Usenet / newsgroup server opinions

[oneman]

I was thinking about putting together a simple usenet guide to get people started. I was just thinking about the service providers and was looking for opinions. No arguing here people, just want to hear your experiance. So a quick survey if you could answer please if you use usenet.

Which usenet/newsgroup provider are you with.
What does it cost.
Is there a download limit.
What is their connectivity like.
What is their reliability like.
Real retention period.
Real completion rate.
Finally can you download at two different IP at the same time.
Do they support encryption through SSL.
Any other features worth mentioning.

 

[oneman]

Which usenet/newsgroup provider are you with. - Giganews
What does it cost. - $25 a month
Is there a download limit. - nope
What their connectivity like - Can max out a 50mb connection
What is their reliability like. - very few outages in several years of being with them
Real retention period. - two years
Real completion rate. - Almost perfect. Have noticed some posts being taken down due to copyright infringment.
Finally can you download at two different IP at the same time. - Nope, you have to wait around 15 minutes to between IP address chances
Do they support encryption through SSL. - Yes for an extra $5 per month
Any other features worth mentioning. - European and US hosted servers available.

 

[jaffa]

Which usenet/newsgroup provider are you with. - Ngroups
What does it cost. - $29.99 per quarter
Is there a download limit. - No, it's unmetered
What is their connectivity like. - max out 20mb
What is their reliability like. - excellent
Real retention period. - 600 days +
Real completion rate. - can't remember any failures over years
Finally can you download at two different IP at the same time. - Some say the have done it but it is NOT allowed though.
Do they support encryption through SSL. - Yes


@oneman, you should add does it allow SSL.

 

[Captin]

Which usenet/newsgroup provider are you with. - Astraweb
What does it cost. - $11 (£7) per month.
Is there a download limit. - None
What is their connectivity like. - 20mb constant downloads. (can max out 50mb if you have it)
What is their reliability like. - 99% uptime
Real retention period. - 600+ days for binaries 1000+ for text.
Real completion rate. - pefect.
Finally can you download at two different IP at the same time. - Not allowed.

Also has Euopean & US servers both with SSL included in the price.

 

[Shindig]

Astraweb
90$ for the year.
Unlimited
Maxes my 600kb connection out.
450+ day retention.

Coupled with NZBMatrix you cant go wrong.

 

[little_pob]

Which usenet/newsgroup provider are you with. - Giganews EU via BT broadband.
What does it cost. - free to BT BB customers.
Is there a download limit. - 100GB/m (BT's fair use policy limit)
What their connectivity like - about 170-180kb/s, whilst the exchange being 21CN enabled it is over-subscribed and so only get 2-3Mb/s connection speed
Real retention period. - was getting 300 days, but seems to have actually dropped recently with the increased retention periods for paying subscribers
Real completion rate. - Gets more hit and miss as the posts get older, generally ok if less than 150 days old though.
Finally can you download at two different IP at the same time. - No, can only connect from a BT IP address.
Do they support encryption through SSL. - Not as far as I'm aware
Any other features worth mentioning. - auto connects using IP address, no need for username and password.

 

[zad]

Which usenet/newsgroup provider are you with. newsdemon
What does it cost. £7.33
Is there a download limit. nope
What is their connectivity like. very good I get constant 2.35MB/s im on 20meg connection
What is their reliability like. very good
Real retention period. I personally have had stuff at 365 days old
Real completion rate. dunno auto par 2 mine but get very few failures..
Finally can you download at two different IP at the same time. not sure but why would I need to.
Do they support encryption through SSL. yes they do
Any other features worth mentioning. they give away newsrover but I use sabnzb.

 

[wiz569]

Which usenet/newsgroup provider are you with.=Astraweb
What does it cost.=$11 a month
Is there a download limit.=No
What is their connectivity like.=Maxs out my 10mb connection
What is their reliability like.=100%
Real retention period.=728 days
Real completion rate.=99%
Finally can you download at two different IP at the same time.=No,but havent tried
Do they support encryption through SSL.=Yes

 

[Kruger]

which usenet/newsgroup provider are you with. - ngroups
what does it cost. - $29.99 per quarter
is there a download limit. - no, it's unmetered
what is their connectivity like. - max out 20mb
what is their reliability like. - excellent
real retention period. - 600 days +
real completion rate. - can't remember any failures over years
finally can you download at two different ip at the same time. - some say the have done it but it is not allowed though.
Do they support encryption through ssl. - yes


@oneman, you should add does it allow ssl.

+1
_________

 

[johnny bravo]

+1
_________

+2..........

 

[TheCheekyMonkey]

Which usenet/newsgroup provider are you with. = astraweb
What does it cost. = £8 a month
Is there a download limit. = no
What is their connectivity like. = never had one problem
What is their reliability like. = never had one problem
Real retention period. = god knows, but its long, longer than giganews i think, again never had a problem
Real completion rate. = never had a problem
Finally can you download at two different IP at the same time. = no, but theres not many that do
Do they support encryption through SSL. = yes included free
Any other features worth mentioning. = much cheaper than giganews and ive never had a problem at all with them, i used to be on giganews for years, but can warrant double the price of astraweb.

 

[Bally12345]

Another vote here for Astraweb.

 

[D0G5BO77OK5]

Which usenet/newsgroup provider are you with. newsdemon
What does it cost. £7.33
Is there a download limit. no
What is their connectivity like. 2.35MB/s im on 20meg connection
What is their reliability like. very good
Real retention period. 608 days
Real completion rate. 99.9% completion i dont get any problems
Finally can you download at two different IP at the same time. yes u can
Do they support encryption through SSL. yes
Any other features worth mentioning. they give away newsrover

cheers

D0G5BO77OK5