Your ISP and its Newsgroups

Ok so here goes (probably something similar been done before, but)...
What ISP are you all using?

How many Newsgroups do they offer in total?

Can you overall (connection, speed, reliability etc) please rate you
provider outta ten. One being ^&*%^%$ useless. Ten being the absolute
best you could have wished for???


Note: Im Not interested in Newsgroup providers that you pay extra for (so
no giganews, astranews etc posts PLEASE) im changing my service over to
Broadband soon and am looking to find a provider that offers lots of
newsgroups, hence the 2 questions
MTIA

"Dave" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:chd7je$77e$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Ok so here goes (probably something similar been done before, but)...
> What ISP are you all using?
>
> How many Newsgroups do they offer in total?
>
> Can you overall (connection, speed, reliability etc) please rate you
> provider outta ten. One being ^&*%^%$ useless. Ten being the absolute
> best you could have wished for???
>
>
> Note: Im Not interested in Newsgroup providers that you pay extra for (so
> no giganews, astranews etc posts PLEASE) im changing my service over to
> Broadband soon and am looking to find a provider that offers lots of
> newsgroups, hence the 2 questions
> MTIA
>

Well the isps vary on the types of newsgroups allowed. For example, BTYahoo do
not allow access to groups in the FreeUk* heirarchy, apart from a few exceptions
they failed to delete from their servers. All in all I think on their servers
are about 48,000 groups, but I only use around 15 of them.
For text news I give them 9/10

On Sat, 4 Sep 2004 21:17:41 +0100, "Dave" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Ok so here goes (probably something similar been done before, but)...
>What ISP are you all using?
>
>How many Newsgroups do they offer in total?
>
>Can you overall (connection, speed, reliability etc) please rate you
>provider outta ten. One being ^&*%^%$ useless. Ten being the absolute
>best you could have wished for???
>
>
>Note: Im Not interested in Newsgroup providers that you pay extra for (so
>no giganews, astranews etc posts PLEASE) im changing my service over to
>Broadband soon and am looking to find a provider that offers lots of
>newsgroups, hence the 2 questions
>MTIA
>
>

Over 65,000 at Free-Online.
Can't fault them so 10/10

David

On 4 Sep 2004 in uk.telecom.broadband, "Dave" wrote:

>How many Newsgroups do they offer in total?

Just under 62,000 (though that will includes several thousand with
no/few posts in foreign langugages, so a silly statistic, really :-)
Best bet is to try them... My reply-to mail address is valid.

>Can you overall (connection, speed, reliability etc)

9.5 - there's always room for a little improvement :-) Peter M


--
PlusNet <http://tinyurl.com/24ymz> - I recommend them and save some cash.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote in news:d2hkj098mj3o27ojtc51t86h5rt015jj0q@
4ax.com:

> Over 65,000 at Free-Online.
>

aka PlusNet/Force9

The service has the occassional day where posts are slow to appear but
other than that since the recent upgrades people have reported mostly
better completion and quicker posts than some of the speciality paid for
services.

--
Colin
*Drop DEAD from the email address to reply*

"cw" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Xns955B7E3648681cwfidei@212.159.2.85...
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote in news:d2hkj098mj3o27ojtc51t86h5rt015jj0q@
> 4ax.com:
>
>> Over 65,000 at Free-Online.
>>
>
> aka PlusNet/Force9
>
> The service has the occassional day where posts are slow to appear but
> other than that since the recent upgrades people have reported mostly
> better completion and quicker posts than some of the speciality paid for
> services.


Im thinking of moving, Whats the retention like on plusnet

John C


---
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Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
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On Sat, 4 Sep 2004 21:17:41 +0100, "Dave" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Ok so here goes (probably something similar been done before, but)...
>What ISP are you all using?
>

Plusnet

>How many Newsgroups do they offer in total?

61,200 approximately
>
>Can you overall (connection, speed, reliability etc) please rate you
>provider outta ten. One being ^&*%^%$ useless. Ten being the absolute
>best you could have wished for???
>
>
Unless someone has flitted between various providers you will find it
difficult for people to respond to this. My own experience of Plusnet
is that there have been infrequent problems but when they occur there
is enough information available at their site for you to know what
problems are present.

Speed or lack of it will not always be a reflection of the ISP's
performance, as so many factors can influence it, but again my own
experience is that 470kbps is an average. An example of this varying
is that speed tests carried out within seconds of each other on the
different PC's I have connected, can vary by 30kbps. Presumably the
set up on each system can have an effect. Apart from all the other
local factors which affect a line.

>Note: Im Not interested in Newsgroup providers that you pay extra for (so
>no giganews, astranews etc posts PLEASE) im changing my service over to
>Broadband soon and am looking to find a provider that offers lots of
>newsgroups, hence the 2 questions
>MTIA
>
>
A rather shortsighted attitude. From my own reading about the range of
service given by ISP's, complete NG headers is extremely unlikely.
When I first started Plusnet their Adverts talked about Unlimited
Newsgroup Access, but in fact they carried less than 50% of the
headers I clearly misunderstood the terminology as I mistakenly
assumed I would have the full NG headers/messages rather than an
unrestricted list of Groups.

About 2 months ago there was a dramatic improvement and often all
messages are present, but there are still occasional omissions of
messages/parts of messages which could be very frustrating if you were
attempting a large download and didn't have a standby Newsprovider.
Astraweb is a good example in that $10 provides 25 gigabyte download
which is not time limited. Astraweb provides 34,000 approx NGs.

What relevance does the number of Newsgroups have? It would seem more
appropriate to identify which Newsgroups are carried. 1000's of
additional obscure NGs often with no posts doesn't mean such an ISP is
worth signing up to.

Maybe a more accurate request would be of value to you eg asking
whether specific Groups are available and are their headers/messages
present 100%. This is likely to bring more useful responses.

KM

On 05 Sep 2004 in uk.telecom.broadband, "John C" wrote:

>Im thinking of moving, Whats the retention like on plusnet

A few days, at least some of the binary groups I've used in recent times.
Best to try them out yourself (my reply-to mail address is valid). Peter.

--
PlusNet <http://tinyurl.com/24ymz> - I recommend them and save some cash.

On 05 Sep 2004 15:14 in uk.telecom.broadband, km wrote:

>I clearly misunderstood the terminology as I mistakenly assumed I would
>have the full NG headers/messages rather than an unrestricted group list.

No, I think their advertising should have been much clearer on their lack
of a reliable service for binaries, and there were posts back then from PN
support staff indicating that *if asked* they would recommend a user had a
'commercial news provider'. Only since the new hardware this year has the
service been able to accept the traffic load in a sensible way.

>About 2 months ago there was a dramatic improvement and ...
> 1000's of additional obscure NGs often with no posts ...

Agreed on both points. I have not tried Astraweb but the pricing does seem
pretty good for fills. I've been using Newsman Pro (which in unregistered
mode allows two links to be used simultaneously). I put both Plus.Net and
TeraNews in the server list, with TeraNews for missing items... with their
low cost (~$4) account there's a daily limit of 50 MB, which I rarely need
to touch, but I grab the headers from time to time. Peter M.

"km" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
snip........
> >Note: Im Not interested in Newsgroup providers that you pay extra for
(so
> >no giganews, astranews etc posts PLEASE) im changing my service over to
> >Broadband soon and am looking to find a provider that offers lots of
> >newsgroups, hence the 2 questions
> >MTIA
> >
> >
> A rather shortsighted attitude. From my own reading about the range of
> service given by ISP's, complete NG headers is extremely unlikely.

I understand that

> When I first started Plusnet their Adverts talked about Unlimited
> Newsgroup Access, but in fact they carried less than 50% of the
> headers I clearly misunderstood the terminology as I mistakenly
> assumed I would have the full NG headers/messages rather than an
> unrestricted list of Groups.

basically im just finding out what provider gives most groups for the
money, nothing more, it may or may not make sense to you, but its all i
want to know regarding Newsgroups

>
> About 2 months ago there was a dramatic improvement and often all
> messages are present, but there are still occasional omissions of
> messages/parts of messages which could be very frustrating if you were

That happens with all ISPs though

> attempting a large download and didn't have a standby Newsprovider.
> Astraweb is a good example in that $10 provides 25 gigabyte download
> which is not time limited. Astraweb provides 34,000 approx NGs.

that IMO isnt many for a paid extra subscription

>
> What relevance does the number of Newsgroups have? It would seem more
> appropriate to identify which Newsgroups are carried. 1000's of

well yes but i didnt think people would want to list all 60,000 or more
newsgroups, so i cut it to the point.

> additional obscure NGs often with no posts doesn't mean such an ISP is
> worth signing up to.
>

Agreed as is it pointless signing up to a provider that only carrys a small
amount of groups with no posts.

> Maybe a more accurate request would be of value to you eg asking
> whether specific Groups are available and are their headers/messages
> present 100%. This is likely to bring more useful responses.

Nope im happy with the questions i asked, i realise that through most ISPs
you aint gonna get 100% headers in full all the time, asking about a
certain group would just generate generic... yes my provider has that group
replys, which is not what i want, i want a large range first for FREE
newsgroups (well included in my monthly ISP bill anyway) and then i may
consider a pay for extra NG provider for fills and such like of groups i
find and like. That is the plan anyway.