Thread: OT: free or cheap News Server - Comcast has quit, along wtih other ISPs.

"lgblob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] ..
> When your ISP stops its news server[Giganews at Comcast] who have you used
> to access newsgroups? Have any tried any of the free News Servers? It
> appears that the "free" servers are mostlly free for limited service and
> then you pay for increased downloads. I see mixed reviews for
> Teranews.com.
> Thanks for your thoughts,
>

I've used Teranews for probably 7 years. For a one-time $3.95 fee. I
supplement this with whatever free server is around and doing well, this
time, motzarrella. Don't pay for Usenet!

lgblob wrote:
> When your ISP stops its news server[Giganews at Comcast] who have you
> used to access newsgroups? Have any tried any of the free News
> Servers? It appears that the "free" servers are mostlly free for
> limited service and then you pay for increased downloads. I see mixed
> reviews for Teranews.com. Thanks for your thoughts,

At least a couple of us went Usenet-News. You pay for a block,
say $5 or 10 worth should last you a long time. I use the eu
server.

nancy

cybercat wrote:
>
> "lgblob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected] ..
> > When your ISP stops its news server[Giganews at Comcast] who have you used
> > to access newsgroups? Have any tried any of the free News Servers? It
> > appears that the "free" servers are mostlly free for limited service and
> > then you pay for increased downloads. I see mixed reviews for
> > Teranews.com.
> > Thanks for your thoughts,
> >
>
> I've used Teranews for probably 7 years. For a one-time $3.95 fee. I
> supplement this with whatever free server is around and doing well, this
> time, motzarrella. Don't pay for Usenet!

usenetmonster is fine with me, $3/mo for 5GB with rollover, so I have
vastly more GB quota than I'll ever use, and they have essentially all
groups, where the free news servers usually don't have any binary
groups.

lgblob wrote:

> When your ISP stops its news server[Giganews at Comcast] who have you used
> to access newsgroups? Have any tried any of the free News Servers? It
> appears that the "free" servers are mostlly free for limited service and
> then you pay for increased downloads. I see mixed reviews for Teranews.com.
> Thanks for your thoughts,

See sig.

--
Blinky
Need a new news feed? http://blinkynet.net/comp/newfeed.html

lgblob wrote:

> When your ISP stops its news server[Giganews at Comcast] who have you
> used to access newsgroups?

Do you need text-only, text plus moderate binary, or heavy binary (like
TV shows from multi-media groups)?



Brian

--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)

cybercat wrote:

> Don't pay for Usenet!


And considering the relatively useless content of the vast majority of your
Usenet posts I'd say you made a *very* wise decision, my dear...

:-)


--
Best
Greg

" I find Greg Morrow lowbrow, witless, and obnoxious. For him to claim that
we are some
kind of comedy team turns my stomach."
- "cybercat" to me on rec.food.cooking

Pete C. wrote:


> usenetmonster is fine with me, $3/mo for 5GB with rollover, so I have
> vastly more GB quota than I'll ever use, and they have essentially all
> groups, where the free news servers usually don't have any binary
> groups.

If it's vastly more than you use, then it's probably a waste of money.
You could get a block account and pay that $3 one time and last for six
months to year (depending on usage).




Brian

--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)

Default User wrote:

> Pete C. wrote:
>
>
>> usenetmonster is fine with me, $3/mo for 5GB with rollover, so I have
>> vastly more GB quota than I'll ever use, and they have essentially
>> all groups, where the free news servers usually don't have any binary
>> groups.
>
> If it's vastly more than you use, then it's probably a waste of money.
> You could get a block account and pay that $3 one time and last for
> six months to year (depending on usage).

Or in my case, three years...

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy

Default wrote on 30 Sep 2008 20:11:01 GMT:

>> When your ISP stops its news server[Giganews at Comcast] who
>> have you used to access newsgroups?

> Do you need text-only, text plus moderate binary, or heavy
> binary (like TV shows from multi-media groups)?

> Brian

I have absolutely no interest in binary newsgroups and I find that the
free news.motzarella.org (watch the spelling, it's not a cheese ;-) is
quite satisfactory if sometimes a little slow in response.

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

James Silverton wrote:

> Default wrote on 30 Sep 2008 20:11:01 GMT:
>
> > > When your ISP stops its news server[Giganews at Comcast] who
> > > have you used to access newsgroups?
>
> > Do you need text-only, text plus moderate binary, or heavy
> > binary (like TV shows from multi-media groups)?
>
> > Brian
>
> I have absolutely no interest in binary newsgroups and I find that
> the free news.motzarella.org (watch the spelling, it's not a cheese
> ;-) is quite satisfactory if sometimes a little slow in response.

I have heard pretty good things about motzarella, less good things
about aioe. I still use news.individual.net, which is not free but is
low-cost.




Brian

--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)

lgblob wrote:
> When your ISP stops its news server[Giganews at Comcast] who have you used
> to access newsgroups? Have any tried any of the free News Servers? It
> appears that the "free" servers are mostlly free for limited service and
> then you pay for increased downloads. I see mixed reviews for Teranews.com.
> Thanks for your thoughts,

Teranews has been for all intents and purposes *useless* for quite some
time, in my experience. You never know if your posts will propagate or
not - and even if they do - often take hours to do so.

I've been using news.tornevall.net for a year or so now - not too bad,
pretty reliable. Retention is only about 4 weeks though.

Another one that seems pretty good is news.albasani.net.

You need to register for these - I got my login info promptly when I
registered. Obviously, these two servers are free to use.

cybercat wrote:
> "lgblob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected] ..
>> When your ISP stops its news server[Giganews at Comcast] who have you used
>> to access newsgroups? Have any tried any of the free News Servers? It
>> appears that the "free" servers are mostlly free for limited service and
>> then you pay for increased downloads. I see mixed reviews for
>> Teranews.com.
>> Thanks for your thoughts,
>>
>
> I've used Teranews for probably 7 years. For a one-time $3.95 fee.

As did I. Do you find Teranews of any use any more?
Most (if not all) comment regarding teranews on alt.free.newsservers is
completely negative, my own experience bears this out too.


> supplement this with whatever free server is around and doing well, this
> time, motzarrella. Don't pay for Usenet!

For text only posts at least anyway!

"Nancy Young" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:NpvEk.53718$[email protected]..
> lgblob wrote:
>> When your ISP stops its news server[Giganews at Comcast] who have you
>> used to access newsgroups? Have any tried any of the free News
>> Servers? It appears that the "free" servers are mostlly free for
>> limited service and then you pay for increased downloads. I see mixed
>> reviews for Teranews.com. Thanks for your thoughts,
>
> At least a couple of us went Usenet-News. You pay for a block,
> say $5 or 10 worth should last you a long time. I use the eu server.
>

They have upgraded their servers and it is a bad time to get a good
impression about them. I keep having problems downloading new messages and
have to keep resetting the groups. One group (ABF) still doesn't show up in
Windows Mail but does in Xnews. Same server settings, too. I can only
guess that Windows Mail doesn't like the way it's propagated or something.

Cheryl wrote:
> "Nancy Young" <[email protected]> wrote

>> lgblob wrote:
>>> When your ISP stops its news server[Giganews at Comcast] who have
>>> you used to access newsgroups? Have any tried any of the free News
>>> Servers? It appears that the "free" servers are mostlly free for
>>> limited service and then you pay for increased downloads. I see
>>> mixed reviews for Teranews.com. Thanks for your thoughts,
>>
>> At least a couple of us went Usenet-News. You pay for a block,
>> say $5 or 10 worth should last you a long time. I use the eu server.
>>
>
> They have upgraded their servers and it is a bad time to get a good
> impression about them. I keep having problems downloading new
> messages and have to keep resetting the groups. One group (ABF)
> still doesn't show up in Windows Mail but does in Xnews. Same server
> settings, too. I can only guess that Windows Mail doesn't like the
> way it's propagated or something.

That's why I switched to the eu server, I don't have any problem with
it. I imagine they will figure out what the deal is sooner or later with
the us server.

nancy

lgblob wrote:
> When your ISP stops its news server[Giganews at Comcast] who have you used
> to access newsgroups? Have any tried any of the free News Servers? It
> appears that the "free" servers are mostlly free for limited service and
> then you pay for increased downloads. I see mixed reviews for Teranews.com.
> Thanks for your thoughts,
>
> -lg-
>
>
>
If you don't do text only, astraweb has price plan that will give you a
lifetime of Usenet. 25 Gigabytes for $10. I've been with them for well
over 3 years and haven't even gotten close to using a gigabyte.

I find the service to be fast and the customer support via email is
responsive and helpful the two or three times I needed it.

--
Janet Wilder
Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
Good Friends. Good Life

Which of these news servers can you access through Outlook Express?
does it matter?

Sorry -- not "geeky" enough to really understand all this!

Kate

[email protected] wrote:

> Which of these news servers can you access through Outlook Express?
> does it matter?
>
> Sorry -- not "geeky" enough to really understand all this!

Your newsreader should be able to access any of these. You will usually
need to do some set-up for user names and such for those that require
it.



Brian

--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)