Sadly I must say GoodBye for now anyway
Bob Germer
home.com will not be making newsgroups available to its customers after
this coming Thursday, Feb. 28, 2002. This is also apparently going to be
true for former ATT Broadband customers since that company was "merged"
into Comcast. (This "merger" is as much a merger of equals as if the
United States Government merged with the Government of Lichtenstein)
A group of us here in the Delaware Valley has met via teleconference. We
have begun to seek legal counsel to file a class action lawsuit against
Comcast. However, the expense will be beyond a few handfuls of individuals
since the first nine law firms we approached all indicated they couldn't
even discuss the matter with us since they would have a conflict of
interest having represented one or another of the many heads of the hydra
which includes Comcast. (Inter alia, this would include the First Union
Center, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Philadelphia AHL team, the
Philadelphia 76'ers, CN8 news channel, the First Union Spectrum, and a
dozen other firms including catering firms, security companies, etc.) It
seems that Comcast has deliberately hired most of the prominent legal
firms in Philadelphia forcing us to either use a small firm with few
resources and little desire to take on the big firms or find counsel
outside the Delaware Valley.
If anyone knows of a Public Interest Law Firm with knowledge and
experience in communications, please email me! We need a firm willing to
take on a Comcast on a contingency fee basis.
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Germer - E-mail: bob...@comcast.net
Proudly running OS/2 Warp 4, WSeB and eCS on our network
MR/2 Ice 2.31a Registration Number 67
Windows NT - Nice Try
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
eegr...@dont-spam-me.org
Keep in mind that Comcast is not just in the Delaware Valley. We are
impacted here in Montgomery County, Maryland in the DC metro area as
well. I am sure Comcast is also in many other areas as well. So do not
restrict yourself to looking in the local area only for a firm.
-- Dave
-----------------------------------------------------------
dhdurgee<at>verizon<dot>net
-----------------------------------------------------------
Comm...@britton.dhs.org
> It has now been confirmed that Comcast.net which is the successor to
> home.com will not be making newsgroups available to its customers after
> this coming Thursday, Feb. 28, 2002
Damn shame, Bob. After all these years I will certainly miss you.
Why not have a chum set up Changi at home, and repeat at least the
comp.os.os2.* groups?
J. Pfisterer
>A group of us here in the Delaware Valley has met via teleconference.
>We have begun to seek legal counsel to file a class action lawsuit
>against Comcast. However, the expense will be beyond a few handfuls of
>individuals since the first nine law firms we approached all indicated
>they couldn't even discuss the matter with us since they would have a
>conflict of interest having represented one or another of the many
>heads of the hydra which includes Comcast. ... It seems that Comcast
>has deliberately hired most of the prominent legal firms in
>Philadelphia forcing us to either use a small firm with few resources
>and little desire to take on the big firms or find counsel outside the
>Delaware Valley.
What is the world coming to when it's impossible to hire a "Philadelphia
lawyer"? <gd&r>
Hope you won't wait for legal resolution to find a way back to the
newsgroups.
Jack P.
William L. Hartzell
Bob Germer wrote:
> It has now been confirmed that Comcast.net which is the successor to
> home.com will not be making newsgroups available to its customers after
> this coming Thursday, Feb. 28, 2002. This is also apparently going to be
> true for former ATT Broadband customers since that company was "merged"
> into Comcast. (This "merger" is as much a merger of equals as if the
> United States Government merged with the Government of Lichtenstein)
Try Jake's Place? <ja...@jakesplace.dhs.org> He carries the
comp.os.os2.* newsgroups. There are for pay newsgroups providers. Do a
google serch.
--
Bill
<Have a Good St Patrick's Day>
Kha...@brighdsl.net
www.newzbot.com
will give a list of free servers that carry this newsgroup. A number
of other Comcast
users in the same boat are going the free news server route for now.
Kevin
On Sun, 24 Feb 2002 13:11:09 UTC, Bob Germer <bob...@comcast.net>
wrote:
Annie K.
<wlhar...@attbi.com> wrote:
:There are for pay newsgroups providers. Do a
:google se[a]rch.
There are free newsservers available as well.
--
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
--Darwin
Jim Parker
As already pointed out this affects more than Delaware Valley. And this certainly isn't a problem
restricted to OS/2 users (OK I'm on Win98 at the moment so shoot me. At the moment I'm going
throught the Comcast transition from home.com to comcast.net.) At this point I have no option for
a cable internet connection other than Comcast so I'll be off the air for news groups as well
unless I use my dialup ISP (Erols) which I haven't canceled yet but I can't keep both around
indefinitely. This does piss me off. When I signed up with Comcast about a month or so ago, news
servers were available through them. Now they are cutting that service but they are not cutting
their rates. Sounds like a bait and switch scam to me. At the very least they run the risk of
losing me as a customer both for TV cable and internet cable. Starpower (which just happens to own
Erols) is available in some locations in my area (Montgomery County, Maryland) so maybe that's a
possibility at some point. DSL is a possibility also but based on what I know at the moment, I
prefer cable.
Anyway, please keep me informed on what's going on, including any activities concerning a class
action law suit.
My e-mail is supposed to be jdpar...@comcast.net although it isn't working yet.
Thanks
Jim
Richard Steiner
Bob Germer <bob...@comcast.net> spake unto us, saying:
>It has now been confirmed that Comcast.net which is the successor to
>home.com will not be making newsgroups available to its customers after
>this coming Thursday, Feb. 28, 2002.
I agree that it's a shame that Comcast.net is dropping what I view as
an essential resource, but why not use a third-party news server?
I do here, even though the Time Warner RoadRunner folks provide their
own, mainly because visi.com's server is better.
--
-Rich Steiner >>>---> http://www.visi.com/~rsteiner >>>---> Eden Prairie, MN
OS/2 + BeOS + Linux + Solaris + Win95 + WinNT4 + FreeBSD + DOS + PC/GEOS
+ Fusion + vMac + Executor = PC Hobbyist Heaven! :-)
Explain counter-clockwise to someone with a digital watch. :-)
William L. Hartzell
Annie K. wrote:
> On Sun, 24 Feb 2002 23:12:40 UTC, "William L. Hartzell"
> <wlhar...@attbi.com> wrote:
>
> :There are for pay newsgroups providers. Do a
> :google se[a]rch.
>
You know that I really want the USB subsystem to work as this no name
keyboard has sticky keys. I really like the touch on my USB keyboard.
sigh...
FEEB
Send me your IP address and I will let you in on our NewsServer.
1Gbps connection.
Frank Bures, <grandial at pons dot cz>
Jim Parker
> I just spotted the following on a Comcast web page regarding their new "upgraded" service:
>
> If you are interested in signing up for Newsgroups, please follow the steps below:
> * Go to www.comcast.net and log in to your primary account
> * Go to the Member Services section from the Comcast High-Speed Internet home page.
> * Click on the Manage My Account section, and click on Access Newsgroups link
> * From the Giganews Welcome screen enter your full name
> * Enter your primary user name. Do not include the domain name.
> * Review Terms and Policies and Click Yes if you accept
> * Click Enable Account Click Finish on the "Congratulations! Welcome to Giganews!" page
> * When finished, click on the YES button on the Security Alert screen
> * After 30 minutes, check your primary email account for your ID and password for your
newsgroup account
I followed this to confirm that it was there but my comcast.net email account still isn't working
yet so I didn't want to go through the sign up process and risk losing my ID/password for the
newsgroup account. If your comcast.net email account is working, maybe you'd like to give this a
try. Let me know how it works.
One ugly part of this business is that the comcast.net web page, where you go to manage your
account, comes up as a blank page in Netscape but works in Internet Explorer. So if you are going
to do any account management you are forced to fire up Windows.
Jim
ala...@junk.min.net
>I just got this from a friend who also has Comcast:
Can MR/2 ICE be used to read news from Comcast.net? If so, how do I set
it up?
Alan
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Please remove .no.junk from my address to reply via e-mail. ***
Posted by al...@min.net using registered MR/2 ICE Newsreader #564
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Christopher L. Estep
<ala...@junk.min.net> wrote in message news:3c7ada93$3$nyna$mr2ice@news...
> In <3C7ACFBF...@home.com>, on 02/25/02
> at 11:57 PM, Jim Parker <jdpar...@home.com> said:
>
> >I just got this from a friend who also has Comcast:
>
> Can MR/2 ICE be used to read news from Comcast.net? If so, how do I set
> it up?
Since Comcast.net gets newsgroup service from Giganews, I see no reason why
not.
Simply feed in the name of your server in the space indicated, and tell it
that the server requires that you log in, and enter the username and
password assigned.
You could use any newsreader you want.
*Including* the one in WarpZilla.
Christopher L. Estep
Bob Germer
ala...@junk.min.net said:
> In <3C7ACFBF...@home.com>, on 02/25/02
> at 11:57 PM, Jim Parker <jdpar...@home.com> said:
> >I just got this from a friend who also has Comcast:
> Can MR/2 ICE be used to read news from Comcast.net? If so, how do I set
> it up?
'Tain't easy, but yes it CAN be done as of this morning 3/2/2002.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that you will have to use IE from Win98 or later to get
set up. BAH
The problem is that when one goes to www.comcast.net, one is asked to log
on. Enter your username and password for your email account. With Netscape
4.61 for OS/2 you get a login failed screen. You also get that with
Netscape 4.75 on Win98. Clicking on the back button shows you ARE logged
in. HOWEVER when you then click on Member Services to access newsgroups,
you get javascript error, enter javascript on the location bar and press
enter. This takes you to netscape.com.
However, if one use IE, one can log on and get to member services and get
setup. Once I did that (had to reload w98 since I had deleted IE) I got on
and got an email back in minutes. However, if one wants to use netscape
(or any other newsreader) one has to know the name of the news server
which was in the email I got. For me it is news.nj.comcast.giganews.com.
YMMV.
Also, one's newsreader must support authentification. Fortunately for me,
MR/2 Ice does. The Account Name in the email is what needs to be entered
as the authentification. The password the email gives goes in the password
box of MR/2 Ice. News also then works in Netscape 4.61 for OS/2.
I called Comcast regarding the Netscape problem. No one had previously
reported it according to the tech who seemed very knowledgable. She fired
up Netscape and verified the problem. Maybe it will get fixed. If Comcast
moves at its usual glacial pace (I have been a Comcast cable TV subscriber
for years and email subscriber for over a year) the problem will get fixed
sometime in the third millenium.
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Germer - E-mail: bob...@comcast.net
Proudly running OS/2 Warp 4, WSeB and eCS on our network
MR/2 Ice 2.31a Registration Number 67
Despite my car having Windows, it's still not mouse-driven.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Germer
"FEEB" <nos...@neverland.com.invalid> said:
> Send me your IP address and I will let you in on our NewsServer. 1Gbps
> connection.
Thanks to you for your very kind offer. However, after several emails, a
couple of FedEx mails from a few dozen users, etc. Comcast suddenly
decided that they had to offer newsgroups and set things up with gigabyte.
The fact that I set up a webpage to castigate Comcast and uploaded it to
Comcast as my personal webpage just may have also had some influence.
Under their terms of subscription they had to accept my homepage as long
as it was not pornography or libelous. It wasn't. It merely pointed out
the deficiencies of Comcast's service vs. a selection of alternatives
available to most (but not to me - I can't get DSL where I live although
the folks in the house directly behind me can) such as DSL, ADSL,
Satellite, and compared costs. Everything stated was verifiable fact.
Comcast came off looking rather shabby. The proposed webpage also had a
survey for those to say whether or not newsgroups were important.
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Germer - E-mail: bob...@comcast.net
Proudly running OS/2 Warp 4, WSeB and eCS on our network
MR/2 Ice 2.31a Registration Number 67
Difference between a virus & windows? Viruses never fail.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Germer
Jim Parker <jdpar...@home.com> said:
> Anyway, please keep me informed on what's going on, including any
> activities concerning a class action law suit.
Well, Comcast caved on the news issue as I explained in another message in
this thread a couple of minutes ago.
> My e-mail is supposed to be jdpar...@comcast.net although it isn't
> working yet.
You may have to call comcast, wait up to two hours for a live human, and
get the proper POP and SMTP server names. Also be careful of the password.
It is case sensitive. And for newsgroups, I had to use IE from Win98 to
get set up. Once I did that, I got an email back with the news account
number and news password. Gigabyte uses authentification on their news
server.
A word of caution. Gigabyte limits downloads to a total of 1 gigabyte per
month. They sell additional bytes starting at $7.95 per month and give you
free header downloads. If you are using binary newsgroups, this service
could get expensive in a hurry!
> Thanks
> Jim
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Germer - E-mail: bob...@comcast.net
Proudly running OS/2 Warp 4, WSeB and eCS on our network
MR/2 Ice 2.31a Registration Number 67
Dogs crawl under gates, software crawls under Windows!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Germer
J. Pfisterer <an...@lafn.org> said:
> What is the world coming to when it's impossible to hire a "Philadelphia
> lawyer"? <gd&r>
> Hope you won't wait for legal resolution to find a way back to the
> newsgroups.
Well, a combination of emails, FedEx letters, uploading a homepage to
Comcast as my personal homepage which compared Comcast to other
alternatives, plus a phone call from a powerful lawyer seems to have
worked. At least limited free news service is available now and I have it
working.
Thanks to you and all the others who kindly offered valuable suggestions.
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Germer - E-mail: bob...@comcast.net
Proudly running OS/2 Warp 4, WSeB and eCS on our network
MR/2 Ice 2.31a Registration Number 67
Don't be held back by yesterday's DOS! Try today's OS/2!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ala...@junk.min.net
>> Send me your IP address and I will let you in on our NewsServer. 1Gbps
>> connection.
>Thanks to you for your very kind offer. However, after several emails, a
>couple of FedEx mails from a few dozen users, etc. Comcast suddenly
>decided that they had to offer newsgroups and set things up with gigabyte. The fact
It's only 1 gig a month, though. I read a lot of newsgroups, and I'm sure
I'll hit the cap in a short time.
I wish there was a way to access my other ISP's news server while
connected with Comcast. I don't really want to reboot every day to call
the dialup, then reboot again and connect to Comcast.
ala...@junk.min.net
>You may have to call comcast, wait up to two hours for a live human, and
>get the proper POP and SMTP server names. Also be careful of the
>password. It is case sensitive. And for newsgroups, I had to use IE from
>Win98 to get set up. Once I did that, I got an email back with the news
I managed to do it NS/2 4.61.
>account number and news password. Gigabyte uses authentification on their
>news server.
And, as you've undoubtedly figured out, to access it with MR/2 ICE, place
your account number and password in the authentication fields under
Newsreader Settings, along with the news server in the proper field.
>A word of caution. Gigabyte limits downloads to a total of 1 gigabyte per
>month. They sell additional bytes starting at $7.95 per month and give
>you free header downloads. If you are using binary newsgroups, this
>service could get expensive in a hurry!
I just do text groups, but a goodly amount of them. :-(
ala...@junk.min.net
>However, if one use IE, one can log on and get to member services and get
>setup. Once I did that (had to reload w98 since I had deleted IE) I got
>on and got an email back in minutes. However, if one wants to use
>netscape (or any other newsreader) one has to know the name of the news
>server which was in the email I got. For me it is
>news.nj.comcast.giganews.com. YMMV.
I think I set mine up from the giganews webpage. I know I did it with
NS/2 - no Windows on my system since my drive crash a couple of weeks ago.
Fortunately, I set up my comcast.net email accounts using IE6 before the
crash.
>Also, one's newsreader must support authentification. Fortunately for me,
>MR/2 Ice does. The Account Name in the email is what needs to be entered
>as the authentification. The password the email gives goes in the
>password box of MR/2 Ice. News also then works in Netscape 4.61 for OS/2.
I don't use NS for mail or news. ICE is quite sufficient.
>moves at its usual glacial pace (I have been a Comcast cable TV
>subscriber for years and email subscriber for over a year) the problem
>will get fixed sometime in the third millenium.
I've had Comcast cable TV for eons, and the Internet service for several
years. Your guess is probably accurate.
Where did you find ICE 2.31a? Nick's site still says 2.30a.
Nick Knight
>Where did you find ICE 2.31a? Nick's site still says 2.30a.
It's a beta, but it DOES do SMTP Authentication. For most betas, I only
post notes to the mailing list(s) that are appropriate. However, in this
case, I should have said something more, as the SMTP Authentication is a)
a Big Addition and b) seems to work ok (but a larger test sample will say
for sure :).
It's not really a secret, but the MR/2 repository is kept on a Unix-based
web server hosted my Secant.com. This repository is normally browse-abe
by directory. The direct URL for the current beta is:
http://cartman.secant.com/nick/mr2i231a.zip
But you *can* just check out the /nick sub dir on occassion to see what
I've posted as a betta.
NOTE that I've reconfigued my web server again. Currently, I've closed my
Win32 server down and the old "scripts only" OS/2 machine I used to use in
addition is now doing it all. AND, while all of the old URL's work now
and will for awhile, I will be switching to the new domain name:
Nick
--
-----------------------------------------------------------
Nick Knight <ni...@secant.com> http://www.mr2ice.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
ll.c...@verizon.net
PM,
"Nick Knight" <ni...@secant.com> said:
> http://cartman.secant.com/nick/mr2i231a.zip
Nick, were you able to do anything in this version with the habit of the
program abending when the delay or response from the server was too
long? I am still deleting all .idx files when exiting MR2/Ice.
Otherwise, I still get an abend.
Thanks for still worrying about bugs in the program!
All the best...
---------------------------------------------
les clark / edgewater, nj / usa
---------------------------------------------
ala...@junk.min.net
>>Where did you find ICE 2.31a? Nick's site still says 2.30a.
>It's a beta, but it DOES do SMTP Authentication. For most betas, I only
>post notes to the mailing list(s) that are appropriate. However, in this
>case, I should have said something more, as the SMTP Authentication is a)
>a Big Addition and b) seems to work ok (but a larger test sample will say
>for sure :).
I probably don't need it, so my testing it wouldn't give you any answers.
> http://cartman.secant.com/nick/mr2i231a.zip
>But you *can* just check out the /nick sub dir on occassion to see what
>I've posted as a betta.
Thanks - I'll do that.
I'll remember that.