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:42:03 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20792132 Mizzat :
said by NormanS See Profile :

said by Mizzat See Profile :

Not true, and from reading the NYAG's site he is going after ISPs in NY, not phone providers. AT&T is a large ISP in NY. I've even sold access there.
What part of AT&T Worldnet Service DSL is not an ISP?
My mistake, I should have clarified what I was responding to that wasn't true:

said by NormanS See Profile :

Because AT&T does not, AFAIK, offer any ILEC service anywhere within the state of New York, I was wondering what hold the NYAG might have over them.

--
-M]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20792132 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:34:54 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20792092 NormanS :
said by lnesomdove :

Since the letter said we could get the service from a 3rd party, who is the 3rd party we should be giving our business to since AT&T no longer wants it?
Two come to mind:

»www.giganews.com/?gclid=CMqavabq···od-GQcUA
»www.newsguy.com/

I could probably find others using a search engine.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20792092 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:25:54 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20792053 NormanS :
said by Mizzat See Profile :

Not true, and from reading the NYAG's site he is going after ISPs in NY, not phone providers. AT&T is a large ISP in NY. I've even sold access there.
What part of AT&T Worldnet Service DSL is not an ISP?
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20792053 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:18:21 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20791837 graysonf : $9.00? I thought it was $6.00 for 2 connections.

Regarding DirecTV. We had it for a while, but went back to Comcast. The problems we had were rain fade and getting charged for anything beyond minimal phone support.

In SE FL, we have a distinct rainy season where daily heavy showers are pretty much the norm. This kills the signal. When it pours, you come in from outside but can't watch TV. WTF?

If you don't pay a monthly maintenance fee, DirecTV wants serious money or any repairs or equipment changes. We canceled when our DVR repeatedly locked up. They admitted that this was a known defect, but would not replace the unit with one that had the fix for free. They wanted over $100. Or we could pay the $5.00/month Maitenance Fee and resign for two more years to get the fixed DVR.

Comcast has it's problems too, of course, and even they have fees for stuff like this. But at least it works in the rain.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20791837 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:31:33 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20791782 anon : Anyone have opinions on direct t.v. service I'm not a big fan of comcast but have d.t.v. service for t.v. but am afraid of switching over? any thoughts would be great, btw altopia is not to bad just starting using them today with 2 connections $9.00 a mth pretty fast upload, no complaints so far,thanks graysonf for the tip ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20791782 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:20:38 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20791542 anon : I have usenet service from »www.newsdemon.com

They offer a 15% discount for customers displaced by their ISPs. Thats only $15 for unlimited access. Great service, I have used them for almost two years without a hiccup. No reason to pay the extra $$$ for Giganews unless you want to go back and retrieve something from a six months ago, and imo thats not worth the extra $20 per month. You could get the $15 unlimited account at Newsdemon plus a fill account from Giganews and it would still cost less than the unlimited account at Giganews.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20791542 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:36:19 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20791161 dmaister : Their prices are not too tempting either...]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20791161 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:23:12 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20791038 Zoder :
said by dmaister See Profile :

So what other high speed providers are there for the Miami, FL area? Or I might as well go down to 1.5mbit
Comcast]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20791038 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:54:47 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20791004 Shredd3r : I feared AT&T would do this when they took over. I'm not wasting any time dropping them. Thursday the installer will be on-site to install cable. Then I'm going with Giganews to get my newsgroups back.

Also, the cable and Giganews account will be cheaper. I never really used the phone line required for the DSL. The $35 dollars a month savings on the phone cost will more than pay for my Giganews.

I've had to deal with AT&T at my job I know they can't leave well enough alone. I was just waiting for them to pull something like this so I could drop them. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20791004 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:48:15 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20790874 anon : it has already happened. just dl'd XP updates and alt.binaries
are gone]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20790874 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:19:09 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20790345 dmaister : So what other high speed providers are there for the Miami, FL area? Or I might as well go down to 1.5mbit]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20790345 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:33:11 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20790102 anon : Ok, so everyone is here complaining and regardless of what we say, most likely nothing is going to change anytime soon; it most likely won't come back as fast as it was taken away on Friday with little notice.

So, what is everyone going to do in the meantime? Since the letter said we could get the service from a 3rd party, who is the 3rd party we should be giving our business to since AT&T no longer wants it?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20790102 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:45:41 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20789676 Mizzat :
said by NormanS See Profile :

said by Mizzat See Profile :

Great point since Verizon is a main carrier in NY, I'm sure he is already working on them. They don't really provide service in the SouthEast anyway. Be careful what you wish for!
Because AT&T does not, AFAIK, offer any ILEC service anywhere within the state of New York, I was wondering what hold the NYAG might have over them.

Two things: AT&T Worldnet Service DSL (reseller of Covad). MPAA/RIAA. I believe a small fraction of AT&T's 18.3 million subscribers use AT&T Worldnet Service DSL in New York. However, AT&T is in bed with the MPAA/RIAA, and was looking for any excuse to cut 'alt.binaries.*' without implicating industry pressure. Andrew Cuomo is that excuse.
Not true, and from reading the NYAG's site he is going after ISPs in NY, not phone providers. AT&T is a large ISP in NY. I've even sold access there.

However, I see your point, and removing it from the SE's newservers, which are probably in no way being accessed from NY is a bit extreme. I'm not saying they are in bed with the **AA, but it is a bit extreme manuver in the name of children.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20789676 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:21:06 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20789456 NormanS :
said by Mizzat See Profile :

Great point since Verizon is a main carrier in NY, I'm sure he is already working on them. They don't really provide service in the SouthEast anyway. Be careful what you wish for!
Because AT&T does not, AFAIK, offer any ILEC service anywhere within the state of New York, I was wondering what hold the NYAG might have over them.

Two things: AT&T Worldnet Service DSL (reseller of Covad). MPAA/RIAA. I believe a small fraction of AT&T's 18.3 million subscribers use AT&T Worldnet Service DSL in New York. However, AT&T is in bed with the MPAA/RIAA, and was looking for any excuse to cut 'alt.binaries.*' without implicating industry pressure. Andrew Cuomo is that excuse.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20789456 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:38:10 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20789427 NormanS :
said by south florida :

Screw their excuse about child porno. Hell, there is more of that stuff on the http sites.
Child porn, and Andrew Cuomo are "Red Herrings". AT&T is bowing the pressure of the **AA, and using Andrew Cuomo as a convenient Scapegoat.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20789427 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:33:07 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20789423 Mizzat :
said by NormanS See Profile :

said by ms :

Verizon anyone?
One of the first to cave in to Andrew Cuomo! You think switching to them will send any kind of message?
Great point since Verizon is a main carrier in NY, I'm sure he is already working on them. They don't really provide service in the SouthEast anyway. Be careful what you wish for!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20789423 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:32:31 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20789414 NormanS :
said by ms :

Verizon anyone?
One of the first to cave in to Andrew Cuomo! You think switching to them will send any kind of message?
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20789414 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:31:00 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20789335 anon :
said by winterfez6 See Profile :

OMFG, the only reason i stay with BS for this whole year was because they offer newsgroups. Now that is gone, i would rather sign up for a faster speed internet provider (Comcast the only OTHER provider offered higher than 6MB with cheaper price)then sign up for Giganews or something to access newsgroups.
I plan to leave ATT/BS for a faster ISP since newsgroups the eliminated the alt.binery. I left AOL for the same reason years ago.

Screw their excuse about child porno. Hell, there is more of that stuff on the http sites.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20789335 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:17:52 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20788170 anon :
said by TheDarkRide See Profile :

All this sound and fury signifying absolutely nothing.

People looking to jump ship from Bell/AT&T to Verizon should probably read this and other similar articles first:

»yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=···/1258238
A bit of logical reasoning says to me that some people preferred to stay with the lower speed that ATT/BS offered because the trade off was that they didn't bow down to corporate entities. Now that they are censoring Usenet what's the point of staying with the slower service when other providers, such as Comcast and Verizon, offer a greater speed at a reduced price? I think everyone already knows that Usenet access is going to be strictly available from third parties only. That's not the point.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20788170 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:34:06 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20788105 TheDarkRide : All this sound and fury signifying absolutely nothing.

People looking to jump ship from Bell/AT&T to Verizon should probably read this and other similar articles first:

»yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=···/1258238
--
It's already killed me, that's already killed me
It's already been here, that's nothing new]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20788105 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:17:08 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20787773 anon : :mad:Everything AT&T touches turns to crap. They are evil!!!
I refused to have anything to do with their cell phone service and now I will dump their DSL and will also look into dumping land-line service. Verizon anyone?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20787773 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:38:26 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20787302 NetFixer : You guys are forgetting with whom you are dealing. ;)

[att=1]
We're the Phone Company!

--
We can never have enough of nature.
We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.
Test your firewall.
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20787302 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:52:03 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20787122 anon : Do you guys actually think the biggest bandwidth users are newsgroupers. What ATT is doing has nothing to do with bandwidth and has everything to do with piracy. The biggest bandwidth users are...... GAMERS. If they cap bandwidth they will lose a ton of subs, me included. I game online just as much as I D/L. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20787122 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:04:53 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20786521 anon : I think the next shoe to drop later this year will be bandwidth caps.
AT&T: »blog.wired.com/business/2008/06/···-bi.html

Time Warner: »www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/03···t_trial/

A dollar a gig after your monthly 5GB limit will dry up the usenet, peer to peer, internet TV and about anything else that has the potential to compete with the television programing that they want to sell. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20786521 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:51:56 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20785515 graysonf : Two connections works like this with Agent, it's what I used when I was on the two connection plan.

As you know, Agent will download binaries and let you also read text articles at the same time.

What I did was look thru all the binary groups I read and for all the files I wanted I would mark them for download. Then I would start the download. This uses one of the available connections and each file is downloaded sequentially.

Once I got this going, I would look thru the text groups and download each message I wanted to read. Agent can be set to prioritize this. This uses the second available connection.

But if you don't want to read text groups, you can use the second connection to download more binaries that you may have not marked for download before.

A number of connection beyond two may or may not be useful. You only have so much bandwidth and it is spread out evenly over all the connections.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20785515 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:42:33 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20785237 Zoder : Won't this move by all of the ISPs cause these people to go underground and make it harder to track them down? I would think that with the newsgroups it would make easier targets to get warrants on the US uploaders and downloaders and go after them.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20785237 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:30:08 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20785023 anon :
said by AT&T Monkey Boy Marty Richter :

We'll no longer include alt.binary newsgroups [as part of its broadband package] because of the prevalence of child pornography in that particular newsgroup hierarchy and the difficulty in ensuring that no child porn reappears in those newsgroups.
Notice the part about ensuring that it doesn't reappear, yeah right. Sure that's the reason...are we all stupid Mr. Richter? No we are not, we see right through the lie.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20785023 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:37:53 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20785000 anon : :mad:This caught me by surprise as well when I tried to load the newsgroups with grabit today. I'm just amazed that I was not notified. I don't think just canceling your DSL will make that much difference unless a lot of people do the same. I have already been unhappy because I am limited to 1.5MB service with AT&T because I have the older IFITL network,I think it is called, with the direct ehternet no modem connection. I used to pay bellsouth about $200 a month for services. I dropped their cable for DirecTV. I dropped their wireless service for T-mobile and all I have left is DSL and home phone and I'm still paying almost $90 a month. So I was already looking into T-mobile's @home phone service, but I was thinking of keeping the ATT DSL. I guess it is time to look at alternatives like Comcast for the atlanta area.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20785000 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:34:07 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784997 anon : AT&T already has removed all Alt.Birnary groups as of today in the Northeast. The following was found on a Google link. Scale down to the 5th paragraph.

New Enhanced Newsgroup Service for
AT&T Internet Service Customers


AT&T Newsgroups is a service that allows you to conveniently connect with others who share your interests and ideas. There are over 29,000 groups you can access on topics such as current events, business, education, sports, health, entertainment and more. Once a subscriber of a newsgroup, you can share photos, files and information with other subscribers.

Our new and improved newsgroup service is included with your AT&T dial-up or FastAccess DSL service at no additional charge and now has the following features:

Retention for text newsgroups is 365 days; Binary newsgroups retention is 8 days
Expected download completion rates of 95.0%
Access to AT&T’s award winning Customer Care
Access is authenticated by customer’s AT&T username and password
Download an unlimited number of files per month at no additional charge


Notice
AT&T takes its obligation to protect its customers from child pornography very seriously. We're working with public officials and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the effort to help prevent the distribution of this harmful and illegal content.

We'll continue to provide access to newsgroups as part of our broadband offering, but we'll no longer include alt.bin* nor alt.bain* hierarchies because of the possibility of child pornography in those particular groups and the difficulty in ensuring that no child porn reappears in them.

Our customers will continue to have full access to all lawful content on the Internet. That includes newsgroups, which are available from multiple sources, not just ISPs.

Customers may still access lawful content of their choosing from unaffiliated newsgroup providers.


Newsreader Setup
You can access AT&T Newsgroups by setting up your Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator newsreader to use the server: newsgroups.bellsouth.net

Warning
Some information contained in the newsgroups may not be appropriate for children.
Please read the Acceptable Use Policy before using the service

]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784997 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:33:31 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784973 stomp357 :
said by Zora :

said by vintagewino See Profile :

Don't be surprised if all ISP's dump newsgroups in their entirety.
That is what concerns me. Once there are just a limited amount of pay NNTP servers then the RIAA/MPAA will go after them and try to shut them down and the other binary groups hosting legal content will be collateral damage. According to their stated reason, this is exactly what AT&T has done - removed the entire alt.binary hierarchy due to a few offending newsgroups.
Now that most ISPs have killed off their usenet service, most users are gona move to pay services, and the pay services are gona have to raise rates to keep up with the influx. Then, like you said, the RIAA/MPAA will go after, & take down 3rd party usenet services.
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784973 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:29:17 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784961 mdv921 :
said by stomp357 See Profile :

I checked out their pricing plans. The $6.00 only allows 2 connections. How does the number of connections affect the service? I use Agent v1.93, and when I download binaries, I let it download 1 file at a time. Does having multiple connections allow you to download multiple files from different groups at once? If so, then the $6.00 plan seems great.
Yes, 2 connections would allow you to download 2 files at a time (just remember that if your computer is RAM or processor challenged this will eat up more resources and cause other functions to slow down).

You also will need to go into your Agent servers and accounts options and change the number of connections reserved for body retrieval tasks from 1 to 2.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784961 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:26:54 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784954 anon : That server is located in Seattle Washington and I ping 126ms to it. Seems kinda far off and slow compared to others like usenet-news.news, which has a server located in Georiga. I must admit though that the pricing can't be beat. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784954 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:25:31 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784934 stomp357 : I checked out their pricing plans. The $6.00 only allows 2 connections. How does the number of connections affect the service? I use Agent v1.93, and when I download binaries, I let it download 1 file at a time. Does having multiple connections allow you to download multiple files from different groups at once? If so, then the $6.00 plan seems great.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784934 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:20:47 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784815 Airwolf7 :
said by Zoder See Profile :

Another difference is that ATT SE pays more for our internet service than all of the other regions.

Why are we still being screwed on price over a year past the merger was completed?
Because AT&T has not quite yet figured out how to justify raising the prices in the other 13 states to the same level as in the AT&T Southeast region due to the fact that the service in the other regions offers less value.

.

AT&T FastAccess DSL Xtreme 6.0 is a better value than AT&T Yahoo! DSL Elite.*


(*) Based on the fact that most people value DS speed more than US speed.
(**) DS speed shaped to 6.5Mbps
(***) Based on 15% overhead.
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784815 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:51:47 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784619 charlie92 : Gee ya think so sweet thang? Whooda thunk huh????]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784619 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:59:36 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784615 Zoder : I don't want to go too off topic, but the original reason was that it would take a while to get their billing systems aligned after the merger. It's been a long time since the merger was completed however. Now it just seems like they are charging us more because they can.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784615 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:58:10 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784592 tdb41 : Why does AT&T Southeast pay more than any other region in the country?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784592 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:52:05 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784576 Zoder :
said by NormanS See Profile :

said by X_Att_customer :

The best way an At&t customer could react to this farce is to promptly cancel their accounts and let them know why!
The pressure of the 1.5% who use the Usenet leaving over the removal of the 'alt.binaries.*' hierarchy will change their minds....how?

From the standpoint of the former SBC side of the service, the binary groups were pretty useless; low completion and short retention on the 'sbcgloba.net' servers. This change will have a low impact on AT&T West, AT&T Southwest, AT&T Midwest, and AT&T Northeast. I might add that the former SBC Global NNTP service already had RIAA/MPAA mandated limits on 'alt.binaries.*'.

For 'news.sf.sbcglobal.net', the switch is slated for July 14, 2008. I guess they will "guillotine" the service on that date! ;)

For now, the following groups are still loading for me:

alt.binaries.pictures.motorcycles
alt.binaries.cd.genealogy
alt.binaries.cd.genealogy.parts
alt.binaries.cd.genealogy.reposts

I never worked with the binary groups that much. But I've known, since about 2001, that, if I wanted better NNTP service than AT&T (then SBC) offered, I'd have to pay Giganews, Newsguy, or one of those to get it.
Another difference is that ATT SE pays more for our internet service than all of the other regions. So while you are losing a service you never really had, we lose a good service and still pay more than the rest of the country.

I just noticed another difference while looking at the website. Our unlimited local and LD is $53.99. The other 13 states outside the SE is $40. That's $21 more a month if you subscribe to that and Extreme 6.0. Why are we still being screwed on price over a year past the merger was completed?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784576 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:46:23 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784103 sobepmp : Tomorrow I'm cancelling my AT&T internet service and Land Line Telephone. I'm switching to Atlantic Broadband. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20784103 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:23:45 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783956 anon :
said by vintagewino See Profile :

Don't be surprised if all ISP's dump newsgroups in their entirety.
That is what concerns me. Once there are just a limited amount of pay NNTP servers then the RIAA/MPAA will go after them and try to shut them down and the other binary groups hosting legal content will be collateral damage. According to their stated reason, this is exactly what AT&T has done - removed the entire alt.binary hierarchy due to a few offending newsgroups.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783956 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:40:02 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783943 Count Zero : I can't get my newly created service with forte to work. I can log-in to the account manager, but it times out while downloading the list of newsgroups at alt.binaries.games.xbox heck I don't even want THAT newsgroup.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783943 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:35:23 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783886 vintagewino : Don't be surprised if all ISP's dump newsgroups in their entirety. Reasons are two-fold:
1. it eliminates the cost of them subscribing (more $$ for the ISP.
2. it absolves the ISP of any responsibility of the content, questionable or otherwise.

An easy fix to make more money and pacify the politicians and anti-anything people all in one slam-dunk! Can't get more convenient than that!

My old ISP dumped ALL newsgroups 2+ years ago, stating high costs as the only reason, whilst simultaneously increasing the monthly fee.

Keep an eye on it -- it's gonna get uglier.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783886 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:17:29 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783840 Hyway : To do so, set your newsreader to use news.altopia.com as an NNTP server with the account username "testnntp" and password "altnet1". This account will only give you read access to the 'news.*' groups and the local 'altnet.*' groups, but using it will give you an idea of Altopia's performance. If you would like to see a list of all the groups carried on Altopia, click here[[»https://www.altopia.com/active.txt]] for the almost 3 megabyte list.

Just did the test and maxed my speed so I'm getting more interested.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783840 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:59:24 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783816 graysonf : I don't fully know what's happening at Altopia these days other than pricing. I am not a current customer of their's.

In the past, if you wanted to "test" the service, only access to the altnet.* tree was available. Probably not very helpful since those are text groups, not binary. But if you can get your full usable speed, or close to it by downloading all the articles in those groups, the performance should be similar for binary groups.

You have to be using the correct news server in your news reader, regardless of which reader. You can't connect to and read Altopia if you are connected to newsgroups.bellsouth.net. Last I recall, Altopia is on news.alt.net.

Where is this "altopia's test out page" you mention?

Try the Altopia support email address with questions. They are usually pretty fast at getting back to you.

Or you can just sign up for the $6.00 plan, do a real test drive and cancel for your money back if not happy.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783816 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:47:58 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783789 anon : I was wondering if anyone can help me out? When I looked at altopia's test out page I couldn't seem to get the alt. bin. groups to load up, any idea as to how I should set up the newsreader? I am or was using xnews as my reader but am not sure if I should set up with newsgroups.bellsouth.net or with altopia? Any help would be greatly appreciated.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783789 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:34:11 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783785 Count Zero : I think the files were already off network, they were just contracting with giganews and the other newsgroup providers for the service.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783785 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:30:58 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783756 graysonf : I agree that they can't do this. But those who are unhappy with what was done have to be able to say they tried.

As to maybe getting one or maybe even several free months of DSL as an accommodation, that would buy a lot of months of Altopia news.

I don't know how many customers who were around back in the 1999-2000 time frame when Bellsouth's news service went into the toilet. But when that happened we got huge promises that it would be fixed, but of course nothing happened within the time frame Bellsouth committed to. It took years to get it back to something that was close to what it was. A lot of folks went to other ISPs because they still did a good job with news, had superior TOS/AUP, free static IPs, no PPPoE, etc. Others just bit down hard and bought 3rd party news, and trust me on this, they did not get it for $6.00/month.

Franky, we are not going see, hear, or read anything new about this episode that wasn't previously covered ad nausea back in 1999. But then again, if you were on the service then and a binary news junkie, you already know this.

In the end, if we can whine all we want about this. But it's falling on deaf ears over at ATT/Bellsouth. If we can't or won't do something about this ourselves, for ourselves, we really have no right to continue complaining.

Last time I voted with my feet, and took DSL with Telocity (the news server was awesome at first but couldn't handle the increasing load due to huge surges in their customer count).

This time almost all the other ISPs are long gone, and it's not important enough to me to do anything at all. But if it was, I'd just do it with Altopia.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783756 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:19:39 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783654 Mizzat :
said by graysonf See Profile :

I would suggest the following. This is something everybody who objects to what ATT did can do for themselves, and at zero cost risk to themselves.

Take a $6.00/month subscription to news service with Altopia »www.altopia.com. Just see if you are happy with it, and if so, then pressure ATT to lower your DSL price by that amount. If they won't, you really know where they stand.

There are other news services, maybe some of them offer what amounts to a free trial too.

I can tell you one thing, Altopia will never censor content unless it is clearly illegal and they are forced to remove it by law enforcement. and that would be on a post by post basis.
I can tell you right now they can't do that. The billing system doesn't allow for custom pricing of DSL service, so they can't just say "oh, ok, *poof* you're $6 lower every month so far". You might get a free month or so, but never get your price set at a custom price for a free feature that you don't think works like you want it to.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783654 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 08:33:25 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783446 NormanS :
said by X_Att_customer :

The best way an At&t customer could react to this farce is to promptly cancel their accounts and let them know why!
The pressure of the 1.5% who use the Usenet leaving over the removal of the 'alt.binaries.*' hierarchy will change their minds....how?

From the standpoint of the former SBC side of the service, the binary groups were pretty useless; low completion and short retention on the 'sbcgloba.net' servers. This change will have a low impact on AT&T West, AT&T Southwest, AT&T Midwest, and AT&T Northeast. I might add that the former SBC Global NNTP service already had RIAA/MPAA mandated limits on 'alt.binaries.*'.

For 'news.sf.sbcglobal.net', the switch is slated for July 14, 2008. I guess they will "guillotine" the service on that date! ;)

For now, the following groups are still loading for me:

alt.binaries.pictures.motorcycles
alt.binaries.cd.genealogy
alt.binaries.cd.genealogy.parts
alt.binaries.cd.genealogy.reposts

I never worked with the binary groups that much. But I've known, since about 2001, that, if I wanted better NNTP service than AT&T (then SBC) offered, I'd have to pay Giganews, Newsguy, or one of those to get it.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783446 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 04:37:56 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783211 winterfez6 : I wish that BS will split off with AT&T so we can have a nice peaceful southeast region.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783211 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 01:40:42 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783109 alfasub : I think that is a good idea, ATT took away a service that now one must pay extra, but I don't think they will credit anything or at most offer a month's access fee.
I am now planning to downgrade my Ultra plan ($32.50) to the cheaper Light plan ($19.00) for I have now no use of the speed. Has anyone tried doing this? are there any hidden fees or penalties? Perhaps if the ATT customer service offered me the Extreme at the Ultra price (not a trial of X months) I would consider. Anyone else planning to downgrade their DSL plan? ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20783109 Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:56:44 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20782843 Zoder :
said by graysonf See Profile :

If they wanted to delete all of alt.bin* and get less of a shi*storm for it, they should have never mentioned porn, illegal content, or anything else like that. The should have said cost drove the decision. At least that wouldn't be a lie.
Agreed. But then they couldn't give Mr. Cuomo a phony political victory.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20782843 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:38:24 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20782262 graysonf : If they wanted to delete all of alt.bin* and get less of a shi*storm for it, they should have never mentioned porn, illegal content, or anything else like that. The should have said cost drove the decision. At least that wouldn't be a lie.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20782262 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:12:16 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20782228 graysonf : I would suggest the following. This is something everybody who objects to what ATT did can do for themselves, and at zero cost risk to themselves.

Take a $6.00/month subscription to news service with Altopia »www.altopia.com. Just see if you are happy with it, and if so, then pressure ATT to lower your DSL price by that amount. If they won't, you really know where they stand.

There are other news services, maybe some of them offer what amounts to a free trial too.

I can tell you one thing, Altopia will never censor content unless it is clearly illegal and they are forced to remove it by law enforcement. and that would be on a post by post basis.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20782228 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:04:43 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20782199 anon : I called them this morning and the idiot kept saying, "open up your browser and go to either Google or Yahoo and let's do a Usenet search."

Uhhh, no.

Then he tried to say, "AT&T doesn't provide support for 3rd party applications, if you can get to your email and surf the internet then they your internet is working." "Look you ignorant fool, there is more to the internet than the World Wide Web, this IS an AT&T server and service."

Of course this fool had no idea what I was even talking about, most of the really stupid comments came from someone he was chatting with, who also, by the way, tried the "in an effort to reduce child porn, AT&T has stopped..blah, blah, blah...."

Morons. :huh: ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20782199 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:57:10 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20782181 anon : graysonf had a suggestion of altopia, they are looking pretty good to me. 2 connections, unlimited for $6 a month...can't beat that. I wonder how the speed is from a seattle server though]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20782181 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:51:12 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20782118 mdv921 : I've had Giganews for 2 days now and it's quite excellent. Their retention for binaries goes back 200 days and so far I haven't found a single incomplete file. They also give you a free 3 day trial period with 10GB's before you decide to go whole hog with whatever package you choose. I was thinking that once I went over to the package I subscribed for (25GB/mo for $12.99) I would already be down by 10GB's. But surprisingly the 10GB's are truly free and don't count against your 25GB limit.

The only thing that you have to deal with is the indredible initial header downloads. One group I've subscribed to for years on Bellsouth had over 17 million headers that had to be downloaded. Giganews has an accelerator program you can download for free that speeds up the header download 10 times or more and without that I estimate it would have taken me 5 hours or more to download headers the first time and I have a 3mb account.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20782118 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:30:43 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20781795 Zoder :
said by graysonf See Profile :

I agree, the binary portion of the spool is crushing everyone trying to serve it, even those who do news and only news. It was _only_ about 400GB/day when I got away from it.
Here are the stats according to Dennis.

"Just before pulled the trigger on removing alt.bin* and alt.bain*, Userland was at 1.4Gb/s of throughput and peering was 1.8Gb/s in both directions."]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20781795 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:03:48 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20781771 Zoder : This post by Dennis just shows how idiotic AT&T's upper management and legal department is.

On 2008-07-12, Dennis wrote:
>
> "Dennis Crandall" wrote in message
> news:Bl3ek.14004$1I.13276@bignews4.bellsouth.net...
>> On 2008-07-12, Dennis wrote:
>>> Does this mean reading only newsgroups will still be available, like this
>>> one for example? I guess that should read 'text only' newsgroups.
>>>
>>>
>>> td
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> Hey td,
>>
>> We will continue to carry every group that does not have alt.bin* nor
>> alt.bain* in their title.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Dennis Crandall
>> Newsmaster - System Wrangler
>> at&t SouthEast
>
> Including these?
>
> a2000.erotica.binaries
> alt.hillary-c.newt.binaries.pictures.erotica
> alt.pictues.binaries.erotica
> alt.sex.binaries
> alt.sex.binaries.erotica
> alt.sex.binaries.erotica.teen
> alt.sex.binaries.pictures.erotica.fetish.barbie
> alt.sex.binaries.pisctures.erotica.bears
> alt.sex.binary
> dk.binear.erotik
> dk.binear.erotic.film
> dk.binear.erotic.film.repost
> dk.binear.erotic.nordisk
> es.binarios.sexo
> free.uk.binaries.porn.general
> hr.alt.seks.binaries
> hr.alt.seks.binaries.video
> hr.alt.sex.binaries
> it.binari.x.erotismo
> it.binari.x.erotismo.amatoriale
> it.binari.x.erotismo.animazioni
> it.binari.x.erotismo.cremera
> it.binari.x.erotismo.scanseries
> japan.binaries.pictures.erotica
> japan.binaries.pictures.erotica.aidoruotakaragazou
> japan.binaries.pictures.erotica.anime
> japan.binaries.pictures.erotica.boyoyon
> japan.binaries.pictures.erotica.lolita
> japan.binaries.pictures.erotica.loose-socks
> japan.binaries.pictures.erotica.repost
> japan.binaries.pictures.erotica.shota
> japan.binaries.pictures.lolita
> japan2nd.binaries.pictures.erotica.lolita
> korea.binaries.erotica
> korea.binaries.warez
> sex.binaries
> sex.binaries.oral
> udm.binaries.pictures.erotica
>
> Seems like enough for the people seeking porn, especially if
> they don't insist that it be labelled in English.
>
>

I was handed an order from a team of lawyers telling me to remove all
groups that start alt.bin* and alt.bain*. That is clear enough. If
there are "other" groups available, that would not fall under this
edict, right?
So it is ok to carry the porn as long as it's not under the alt.binaries hierarchy but anything non porn related has to be removed. :uhh:]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20781771 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:59:42 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20781762 anon :
said by graysonf See Profile :

I can believe that many in support don't know about Usenet, but that nobody else complained has to be a lie.
I can confirm that support does not know anything about the recent change in newsgroups offerings. I just called in, and got a tech in SE Asia, he had no idea what I was talking about. He barely knew what Usenet was and alluded to the idea that newsgroups are a free offering, unlike email/web services, and that I should just be happy with what I get.

Why would AT&T not alert their tech support call centers of this change. Certainly newsgroups are more obscure and unpopular than the web and email but this thread is proof that there are a good amount of users who care about it.

What a joke, I'll be calling the billing department promptly Monday morning. If they don't concede some sort of reduction in my monthly payment I' gone. The can kiss my ass, I'm not going to sit on my hands about this. This is outright censorship and has little or nothing to do with any children.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20781762 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:58:24 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20781419 graysonf : I can believe that many in support don't know about Usenet, but that nobody else complained has to be a lie.

I used a third party news service for many years, starting in 1995 (Altopia.com, previously known as Alt.net - but the server name is still news.alt.net).

Bellsouth had a period beginning around about 1999 where the news service was the worst I have seen anywhere. Completion in binary groups was approaching zero for all multipart posts. They never got it solved, choosing themselves to go to a third party provider, Usenetserver.com. They were hugely better but still had major problems dealing with the sudden load that can come with the dominant ISP in a nine state region. That relationship lasted a few years, but before it even began I left Bellsouth DSL for other smaller ISPs. Most did a great job with news, some didn't, but I wasn't into it enough anymore to need a third party news service.

I agree, the binary portion of the spool is crushing everyone trying to serve it, even those who do news and only news. It was _only_ about 400GB/day when I got away from it.

Providing binary news content is well on its way to being something an ISP just isn't going to be interested in, and yes, it will soon be a third party only thing.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20781419 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:28:28 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20781259 anon : Deleting Alt.bin, under the guise of saving us from child porn is At&t's way of lowering their bandwidth usage at our expense.
The best way an At&t customer could react to this farce is to promptly cancel their accounts and let them know why!
I will be canceling my dsl account on Monday, as well as my local phone service followed by my cellular account.
It angers me to no end that At&t is just bending over and taking it from the governmental agencies who employ people such as Cuomo.. Alt.bin has more to it than just child porn and why wouldn't the people posting this material just move on to another news group...
I was very upset when I heard Bellsouth had sold its rights to my Dsl to a government slave, such as At&t, but I will retaliate with my $$$$$ by going elsewhere!
At&t's actions of censorship is unforgivable and by covering up their actions by trying to save us from Child Porn are insults to our intelligence!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20781259 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:41:53 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20780942 Zoder :
There are also points that were made that I cannot tell you about that
could affect the life of binaries in the future.

--
Dennis Crandall
Newsmaster - System Wrangler
at&t SouthEast
I wonder what Dennis means by that. The future on AT&T or the future on the internet? Maybe the speculation that there are going to be big lawsuits against the newsgroup providers by the RIAA/MPAA isn't far off.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20780942 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:20:22 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20780265 yzor : I have to say thanks a whole lot, knew this kind of bs would happen when at&t took over. First they screw up the bellsouth hosting emails, now this. Geez, not that I use those binaries that much, but I hate the censorship crap, that's just lame. Seems the gov writes laws for everything , pretty soon you wont be able to do anything legally they way we are going.

Censorship and privacy violations , sad sad. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20780265 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:21:24 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20780169 anon : For those of you who haven't been reading through the group bellsouth.net.support.news-service, I provide they following very interesting tidbit of info. The part in italics is from someone named sour@dough.com, the latter is from Dennis Crandall...aka Judas. Just kidding, love ya Dennis,..no wait..just kidding. Oh hell just read it.


> 1. There is no court ruling.
>
> 2. This was all negotiated beforehand with the providers and the
> Attorney General.
>
> 3. Until proven otherwise this is what both sides wanted, providers get
> rid of massive bandwidth use and the AG gets to look all rough and tough
> in his bid for the governor's mansion.
>
> 4. So you are correct that "It's all about the children" is phony
> baloney, but it's an excuse that is unassailable because those who
> object must be perves.
>
> 5. Although I have no proof I would not doubt that this also has the
> RIAA and MPAA fingerprints all over it.
>
> 6. As usual the users, the ones paying the bills, have no one at the
> table to look after their interests.


On 2008-07-11, Dennis wrote:

Actually, that is an invalid assertion. There was and still is a group
of people on the inside fighting this decision. Unfortunately, we just
got outplayed from a poliitical standpoint. The game is still not over
yet though.

To prove my point, we did not drop back to big8 only and even worse, get
completely out of the newsgroup business.

There are also points that were made that I cannot tell you about that
could affect the life of binaries in the future.

--
Dennis Crandall
Newsmaster - System Wrangler
at&t SouthEast]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20780169 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:58:22 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779909 blackstarinc : »AT&T 's Official Newsgroup Announcement

(NOT spam)
Just sharing what I just joined after doing some research. If ATT wants to take away legitimate newsgroups alongside the stuff I never cared for anyway, then why stay?

15% off for life on Newsdemon, best deal I could find.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779909 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:45:54 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779747 anon : when you say take news from a third party provider do you mean easy news or other such newsgroups or am I just spinning my wheels? thanks for any info ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779747 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:02:26 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779609 anon : I called their tech support to complain and they didn't even know what I was talking about. The guy really had no clue what Usenet even was. He also said that I was the only person that had called to complain about it.

I think that it was just an excuse to get rid of the bandwidth required to carry the binary groups since a full Usenet feed is quite substantial these days, terabytes a day.

One of the main reasons I switch to BellSouth was Usenet. I have been using it going back 15 years or more. I can remember going there to get new levels for Doom back in the early 90s. I was on Comcast when they dropped Usenet years ago so I voted with my wallet and switched to BellSouth even though they offered slower connection speeds. Now the only option is to go to a 3rd party pay server in my area.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779609 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:03:21 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779585 graysonf : Your not going to find a free usenet server that offers the alt.binaries hierarchy and offers anything even remotely resembling decent completion rates and speed. It's just not out there.

You may find a server that has a few obscure low traffic groups and does well with them. But any high volume groups like pictures, multimedia, warez, etc. will never be fully usable.

Change ISPs to one who still does well, with the risk of having them dropping/trimming usenet in the future, or take news from third party provider.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779585 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:53:47 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779569 graysonf : The alt.binaries hierarchy is gone. Changing newsreaders won't bring it back.

You'll have to either find another ISP that still carries it, or take usenet service from a third party provider of which there are quite a few.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779569 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:45:57 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779567 goldy : Time for someone to make an updated list of "free" newsgroup servers. alt. binaries astronomy and a few others is why I kept using them , they were pitiful otherwise,
Att dsl top of the line and their newsgroups ran at 1.5 on a good day and their retention of about 3 days.
--
Never chase a dragon with a butterfly net. It annoys the dragon and will probably get you burnt!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779567 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:45:46 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779367 wolfsmane : if i pay $46.xx /month for a service that includes NGs, shouldn't they have to reduce the price/month since their giving less service?

i've been fighting switching to a higher bandwidth (with NGs) from my local cable provider because i just didn't want to go through the hassle.

the cable is cheaper per month, has NGs, faster speeds than xtreme. even if i have to pay for NGs, i'm still saving $$$'s.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779367 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 06:46:00 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779314 anon : when using another newsgroup reader can you still retrieve alt binaries? I had tried forte agent but couldn't get alt. binaries I think because my server is bellouth, am I doing something wrong?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779314 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 06:11:02 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779279 nomyth : The es.binarios.* groups are still there. :uhh:

Coupon codes for AT&T customers: »www.ngprovider.com

The idea of doing it all via BT fills me with dread, and jumping ship to another ISP would be pointless since the only other option here is Time Warner which got rid of its newsgroups last month. I'm leaning toward Ngroups.net: $10 a month (paid quarterly) is tough to beat, and I've had good experiences with their sister site Usenet-News.net.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779279 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 05:28:01 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779228 anon : I've been using Bellsouth/AT&T for quite a while now. this move caught me by surprise, as for some reason I didn't hear about this development. I should have known something like this was going to happen sooner or later. I find it highly ironic that they yanked the entire alt.binaries. group, rather than just filtering out the offending groups. the really bad thing, is that as of 3:10am in the morning 07/12-2008, a newsgroup titled "alt.bianries (It is spelled this way).pictures.teen-starlets" is still active.(this was found browsing the complete newsgroups list.) what a load of BS]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779228 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:21:58 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779115 anon : This really blows chunks. :mad: :mad:

Taking down the whole alt.binaries.* hierarchy just so it looks like they're "doing something" about child porn. Swatting a fly with a blowtorch and not even solving what small problem might have existed, as a determined abuser has nothing technical stopping him from posting outside the alt.binaries hierarchy!

In fact, the biggest source of abuse is likely to be Russian spammers trying to advertise for pay websites located offshore and using shady networks of credit card processors. Just let the FBI, Interpol, etc., go after the creeps. The spammers wouldn't care what group they post to.

Taking down the entire alt.binaries is a gross overreaction. Agree with those who say the child-porn thing may be just an excuse and the real reason could be RIAA or MPAA.

Many of the posters on Usenet are already outside the U.S. simply because connections in some other countries are so much faster and the U.S. is falling further BEHIND on that thanks to companies like AT&T! So that side *might* hold up (note that AT&T never carried truly humongous groups like a.b.boneless).

Could the next step be that all 3rd party newsgroup providers have to be based outside the U.S.?!

These moves will mean fewer new users discovering Usenet. Some dedicated newsgroup users started years ago posting to discussion groups and gradually learned the ropes about binaries. There's a learning curve, but those who take it on tend to say it's worth it.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20779115 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:32:23 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778946 heat84 : NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! :( Guess I'll be doing all my pirating via BT now. :(]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778946 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:12:34 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778932 stomp357 :
said by Zoder See Profile :

I typically download 2 GB or less from newsgroups per month. So what's a cheap newsgroup provider with good completion rates for low usage customers?
Agent's APN usenet service has a 10GB a month for $2.95. Don't know how good it is, but the first month is a "no-risk trial", so you get a refund if you don't like it.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778932 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:09:15 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778696 anon :
But now all of that bandwidth will flow from off network sites. Won't that cost them more money?
Of the people who use usenet (or any service that is "free"), how many do you think will use it when it costs $5-$15 per month? 10 percent?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778696 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:06:00 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778651 winterfez6 : OMFG, the only reason i stay with BS for this whole year was because they offer newsgroups. Now that is gone, i would rather sign up for a faster speed internet provider (Comcast the only OTHER provider offered higher than 6MB with cheaper price)then sign up for Giganews or something to access newsgroups.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778651 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:56:18 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778324 anon : Completion rates seems to be 95%+ judging from what I've read on Slyck.com forums.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778324 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:47:25 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778301 mdv921 :
said by ATT can blow me :

said by Zoder See Profile :

I typically download 2 GB or less from newsgroups per month. So what's a cheap newsgroup provider with good completion rates for low usage customers?
Usenet-news.net

They offer block accounts (pay-per-gigabyte with no time limit) that are non expiring and non-recurring. The retention is now over 100 days in binary groups. A 2GB block acount would be $2, 30GB is $10, and a 100GB block account is $24. So for $10 you could get just over a years worth of usage if you download 2GB or less a month. I've been pricing for most of the day and this seems the best option for me, your mileage may vary. I'm pretty dead set on the 100GB for $24, which would last me about a year.

Pricing ==> »usenet-news.net/index1.php?url=get

Here is a link to some other premium Usenet providers with user reviews. »www.slyck.com/ng.php?page=3
Do you know what their completion rate is?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778301 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:42:18 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778278 anon :
said by Zoder See Profile :

I typically download 2 GB or less from newsgroups per month. So what's a cheap newsgroup provider with good completion rates for low usage customers?
Usenet-news.net

They offer block accounts (pay-per-gigabyte with no time limit) that are non expiring and non-recurring. The retention is now over 100 days in binary groups. A 2GB block acount would be $2, 30GB is $10, and a 100GB block account is $24. So for $10 you could get just over a years worth of usage if you download 2GB or less a month. I've been pricing for most of the day and this seems the best option for me, your mileage may vary. I'm pretty dead set on the 100GB for $24, which would last me about a year.

Pricing ==> »usenet-news.net/index1.php?url=get

Here is a link to some other premium Usenet providers with user reviews. »www.slyck.com/ng.php?page=3]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778278 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:37:00 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778275 Zoder :
said by graysonf See Profile :

Have a look at Altopia »https://www.altopia.com/

Unlimited use, unlimited bitrate, as low as $6.00/mo.

You can try it and if you don't like it, you can cancel within the first two weeks and get your money back. Hard to say no to that.
Thanks, I'll take a look.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778275 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:35:50 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778249 Zoder :
said by Kurt V :

said by sickwookie See Profile :

I would have to guess that the decision had more to do with warez.
I've always thought that they relish the fact that they now have an excuse to drop a service that must have consumed an inordinate amount of bandwidth.
But now all of that bandwidth will flow from off network sites. Won't that cost them more money?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778249 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:28:18 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778209 graysonf : Have a look at Altopia »https://www.altopia.com/

Unlimited use, unlimited bitrate, as low as $6.00/mo.

You can try it and if you don't like it, you can cancel within the first two weeks and get your money back. Hard to say no to that.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778209 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:19:52 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778171 anon :
said by sickwookie See Profile :

I would have to guess that the decision had more to do with warez.
I've always thought that they relish the fact that they now have an excuse to drop a service that must have consumed an inordinate amount of bandwidth.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778171 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:09:54 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778158 Zoder : I typically download 2 GB or less from newsgroups per month. So what's a cheap newsgroup provider with good completion rates for low usage customers?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778158 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:07:27 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778011 sickwookie : alt.binaries.* seems to be gone, but alt.sex.* is untouched so whatever the reason it does not seem to be about any type of porn. I would have to guess that the decision had more to do with warez.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20778011 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:41:37 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777803 mdv921 : But what are you guys gonna do when the new ISP's you go to get rid of alt groups or usenet altogether? You know they're going to do it eventually. The government is forcing the ISP's hands on this and the ISP's are buckling. And frankly I don't really think that AT&T would care if every customer they had who used the newsgroups up and left. The newsgroup community is quite small as a whole. I rarely find anyone who has internet service who even knows what the newsgroups are. Hell, I've talked to AT&T/BS tech support people in the past who don't even know what newsgroups are.

You may as well stay where you are (if you like the service) and get a 3rd party news service.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777803 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:58:39 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777744 Airwolf7 : AT&T Southeast would have to beat me with a stick to get me to leave my FastAccess DSL Xtreme 6.0 and line powered POTS voice service with real 911 for another provider.

Lives are at stake and I can't do without real phone service and I would put my Xtreme 6.0 up against anything Comcast has to offer from a reliability standpoint and from a speed standpoint below 16Mbps/2Mbps except for the upload side of things, but I don't really care about upload that much. That PowerBoost thing is pretty nice though for little files.
--
.

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"

"Those who beat swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for those who don't."

Quotes by Benjamin Franklin.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777744 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:48:23 EDT Let's Digg this BS to Frontpage... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777672 anon : What's with the "Save the Children" antics? At least be honest with people and tell them the new AT&T is just cutting back on bandwidth to appease the MPAA/RIAA, etc.

I have been reading Digg.com social media every day for the past few years and feel this article needs to make frontpage.

Digg it up to show your support @ »digg.com/tech_news/AT_T_Blocks_e···up_today]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777672 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:35:27 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777471 anon :
said by Airwolf7 See Profile :

This doesn't have anything to do with child porn.

They probably received a friendly heads up from the RIAA/MPAA that they are going to start to sue the shit out of newsgroups providers and this is just their way to get out of this mess before the SHTF.
Bingo! I agree 100%

said by Airwolf7 See Profile :

To everybody wanting to run away to another provider.

There is no need to do that because all of the big ISPs will be getting rid of these newsgroups too.
I realize that most other ISPs will be doing the same thing if not already. The reason I stayed with Bellsouth was that they offered free, unlimited, and reliable usenet access. That no longer is the case so I will try out the offer Comcast has been pitching me for the past two years. More than double the speed for the same price per month, if not a bit less.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777471 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:53:27 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777459 anon : Wow. I guess this will be my last month with Bellsouth/ATT DSL.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777459 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:50:30 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777392 anon : Wow, that was a surprise to find as I came home from work. Clearly, anyone who remotely thinks this had anything to do with what AT&T says it does is not thinking very hard. Over the years when I've considered switching providers I didn't because of Newsgroup access. Heck, this might be even a better time to not only switch providers, but get rid of my phone service as well.

Bigtime disappointment from a long time customer.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777392 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:34:26 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777376 Airwolf7 : This doesn't have anything to do with child porn.

"We are doing it to save the little children." is just a smoke screen for something they want to do that would be unpopular if they told you the true reason so they just tell you this lie to pull at your heart strings.

The only way to deal with these Monsters that do these things to children is to hunt them down and shoot them in the back of the head with a .45 and if you can't sneak up on them then shoot them in the face. No judge, no jury, just shoot them in the head. What if a mistake is made? Collateral Damage. Remember we are doing this to save the little children.

If AT&T/BellSouth gave a shit about child porn they would have made these groups go away a long time ago. It's not like alt.binaries.pictures.lolita.fucking and those like it just popped up one day out of the blue. They have been there for a long time.

They probably received a friendly heads up from the RIAA/MPAA that they are going to start to sue the shit out of newsgroups providers and this is just their way to get out of this mess before the SHTF.

These groups don't want to piss off the big ISPs because the MPAA will want to be licensing movies to AT&T for U-verse and like all pay tv services they will also have many dozens of music channels to listen to so that will cover the RIAA.

Don't believe me? Just hold those thoughts for 6 months from now and see.

I could be wrong, but just wait and see.

.

To everybody wanting to run away to another provider.

There is no need to do that because all of the big ISPs will be getting rid of these newsgroups too.

--
.

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"

"Those who beat swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for those who don't."

Quotes by Benjamin Franklin.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777376 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:29:18 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777348 anon : Confirming that all binary groups seem gone now.

Seeing as all the binary groups are now gone I may decide to switch ISPs finally. I quite enjoyed browsing through various newsgroups, and quite frankly can't afford to pay a separate fee.

I've been a customer for around 8 years, and they really dropped the ball with this one.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777348 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:23:23 EDT AT&T - the new BS... No Binaries? WTF! http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777236 anon : I have been a bellsouth customer for over 6 years and can honestly say that everything has been downhill since the AT&T merger. What was the point in breaking them up in the first place?

I can confirm all alt.binaries removed today when just yesterday everything was fine...

Now, thanks to AT&T, Bellsouth really can be abbreviated as BS!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777236 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:58:36 EDT Amazingly dumb swath they're cutting http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777014 jmontyburns : I just updated newsgroups and all the alt.binaries groups are gone. HOWEVER, in their infinite wisdom, they left all the alt.sex groups, including the alt.sex.pedophilia trees. I use an alternative provider and even they won't carry those. This is just a lame excuse to get rid of the binaries groups. They know full well that most of those groups don't carry the kiddie porn. Wow, they're either incredibly dishonest or incredibly stupid. Probably both.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20777014 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:08:04 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20776945 yesse :
said by Kag3musha :

Well I do not download or view kiddy porn, nor do I steal music....but I am now going to change providers.

Yup...after almost eight years with Bellsouth(AT&T) I am going to be changing providers.

I am tired of the "for the children" crowd getting the government to force private enterprise to do their bidding.

There are a TON more groups in the alt.* category than just warez and porn.

Fscking idiots.
Boy have you hit the nail on the head for me with your statement. After almost seven years of service with Bellsouth/AT&T I too will be switching providers. It'll be somewhat of a hassle at first but I would now rather give my money to someone else. Bad move AT&T, very bad.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20776945 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:51:32 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20776890 stomp357 : As much as liked my DSL over the years, the only reason I stayed was for the alt.binaries. Now I'm gona test drive cable for a month, and see how the 8Mbit/512kbps service holds up. The last time I had cable was back in 2000, and DSL was way better, so I switched. My brother has had cable since 2000, and his suked for a long time, but until a little over a year ago, his speeds have been pretty solid, even in the afternoons.
If mine is pretty solid, then I'm giving AT&T the boot. Suddenlink doesn't have news service, but you can access the news.lga.highwinds-media.com from Suddenlink the last time I tried at my brother's. Bellsouth/AT&T seems to be blocked from this server. Hopefully Suddenlink will hold up since their 8Mbit service is cheaper than AT&T 6Mbit.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20776890 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:34:45 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20776562 vilfrard : alt.binaries.erotic.children
alt.binaries.erotica.pre-teen
alt.binaries.pictures.amateur.male
alt.binaries.pictures.child
alt.binaries.pictures.child.erotica
alt.binaries.pictures.child.erotica.female
alt.binaries.pictures.child.erotica.male
alt.binaries.pictures.child.starlets
alt.binaries.pictures.children
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.13-17
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.age.13-17
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.amateur.lolita
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.bestiality.pre-teen
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.child
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.child.female
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.early-teen
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.early-teens
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.early-teens.firsthair
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.early-teens.hardcore
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.female.young.moderated
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.hornyrob
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.incest
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.ll-series
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.lolita
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.mclt
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.preteen
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.pre-teen
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.pre-teen.chatter
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.pre-teens
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.pussy.firsthair
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.pw-series
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.rape.loki
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.young
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.young.orientals
alt.binaries.pictures.kids
alt.binaries.pictures.lolita
alt.binaries.pictures.lolita.fucking
alt.binaries.pictures.lolita.misc
alt.binaries.pictures.young
alt.binaries.pictures.youth

These are not the only groups deleted I can't get any Alt. groups to come up]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20776562 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:21:45 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20776535 anon : Well I do not download or view kiddy porn, nor do I steal music....but I am now going to change providers.

Yup...after almost eight years with Bellsouth(AT&T) I am going to be changing providers.

I am tired of the "for the children" crowd getting the government to force private enterprise to do their bidding.

There are a TON more groups in the alt.* category than just warez and porn.

Fscking idiots.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20776535 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:16:58 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20776503 mdv921 :
said by RJ44 See Profile :

said by mdv921 See Profile :

As of a few minutes ago the entire alt hierarchy has been deleted from the AT&T/BS servers. Hasta Lavista alt. I'm sure there will be lots of gnashing of teeth by tonight when those who used those groups and work out of the home get home.
Really? I thought I read it was the alt.binaries hierarchy.
Well now you may be right. All my 'alt' groups were binary groups and I didn't bother to check to see if any non-binary groups were gone. I just ass*u*me*d, which I shouldn't have done.

At the rate it's going with bringing up all the headers Giganews still has on their servers, I'll be downloading headers for the next 24 hours straight. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20776503 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:09:36 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20776479 RJ44 :
said by mdv921 See Profile :

As of a few minutes ago the entire alt hierarchy has been deleted from the AT&T/BS servers. Hasta Lavista alt. I'm sure there will be lots of gnashing of teeth by tonight when those who used those groups and work out of the home get home.
Really? I thought I read it was the alt.binaries hierarchy.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20776479 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:05:48 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20776469 charlie92 : Getting 20G/month for $5.95 with Agent Premium News service
at »www.forteinc.com/apn/index.php They have 90 day retention on binaries. It is the same company (Forte) that for literally decades have produced and developed the Agent News / Email client. Now at v 4.2 I have used their news service before and it is very satisfactory.
--
DW7000 Pro - G4R 1110Mhz - DI-604 router - 3 Windows XP PC's - Ethernet CAT5 network]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20776469 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:04:07 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20775551 mdv921 :
said by DaveO See Profile :

I wish AT&T had never bought Bellsouth.
You and me both. But, all is not over. I just signed up with Giganews for the Silver Plan for 25 GB/downloads per month for $12.99/mo. That's not that bad and I'll never use 25 GB in a month.

I'll bet the premium news services are smiling broadly today!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20775551 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:17:11 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20775481 DaveO : I wish AT&T had never bought Bellsouth.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20775481 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:03:02 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20775457 mdv921 : As of a few minutes ago the entire alt hierarchy has been deleted from the AT&T/BS servers. Hasta Lavista alt. I'm sure there will be lots of gnashing of teeth by tonight when those who used those groups and work out of the home get home.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20775457 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:59:27 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20775319 charlie92 : "Dennis" has posted (today July 11, 2008) that Bellsouth is working on an official announcement concerning the axing of the alt. heirarcy. I have already switched news providers.
It is simply a move under the guise of "pornography" to lower costs for AT&T while removing access to many many more legitimate ng's. I often read and post in alt.anti-virus. Why should it be dumped as part of a so-called "porno crusade?'
--
DW7000 Pro - G4R 1110Mhz - DI-604 router - 3 Windows XP PC's - Ethernet CAT5 network]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20775319 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:34:39 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20775034 Zoder :
said by graysonf See Profile :

On or before 6/28/2008 The attached list of groups were deleted from newsgroups.bellsouth.net. I have not checked since then to see if more have been deleted.
Well good riddance. I can't imagine why they were kept around this long.

It's complete crap that they are removing the entire hierarchy under the guise of child porn. At least be honest if you don't want to carry Alt.binaries.* anymore.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20775034 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:48:34 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20774962 mdv921 : This is what Dennis just posted on the support newsgroup to my inquiry. I think the sad face he put at the bottom pretty much says what it is.

"We are working on the legal statement now. It will not be much longer and then everyone will no at the same time."

:-(]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20774962 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:37:58 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20774821 mdv921 : This has been posted and reposted on the BS support newsgroup in the last 24 hours and so far Dennis has not made any comment whatsoever. If he continues to not respond then I think it's a done deal. Afterall he made the statement a few days ago, "there are NO changes scheduled for the AT&T/BS newsgroup service". Apparently that schedule was changed quickly.

Of course if it is confirmed a whole crew of people are going to start screaming that "I'm leaving AT&T/BS because of this". That will be fruitless because before long all the ISP's are going to follow suit and get rid of the alt hierarchy or usenet altogether.

May as well bite the bullet and get a premium news service and stay with AT&T/BS.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20774821 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:17:18 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20774684 DaveO : This article makes it sound like ATT is going to get rid of every alt.binaries newsgroup.

»news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080711/ap_···nography]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20774684 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:54:50 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20773952 graysonf : On or before 6/28/2008 The attached list of groups were deleted from newsgroups.bellsouth.net. I have not checked since then to see if more have been deleted.
deleted groups.txt 1,582 bytes
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20773952 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:25:34 EDT Re: Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20772923 anon : I don't see that happening anytime soon but that's just pure speculation on my part. Have you posed this question to Dennis?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20772923 Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:03:49 EDT Is AT&T removing alt.* newsgroups http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20772682 Zoder : I saw this article today with the following bit:

»news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-99882···nefd.top

"AT&T spokesman Marty Richter told me that the company is going to cease offering the alt.* hierarchy, which include sex-themed newsgroups but also ones such as alt.binaries.pictures.aviation, alt.binaries.drwho.pictures, and alt.binaries.pictures.vehicles. Customers will continue to be able to access third-party Usenet providers.

AT&T's existing policy has been to investigate all complaints of child porn hosted on its servers--and promptly remove any illegal images--within three business days. That will not change. On Thursday, AT&T said it will enter into an agreement with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to consult the group's lists in addition to complaints received from other sources."

Is this really true? Nothing came up on Google News except a mention in some Arizona paper.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20772682 Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:09:42 EDT