Usenet may have only just reclaimed a popularity foothold along the information superhighway, yet service providers are already thriving in mindboggling profusion.
Free, yes. Paid, even more so. Seems like everyone is willing to spend at least US$20 - $30 to sustain the existence of such paid services. So why shouldn't you? Sooner or later, you'll find out that a good service is worth your every penny, just like others.
Forget the FreeSo, unless you are interested in discussion groups - in which case contact your ISP to subscribe to their newsgroup service or check out Google's - let's forget the free stuff and focus on tier 1 providers. Who are they? Look up popular site such as www.newsgroupreviews.com and you'll get a pretty good idea right away.
Focus on Retention, Completion and Speed Second focus on these three factors: retention, completion and speed. The higher the number of days of retentions a provider features, the larger its pool of content.
Free, yes. Paid, even more so. Seems like everyone is willing to spend at least US$20 - $30 to sustain the existence of such paid services. So why shouldn't you? Sooner or later, you'll find out that a good service is worth your every penny, just like others.
Forget the FreeSo, unless you are interested in discussion groups - in which case contact your ISP to subscribe to their newsgroup service or check out Google's - let's forget the free stuff and focus on tier 1 providers. Who are they? Look up popular site such as www.newsgroupreviews.com and you'll get a pretty good idea right away.
Focus on Retention, Completion and Speed Second focus on these three factors: retention, completion and speed. The higher the number of days of retentions a provider features, the larger its pool of content.
The higher
the completion rate; the more flawless the download. Meanwhile the
higher the number of connections; the faster and steadier the download.
To see how one usenet provider compares to another on these fronts, check out
our comparison table.
Connections - More the Merrier?More connections doesn't necessarily mean better. For example, with Giganews we found that when downloading a large file, we can achieve exactly the same speed with 7 connections, as opposed to 20 connections. That's good to know since opening less connections saves a lot of bandwidths, it means you can carry-on multi-tasking on the Internet with little interference as possible during download.
Customer Service - True to its Claim?True to its claim, Giganews, which boast a 24/7 service - and apparently maximum 1-hour response time - came back immediately to queries emailed to support, whether we emailed them daytime or in the middle of night. Supernews, Power Usenet, Usenet.net also responded immediately. Newsdemon took about 9 hours to reply, Newsguy 2 days and it toke a whole day for Alt Binaries to even set up an account.
Connections - More the Merrier?More connections doesn't necessarily mean better. For example, with Giganews we found that when downloading a large file, we can achieve exactly the same speed with 7 connections, as opposed to 20 connections. That's good to know since opening less connections saves a lot of bandwidths, it means you can carry-on multi-tasking on the Internet with little interference as possible during download.
SSL - Security is KingBottom line is that nobody wants anybody to snoop at what they are doing online. So it's no surprise that, despite its relatively recent existence on Usenet, SSL had already become a regular feature across all tiers of providers. Sometimes it's an optional feature but it's common sense to pay extra for security and anonymity. Besides, in some circumstances, SSL lets you download faster by preventing ISPs from throttling your bandwidth. It's a process called traffic shaping.
Plans - Metered or Unlimited?Which plan to go for is another mind-boggling issue. On one hand you can pay by the byte or you could go for unlimited usage at flat rate to save you peace of mind. Just bear in mind an audio file is about 4 MB, an album about 40MB, a typical video 800 MB and a DVD-quality video about 4 Gigabyte. So depending on your needs, this is really something only you can figure out.
But we do have two tips. Avoid the cheapest Usenet plans, and you won't have to wonder why your files aren't complete or support is non-existence. Second, look for discounts! Many usenet providers offer new customers discounts and deep cuts on multi-month subscriptions. Check out our comparison table for top usenet newsgroup providers.
Plans - Metered or Unlimited?Which plan to go for is another mind-boggling issue. On one hand you can pay by the byte or you could go for unlimited usage at flat rate to save you peace of mind. Just bear in mind an audio file is about 4 MB, an album about 40MB, a typical video 800 MB and a DVD-quality video about 4 Gigabyte. So depending on your needs, this is really something only you can figure out.
But we do have two tips. Avoid the cheapest Usenet plans, and you won't have to wonder why your files aren't complete or support is non-existence. Second, look for discounts! Many usenet providers offer new customers discounts and deep cuts on multi-month subscriptions. Check out our comparison table for top usenet newsgroup providers.