Switching from Demon, usenet providers?
Craig Cockburn
because I was fed up with the useless Indian call centre.
Which? and Broadband comparison sites seem to rate Zen and O2
consistently in the top 2, however calls to them weren't very
forthcoming
Zen seem pretty clued up and I got through right away at lunchtime to a
very helpful person however they don't offer usenet news. O2 were
completely useless, took over 5 minutes to answer and didn't seem to
know what usenet was. Zen also seem to think that quite a few people are
leaving O2 and that their network capacity is starting to struggle
Is there anyone with Zen who can recommend a decent usenet provider? I
maintain a few FAQs and it would be a major pain to post these using the
web.
Failing that I might just have to stick it out with Demon although it's
a major nuisance signing up for a new 12 month contract just because I'm
moving house and I've already been with them since 1993.
thanks
--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"). Director, Siliconglen.com Ltd
Web project manager and Internet specialist. CITP. C.Eng
http://www.siliconglen.com/ http://www.linkedin.com/in/siliconglen
Stephen Wolstenholme
nntp.aioe.org
news.aisip.com
news.albasani.net
news.asp-shareware.org
news.demon.co.uk
esc.newsgrouphosting.com
news.eternal-september.org
news.grc.com
news.individual.net
privatenews.microsoft.com
msnews.microsoft.com
msnnews.msn.com
siaf.newsgrouphosting.com
news.softvelocity.com
That lot include every newsgroup I am ever likely to need. Some
servers are free.
The client I use is Agent 6. It switches servers automatically if any
are down.
Steve
--
Neural Planner Software Ltd www.NPSL1.com
Chris Marriott
I'd second the suggestion of selecting an ISP and then just going with a
commercial Usenet provider, of whom there are many. Someone's already
mentioned NIN, which is excellent for text groups, and there are (generally
more expensive) providers who specialise in binaries groups.
Cheers,
Chris
Alan J. Wylie
> Zen seem pretty clued up and I got through right away at lunchtime to
> a very helpful person however they don't offer usenet news.
Clarification: they no longer offer binary newsgroups. Text still works
fine, as you can see if you are reading this.
--
Alan J. Wylie http://www.wylie.me.uk/
Craig Cockburn
Wolstenholme <st...@tropheus.demon.co.uk> writes
>I use:-
>
>nntp.aioe.org
>news.aisip.com
>news.albasani.net
>news.asp-shareware.org
>news.demon.co.uk
>esc.newsgrouphosting.com
>news.eternal-september.org
>news.grc.com
>news.individual.net
>privatenews.microsoft.com
>msnews.microsoft.com
>msnnews.msn.com
>siaf.newsgrouphosting.com
>news.softvelocity.com
>
>That lot include every newsgroup I am ever likely to need. Some
>servers are free.
>
>The client I use is Agent 6. It switches servers automatically if any
>are down.
>
Demon's is only available to Demon IP addresses.
Craig Cockburn
<ph...@lee-family.me.invalid> writes
>Craig Cockburn <cr...@siliconglen.com> considered Mon, 23 Nov 2009
>13:34:04 +0000 the perfect time to write:
>
>>I posted here a few weeks ago about switching from Demon, largely
>>because I was fed up with the useless Indian call centre.
>>
>>Which? and Broadband comparison sites seem to rate Zen and O2
>>consistently in the top 2, however calls to them weren't very
>>forthcoming
>>
>>Zen seem pretty clued up and I got through right away at lunchtime to a
>>very helpful person however they don't offer usenet news.
>
>(admittedly outsourced) news service.
The person I spoke to said they no longer did it. Outsourced wasn't an
option.
>> O2 were
>>completely useless, took over 5 minutes to answer and didn't seem to
>>know what usenet was. Zen also seem to think that quite a few people are
>>leaving O2 and that their network capacity is starting to struggle
>>
>>Is there anyone with Zen who can recommend a decent usenet provider? I
>>maintain a few FAQs and it would be a major pain to post these using the
>>web.
>
>There's this one (news.zen.co.uk) or eternal-september
>(news.eternal-september.org) which you can sign up to for free.
>If you want binaries, you'll almost certainly have to pay.
>>
>>Failing that I might just have to stick it out with Demon although it's
>>a major nuisance signing up for a new 12 month contract just because I'm
>>moving house and I've already been with them since 1993.
>>
>>thanks
>
>Zen do monthly contracts.
Great
Craig Cockburn
<not-fo...@ahjg.co.uk> writes
>On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:34:04 +0000, Craig Cockburn <cr...@siliconglen.com>
>wrote:
>
>> Is there anyone with Zen who can recommend a decent usenet provider? I
>> maintain a few FAQs and it would be a major pain to post these using the
>> web.
>>
>> Failing that I might just have to stick it out with Demon although it's
>> a major nuisance signing up for a new 12 month contract just because I'm
>> moving house and I've already been with them since 1993.
>
>to newsnet service providers. A subscription to say NIN, the German text
>news service, costs less than 50p per month which is peanuts and no reason
>to cripple your connection. I suggest you investigate whether Be has LLU
>capacity for aDSL2+ at your local exchange.
Thanks, the Be offering looks great. Do they have usenet?
Stephen Wolstenholme
<cr...@siliconglen.com> wrote:
>I'm just looking for a public new server that carries the soc.* groups -
>Demon's is only available to Demon IP addresses.
From the list I posted, AIOI, Albasani, Demon and Individual all carry
the soc.* groups
Pedt
Nov 2009, Craig Cockburn <cr...@siliconglen.com> wibbled
>>
>I'm just looking for a public new server that carries the soc.* groups
>- Demon's is only available to Demon IP addresses.
news.eternal-september.org is free and carries soc.*
http://www.eternal-september.org/groups.php?hierarchy=soc
or you could go with news.individual.net for a bit of shrapnel/month
--
Pedt
+--+ World's Smallest Crossword
|1 | 1a. Avoid splitting. (1)
+--+ 1d. Listen to management trainee? Capital! (1)
Big Les Wade
>
>Thanks, the Be offering looks great. Do they have usenet?
I switched from Demon to Be in August and so far they have been very
reliable, although the downstream speeds are disappointing (typically
3Mb instead of the 8Mb that I am paying for).
I use three free news servers: eternal-september, albasani and teranews.
The last is a bit unreliable but I just switch to another one when it is
having problems.
--
Les
Andy
Wolstenholme <st...@tropheus.demon.co.uk> wrote
>On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:49:41 +0000, Craig Cockburn
><cr...@siliconglen.com> wrote:
>
>>I'm just looking for a public new server that carries the soc.* groups -
>>Demon's is only available to Demon IP addresses.
>
>From the list I posted, AIOI, Albasani, Demon and Individual all carry
>the soc.* groups
>
news servers, which I believe to be true.
--
Andy Taylor [Editor, Austrian Philatelic Society].
Visit <URL:http://www.austrianphilately.com>
Dr J R Stockton
2009 20:57:48, Craig Cockburn <cr...@siliconglen.com> posted:
>
>Thanks, the Be offering looks great. Do they have usenet?
>
Since there are least two free servers for the "whole" of Usenet,
there's no need to insist on an ISP having it. I currently supplement
the Demon server with AIOE & eternal-september. There are other "all-
usenet" servers which are either free or cheap, too.
Have you access to Scottish documents _*_dated_*_ before 1752?
--
(c) John Stockton, Surrey, UK. ?@merlyn.demon.co.uk Turnpike v6.05 MIME.
Web <URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/> - FAQish topics, acronyms, & links.
Proper <= 4-line sig. separator as above, a line exactly "-- " (SonOfRFC1036)
Do not Mail News to me. Before a reply, quote with ">" or "> " (SonOfRFC1036)
Craig Cockburn
Wolstenholme <st...@tropheus.demon.co.uk> writes
>On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:49:41 +0000, Craig Cockburn
><cr...@siliconglen.com> wrote:
>
>>I'm just looking for a public new server that carries the soc.* groups -
>>Demon's is only available to Demon IP addresses.
>
>From the list I posted, AIOI, Albasani, Demon and Individual all carry
>the soc.* groups
>
>Steve
>
Yeah, but demon isn't "public", it's customers only. I was looking for
something accessible from any ISP
Peter Ceresole
> Yeah, but demon isn't "public", it's customers only. I was looking for
> something accessible from any ISP
Well for eaxmple N.I.N is public, accessible from anywhere, fast and
cheap.
--
Peter
Duncan Kennedy
<cr...@siliconglen.com> writes
>In message <am5mg5l6hbott3168...@4ax.com>, Stephen
>Wolstenholme <st...@tropheus.demon.co.uk> writes
>>On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:49:41 +0000, Craig Cockburn
>><cr...@siliconglen.com> wrote:
>>
>>>I'm just looking for a public new server that carries the soc.* groups -
>>>Demon's is only available to Demon IP addresses.
>>
>>From the list I posted, AIOI, Albasani, Demon and Individual all carry
>>the soc.* groups
>>
>>Steve
>>
>
>Yeah, but demon isn't "public", it's customers only. I was looking for
>something accessible from any ISP
Not sure how relevant it is to the original problem but I access Demon
groups from mirrors on BT and, earlier, from Pipex (or their newsnet
supplier.)
--
Duncan K
Downtown Dalgety Bay
Stephen Wolstenholme
<cr...@siliconglen.com> wrote:
>In message <am5mg5l6hbott3168...@4ax.com>, Stephen
>Wolstenholme <st...@tropheus.demon.co.uk> writes
>>On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:49:41 +0000, Craig Cockburn
>><cr...@siliconglen.com> wrote:
>>
>>>I'm just looking for a public new server that carries the soc.* groups -
>>>Demon's is only available to Demon IP addresses.
>>
>>From the list I posted, AIOI, Albasani, Demon and Individual all carry
>>the soc.* groups
>>
>>Steve
>>
>
>Yeah, but demon isn't "public", it's customers only. I was looking for
>something accessible from any ISP
That's why I sent the complete list of four. Three of them are
accessible from anywhere. Even Demon is accessible with some
applications.
JD
> I switched from Demon to Be in August and so far they have been very
> reliable, although the downstream speeds are disappointing (typically
> 3Mb instead of the 8Mb that I am paying for).
On the Be website, one can enter a phone number and it says what speed
you can expect. Have you done this and what did it say?
Be also have an easily setupable router, don't they Les ;)
Big Les Wade
>On Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:06:04 +0000, Big Les Wade wrote:
>
>> I switched from Demon to Be in August and so far they have been very
>> reliable, although the downstream speeds are disappointing (typically
>> 3Mb instead of the 8Mb that I am paying for).
>
>On the Be website, one can enter a phone number and it says what speed
>you can expect. Have you done this and what did it say?
You can't do this once you've got an account. But they say my line
should deliver 12Mbit maximum (though I'm capped at 8).
Actually I think now that the speed limitation is caused by my
particular machine, Other PCs on the same network are getting 7mbit/s.
Maybe my Ethernet card is worn out.
>Be also have an easily setupable router, don't they Les ;)
Aye. young feller, thou may laugh at thy elders and betters.
--
Les
If by creating a police state we can save just one child, then it will all have
been worthwhile.
Kate Brown
>JD <roseynews...@spamgourmet.com> posted
>>On Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:06:04 +0000, Big Les Wade wrote:
>>
>>> I switched from Demon to Be in August and so far they have been very
>>> reliable, although the downstream speeds are disappointing (typically
>>> 3Mb instead of the 8Mb that I am paying for).
>>
>>On the Be website, one can enter a phone number and it says what speed
>>you can expect. Have you done this and what did it say?
>
>You can't do this once you've got an account. But they say my line
>should deliver 12Mbit maximum (though I'm capped at 8).
>
>Actually I think now that the speed limitation is caused by my
>particular machine, Other PCs on the same network are getting 7mbit/s.
>Maybe my Ethernet card is worn out.
>
>>Be also have an easily setupable router, don't they Les ;)
>
>Aye. young feller, thou may laugh at thy elders and betters.
>
I compared all the ISP's available for my number, and Be proposed a
speed twice as fast as anyone else. Either they have some kind of magic
unavailable to everyone else including BT, whose line it is, or they are
indulging in a little exaggeration.
--
Kate B
PS 'elvira' is spamtrapped - please reply to 'elviraspam' at cockaigne dot org dot uk if you
want to reply personally
Stephen Wolstenholme
<elv...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>On Wed, 2 Dec 2009, Big Les Wade wrote
>>JD <roseynews...@spamgourmet.com> posted
>>>On Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:06:04 +0000, Big Les Wade wrote:
>>>
>>>> I switched from Demon to Be in August and so far they have been very
>>>> reliable, although the downstream speeds are disappointing (typically
>>>> 3Mb instead of the 8Mb that I am paying for).
>>>
>>>On the Be website, one can enter a phone number and it says what speed
>>>you can expect. Have you done this and what did it say?
>>
>>You can't do this once you've got an account. But they say my line
>>should deliver 12Mbit maximum (though I'm capped at 8).
>>
>>Actually I think now that the speed limitation is caused by my
>>particular machine, Other PCs on the same network are getting 7mbit/s.
>>Maybe my Ethernet card is worn out.
>>
>>>Be also have an easily setupable router, don't they Les ;)
>>
>>Aye. young feller, thou may laugh at thy elders and betters.
>>
>
>I compared all the ISP's available for my number, and Be proposed a
>speed twice as fast as anyone else. Either they have some kind of magic
>unavailable to everyone else including BT, whose line it is, or they are
>indulging in a little exaggeration.
One of the people who help to run my company went with Be because of
their claim that he would get 12Mbs but he only gets 3Mbs. I suspect
they are being a little creative with their estimated line speeds as
they do not have access to users local connections. To get an accurate
estimate they would have to provide a test that ran on the users
computer and used the local connection. It would be "try before you
buy" broadband. Someone could make a lot of money with that!
Paul Terry
<elv...@nospam.demon.co.uk> writes
>I compared all the ISP's available for my number, and Be proposed a
>speed twice as fast as anyone else. Either they have some kind of
>magic unavailable to everyone else including BT, whose line it is, or
>they are indulging in a little exaggeration.
An ISP can always give a customer a faster speed by changing the profile
on the line - the downside is that the connection then becomes unstable.
To be fair, though, Be does allow its customers to change the profile
when this happens (and then, of course, the speed drops).
The recent Ofcom report into broadband speeds indicated that differences
between ISPs are not great, and that the average UK customer gets only
around 50% of the advertised maximum speed - although the nature of ADSL
means that everyone's experience is different. For that reason, they
have (or are about to) introduce a Code of Practice for the advertising
of broadband speeds.
--
Paul Terry
Peter Ceresole
> The recent Ofcom report into broadband speeds indicated that differences
> between ISPs are not great, and that the average UK customer gets only
> around 50% of the advertised maximum speed
To be fair (why?) when we went to ADSL2+, Demon, presumably using info
from BT, said that my line would max out at around 4Mbps. And in
practice, I usually get something of that order- between 3Mbps and
4Mbps, depending on the day.
So they can tell. But they can lie as well. Demon didn't.
--
Peter
JD
> JD <roseynews...@spamgourmet.com> posted
>>On Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:06:04 +0000, Big Les Wade wrote:
>>On the Be website, one can enter a phone number and it says what speed
>>you can expect. Have you done this and what did it say?
>
> You can't do this once you've got an account. But they say my line
> should deliver 12Mbit maximum (though I'm capped at 8).
Well, my estimated speed is 20meg, which is a little slow, considering the
max is 24meg and I'm about 400yds from the exchange.
I've just asked for my mac. The man offered to reduce my fee etc. Pity
they didn't do that when I wrote to them in the first place.
There's an offer on at Be, first 2 months free. So, I'm currently on a
roll. Let's see how long it lasts.
>>Be also have an easily setupable router, don't they Les ;)
>
> Aye. young feller, thou may laugh at thy elders and betters.
Ta muchly, don't mind if I do :)
Ian Jackson
<roseynews...@spamgourmet.com> writes
>
>Well, my estimated speed is 20meg, which is a little slow, considering the
>max is 24meg and I'm about 400yds from the exchange.
>
Dare I ask what on earth do you do with your 20Mb/s?
--
Ian (getting 1.4Mb/s)
Andy
<{$mrtickle$}@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote
[
>The tone of your "what on earth" comes across as disbelief that anyone
>would need such a speed
Don't confuse 'need' and 'want' :)
JD
It's an estimate [of Be's], I'm not plugged in yet.
I dare say it'll be like a pay rise, all current bills will expand to
take up the slack :)
As someone else has pointed out, 20meg is paltry compared to S Korea.
I'm not quite sure what has to happen to get 24meg, as I'm very close to
the exchange.
Still, it's a far cry from my dial up days on a farm, negotiating the
click of an electric fence on the line.
If I get bored over xmas I may have a look into streaming video from the
net onto my tv. Or any number of things. TBH, I'm not moving for the
speed, it'd be the same speed with Demon, probably, or for the money. I'm
moving because of Demon's attitude. Be appear to be somewhat similar to
how Demon used to be when they started up. So, we'll see how it pans
out...
Neil Barker
pe...@cara.demon.co.uk says...
> So they can tell. But they can lie as well. Demon didn't.
Well, I guess that makes a change.
--
Neil Barker.