Ken R. Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 This is the best I've seen. I've been with astraweb for a few years so I can vouch for the speed and completeness, are there any better? http://www.news.astraweb.com/specials/voucher.cgi?t=xbh4sze9c23dttj Quote Link to comment
gabbott Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 I can vouch for astraweb as well used it for quite a while. Although this past black friday thundernews had a deal for unlimited access for $5/month for the life of the account and I jumped on it. That was by far the best deal I've found but unfortunately was a one-time deal. Anyway, astraweb is a very good deal. Quote Link to comment
johnodon Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 Hmmmm...tempting. I have been using Powerusenet for a few years and love it! However, I pay $20/month for unlimited, 30 connections and SSL. I think SSL is an extra $5 which I don't mind paying for, but he, if it is free with Astraweb...double hmmmm. I'll wait for more people to chime in about retention and speed. This is what has always spoiled me about Powerusenet and I would never make a switch without being 100% sure. Is there a free trial? Thanks for the info. John Quote Link to comment
BRiT Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 I've been using Astraweb for around 2 years and have never had any issue with speed or retention. Their retention is around 986 days. I max out my 25mbit/sec cable connection using their SSL ports. Quote Link to comment
johnodon Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 I suspected that the 986 was for text retention. Is that actually for binaries? If so, that is better than even giganews. Quote Link to comment
splnut Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 I am able to max out my 30Mb/s internet connection. Have been using astraweb for about 4 months. No complaints here. Quote Link to comment
neilt0 Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 I suspected that the 986 was for text retention. Is that actually for binaries? If so, that is better than even giganews. No, all the big providers are close to 1,000 days of binary retention and are just adding more storage every day -- so in a year's time, they are likely to be at 1,365 days or so. Storage is cheap, and I'm guessing they implement de-duplication. This includes GN, who are currently at 995 days. Quote Link to comment
lionelhutz Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 I'm using usenetserver for $96/yr and it's been very good. You just have to find an affiliated or sponsor link (easy to do) to get that deal. Quote Link to comment
Josh Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 I've used them all over the years and currently using both astraweb and usenetserver and both are pretty rock solid. I don't think i've ever had an issue with astraweb but sometimes usenetserver can get a little flaky. Both I got with deals Quote Link to comment
rhubarb9999 Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 I am a big fan of Giganews. Been using them for years. Quote Link to comment
chuck23322 Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 At the unintended risk of derailing this thread, could those giving their feedback on usenet servers also make a note of which client software(s) they like / use / why? And can somebody give me a brief explanation of why SSL and/or VPN -- I think I know why (security issues, ahem...) but why... And the "streams" thing. What's that? Some offer 10, others 20, or 30 or more.. Noob here on the 'modern' usenet {I remember the "good old days" of it, for actual postings, etc -- but haven't used it in 10 years...} Quote Link to comment
Ken R. Posted April 29, 2011 Author Share Posted April 29, 2011 Forte Agent and altopia huh? those were the grand old days before nzb's. I don't think anything comes close to sabnzbd for binary's. SSL is just a click away (assuming your usenet provider provides SSL) number of connections - how many concurrent connections you can have to the server at one time - with a fair to good server you should be able to max out your bandwidth of your ISP with less than 10 connections. It depends on the route to your providers servers and providers servers speed. I have a 25 Mbps connection to my ISP - it takes about 6 to 7 concurrent connections to use all the 25 Mbps bandwidth with astraweb. ( shows average speeds of 2.8, 2.9 MB/s) Quote Link to comment
chuck23322 Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 Forte Agent and altopia huh? t Forte Agent, and my local service provider's news feed, over a dial-up modem And emailing them to add a newsfeed for some new gear/company I wanted to talk to But yes. And thank you for your answers. Quote Link to comment
tweakstur Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 Just signed up for this plan. After using astraweb for a year, their service is pretty good. Had a few speed issues a few months ago but switching over to the EU servers seemed to fix it. As for usenet clients, the best free one for windows i've found is Alt.Binz. On my macbook, SABnzb gets the job done. Quote Link to comment
spyderx Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 I use Forte Agent for when I actually download headers for newsgroups. Agent has a nice clean interface for organizing all the headers and making it easy to read and download. I switch to Newsbin for Internet searches and downloads as it's just a simple one step process. Yes, I know Sabnzbd is free but I did not know about it when I bought lifetime for Newsbin. I used Usenet for a year and didn't like it because it has painfully slow log in. Very annoying when you're browsing headers and want to see an image before deciding if you want to mark the headers for download. Before Usenet I used Forte's Premium News. It's my favorite but way too expensive at $15/m and with short retention. Log in is instant. Now I use Astraweb which has the same fast log in with same retention as all the other major servers now. Quote Link to comment
ClunkClunk Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I've been using this Astraweb deal for 1.5 years with SABnzbd and couldn't be happier. Great retention, very solid speeds, great price. Quote Link to comment
dreaming.haze Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I hate to be noob with my thoughts, but I have had a question floating around for awhile about actual usenet speeds. I currently have 22 MBit/s DL out tested at speedtest.net Now i know to get your "actual" download speed you divide that number by eight and for me that is 2.75 MB/s then. Now 100% of my download speeds are occurring at 1.51 MB/s stable. It can peak up to around 2.2 starting out and then settle back down after a couple of minutes. TL:DR I was wondering what speeds everyone is currently "maxing" out their connections at. Quote Link to comment
BRiT Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 When I say I am maxing out my 25 mbit/sec link, I mean exactly that. My connection link is 25 mbit/sec. I am downloading at 25mbit/sec. Ergo, I am maxing out my 25 mbit/sec link. Quote Link to comment
dreaming.haze Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 When I say I am maxing out my 25 mbit/sec link, I mean exactly that. My connection link is 25 mbit/sec. I am downloading at 25mbit/sec. Ergo, I am maxing out my 25 mbit/sec link. Understood, Now I was wondering for my connection; if my theoretical max speed is 2.75 MB/s why am I only using 1.51 MB/s of it? Quote Link to comment
neilt0 Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Me: Speedtest: 17mbps Actual speed with Astraweb (8-12 connections): 19.5mbps Your results may vary because the news server is capping your connection. What's your news server? Or you aren't using enough connections. How many are you using? Or you are SSL. Or you are connecting to a non-local server. Or, you are uploading at the same time. Or you are downloading with another app. Or your hard can't keep up with the writes. Too many variables. You need to give more info on your NSP to start with. Quote Link to comment
dreaming.haze Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Me: Speedtest: 17mbps Actual speed with Astraweb (8-12 connections): 19.5mbps Your results may vary because the news server is capping your connection. What's your news server? Or you aren't using enough connections. How many are you using? Or you are SSL. Or you are connecting to a non-local server. Or, you are uploading at the same time. Or you are downloading with another app. Or your hard can't keep up with the writes. Too many variables. You need to give more info on your NSP to start with. Ok, here is a run down of my current setup I am using Comcast as an ISP. My newsgoup service is Astraweb connecting to the US based servers. I have unlimited DSL as my type of service. Also, I am using the SSL encryption level. Also, using 14 connections currently but have tested down to 3 with no change in downloading speeds. No uploading as well, and only using sabnzb++. Also, the hard drive is not a limitation, (tested on direct to my server, and also on another machine straight to SSD. So, there are a few more facts about my system. Any more hep would be great. Quote Link to comment
neilt0 Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Here's where I'd start: http://www.google.com/search?q=comcast+throttling+usenet Quote Link to comment
Josh Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I paid for Newsbin years ago and its like unRaid with a lifetime license. I have tried others along the line but always revert back to Newsbin. As soon as another program has a new feature Newsbin seems to keep up if not stay ahead in adding features, its search is very strong. Also has a good support community where the developers are very active and always pumping out beta's. Handles nzb's without issues and know its designed to handle headers with ease. I haven't downloaded a header since the beginning of nzb's I messed with Sabnzbd and if I was going free that's what I'd use. I'm interested in how it works with Sickbeard, something on my todo list Also my connection link is 24Mbit/s and I easily max it out with astraweb or usenetserver. Quote Link to comment
BRiT Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Ah, yes. Comcast or an ISP that throttles downloads... You may need to change your SSL ports on your server connection setup to see if that makes any difference. You may also want to split your connections to Astraweb between the US and the EU servers. I tend to get the most stable speeds running a mix of both servers, despite it being slightly counter-intuitive going overseas for faster overall connections. Quote Link to comment
graywolf Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 I can max out mine but keep it throttled at 1.5MB. Found that is the consistent HWM where the wife doesn't notice/complain about stuff being slow when surfing. Quote Link to comment
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