Binaries & Plusnet

If you're a binary (even small binaries) downloader who's thinking of
Plusnet then you might like to think again.

I've yet to see a complete multi-part binary on Plusnet's [SIC]
'newsserver'.

So, remember, when contemplating Plusnet as your provider, you'll also
need to add the cost of the subscription to a third-party newsprovider
into your costs.

HTH.


Barnacle Bill

> If you're a binary (even small binaries) downloader who's thinking of
> Plusnet then you might like to think again.
>
> I've yet to see a complete multi-part binary on Plusnet's [SIC]
> 'newsserver'.
>
> So, remember, when contemplating Plusnet as your provider, you'll also
> need to add the cost of the subscription to a third-party newsprovider
> into your costs.

I agree with your comments but I feel I must put forward the comments put to
us in the plusnet.c.s group the other day. PlusNet, in line with their
growth policy, will be completely overhauling their usenet system in March,
with new servers, connections and far superior software. This, said PlusNet,
will allow for longer message retention and also a far better message
completion rate. They also said it will make PlusNet's usenet service rival,
if not exceed, the best that any UK ISP has to offer at present.

I for one am waiting in anticipation but I have no reason to believe that
the work will not be carried out to the specified standard, as PlusNet are
THE isp at the moment and this will accelerate their position even more.

I know Ian (and Josh perhaps?) from PlusNet Tech Support lurch around here
so maybe they will be able to comment further on the planned upgrades?

Nathan

Barnacle Bill <not_here@not_there> wrote:
> If you're a binary (even small binaries) downloader who's thinking of
> Plusnet then you might like to think again.
>
> I've yet to see a complete multi-part binary on Plusnet's [SIC]
> 'newsserver'.
>
> So, remember, when contemplating Plusnet as your provider, you'll also
> need to add the cost of the subscription to a third-party newsprovider
> into your costs.

This is true for most UK ISPs.
However, with plusnet, it's worse than many at the moment, you have
to download several times more parts to make up missing bits.

> If you're a binary (even small binaries) downloader who's thinking of
> Plusnet then you might like to think again.

To be quite frank, I agree. All you greedy urchins sucking all the bandwidth
up with your porn downloads from newsgroups go elsewhere, and leave the
bandwidth for the rest of us.

In article <V7gEb.2272$(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> > If you're a binary (even small binaries) downloader who's thinking of
> > Plusnet then you might like to think again.
>
> To be quite frank, I agree. All you greedy urchins sucking all the bandwidth
> up with your porn downloads from newsgroups go elsewhere, and leave the
> bandwidth for the rest of us.

That's highly unfair.

There's Warez & MP3s to be downloaded too - not just pr0n.

Pete.

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On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 10:52:15 GMT, Ian Stirling
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:


>This is true for most UK ISPs.
>However, with plusnet, it's worse than many at the moment, you have
>to download several times more parts to make up missing bits.

We would not disagree with this, there isn't much more to add than a
copy of our recent Announcement regarding Usenet:

Usenet Service Update - 9th December
We would like to bring you up to date with our current progress and
plans for our Usenet (Newsgroups) service.

We are aware that, over the last few months, the service has
deteriorated somewhat, as has been documented in the service status
section of our portal. We recently took temporary measures to resolve
a problem whereby delays were being experienced when posting new
articles. The original problem was caused by the failure of our
primary news server following a storage upgrade. As a result of the
growth in demand for our Usenet service, primarily from heavy users of
the ADSL service, the secondary server alone could not cope. The
solution identified (involving the use of a proxy server) has resulted
in a number of unforeseen issues, including a latency when viewing
articles and downloading messages. We are now in a position where both
Usenet servers are fully functional and during this week we will be
moving back to our original two server configuration. This should
resolve the current issues with regard to unresponsiveness of the
server.

What has now become apparent is that our existing Usenet platform is
no longer capable of supporting the demands placed upon it. This is
both as a result of the significant increase in our Broadband userbase
and also because Usenet itself has continued to grow exponentially. A
'good' binary newsfeed now requires at least 700GB of new data per
day. This data must be collected and stored by our news platform. The
limitations of our current Usenet platform mean we cannot currently
take this amount of news.

We can now announce that a project is underway to overhaul our current
Usenet platform. This will include the installation of higher
specification equipment and additional servers. We will also be
replacing the current Usenet server software (which we have used,
without change, for some 5 years) with a newer, much more efficient,
software solution. Work has already started on building the new Usenet
platform and the estimated completion date for this is February 2004.
Once the installation is completed, it will take a further month for
the news-servers to collect complete article listings and as such our
target date for launch of the new Usenet platform is March 2004. We
believe our target will be easily achievable and work is already well
underway, with much of the required equipment, ordered specifically
for the overhaul, having been delivered already.

Once the new platform is operational, we expect to offer a vastly
improved Usenet service. While, as we have stated before, we do not
aim to compete with the premium subscription based Usenet providers,
we are confident that following the overhaul we will be able to offer
a newsgroup service which is as good as, if not better than, any other
provided by a UK ISP.

Any Questions, you know where I am!

With Regards,

Ian
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