Astraweb's Usenet server is shit

[Metspitzer]

I bought a block account because Charter provides a free server with
short retention free.

The times I have needed to use Astraweb's server, half of the time
parts of the post are missing.

Completion - High number of peers. 99%+ completion..........is a LIE

[Metspitzer]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2012 09:44:33 -0700, sittingduck
<du...@spamherelots.com> wrote:

>Were you using both US and EU servers? I've been using astraweb for years,
>and it's been excellent. And at $96/year for unlimited, it's the best deal
>out there. I rarely see missing articles, but I've got 2 servers backing it
>up. The backup servers are used pretty infrequently, though.

I was not using both servers, but that is a good suggestion. I will
give it a try.

Thanks

[Metspitzer]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2012 09:44:33 -0700, sittingduck
<du...@spamherelots.com> wrote:

>Metspitzer wrote:
>

>Were you using both US and EU servers? I've been using astraweb for years,
>and it's been excellent. And at $96/year for unlimited, it's the best deal
>out there. I rarely see missing articles, but I've got 2 servers backing it
>up. The backup servers are used pretty infrequently, though.

Using both servers did allow me to complete both posts I was
complaining about. The parts that were missing were still incomplete,
but I was able to retrieve more of the incomplete parts so I could use
pars.

It brings up another question. Do you keep both servers enabled?
There are actually 3 servers listed at Astraweb, but I only tried
using the US server first and the EU server second. There is a third
server with no country designation.

Thanks again for the tip

[Peter Piper]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:37:36 -0400, Metspitzer
<Kilo...@deletemecharter.net> wrote:

>I bought a block account because Charter provides a free server with
>short retention free.
>
>The times I have needed to use Astraweb's server, half of the time
>parts of the post are missing.

I've had Charter for several weeks now, didn't know they have a
server. None of their literature mentions it. I found it at
"news.charter.net"

Retention is not that bad for a "free" server, about one year. They
carry all the groups including "alt." groups. The bad news is they
apparently bandwidth limit download to only 200kbps, worthless for
downloading large binaries.

[Mike Easter]

Peter Piper wrote:
> Metspitzer

>> I bought a block account because Charter provides a free server with
>> short retention free.

> I've had Charter for several weeks now, didn't know they have a
> server. None of their literature mentions it. I found it at
> "news.charter.net"
>
> Retention is not that bad for a "free" server, about one year. They
> carry all the groups including "alt." groups. The bad news is they
> apparently bandwidth limit download to only 200kbps, worthless for
> downloading large binaries.

Charter outsources their news to highwinds.

It is common practice for the 'deals' made by general ISPs with
outsourced NSPs to give their users free usenet to have some kind of
throttling mechanism in place to deter the kind of heavy usenet access
to be expected from 'real' pay NSP accounts.

Example: EarthLink connectivity gives free usenet access and outsources
it to giganews and/which throttles heavy downloading. I would also
expect them to throttle heavy uploading even more quickly because of the
burden it places on asymmetric broadband connectivity such as cable.


--
Mike Easter

[Metspitzer]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:02:36 -0700, sittingduck

>You're welcome!
>
>I'm using ssl-eu.astraweb.com and ssl-us.astraweb.com, both concurrently,
>both with 4 connections. As backup servers, I have a Usenet-News block
>account, and occsionally some free servers.
>
>Not sure about the 3rd (news.astraweb.com or ssl.astraweb.com) server, it
>resolves to a different IP than the other 2, so I suppose it wouldn't hurt
>to run all 3.
>I think I'll try it!

So you have to separate block accounts? I may try that. I wish I
could remember previous unsuccessful attempts I had with Astraweb. I
am pretty sure I have wasted many gigs trying to get fills.

[Metspitzer]

The server was better in the past, but it is still good for a free
one. Charter is about the only ISP I know that still furnishes one.

[Metspitzer]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:16:50 -0700, Mike Easter <Mi...@ster.invalid>
wrote:

BTW Charter's slow, but sure policy is much better than the old ATT
free server. ATT was full throttle, but it was only a week retention.
Charter's is pretty solid. I figured it up once. Using Charter's
24/7 would yield around 80G/month.

[Peter Piper]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:36:49 -0400, Metspitzer
<Kilo...@deletemecharter.net> wrote:

>The server was better in the past, but it is still good for a free
>one. Charter is about the only ISP I know that still furnishes one.

Knology has a very good news server (out sourced, I forget by who.) No
bandwidth limiting and no data cap.

[Mike Easter]

Metspitzer wrote:
> Mike Easter
>> Peter Piper wrote:
>>> Metspitzer
>>

>>>> Charter provides a free server with short retention free.
>>
>>> I've had Charter for several weeks now, didn't know they have a
>>> server. None of their literature mentions it. I found it at
>>> "news.charter.net"
>>>

>>> The bad news is they apparently bandwidth limit download to only
>>> 200kbps, worthless for downloading large binaries.
>>
>> Charter outsources their news to highwinds.
>>
>> It is common practice for the 'deals' made by general ISPs with
>> outsourced NSPs to give their users free usenet to have some kind of
>> throttling mechanism in place to deter the kind of heavy usenet access
>> to be expected from 'real' pay NSP accounts.

> BTW Charter's slow, but sure policy is much better than the old ATT
> free server. ATT was full throttle, but it was only a week retention.
> Charter's is pretty solid. I figured it up once. Using Charter's
> 24/7 would yield around 80G/month.

Here are Charter's published policies on throttling including usenet in
sections 13 & 14 of their AUP and that link also provides specific links
to their separate pages for

http://www.charter.com/aup
http://myaccount.charter.com/customers/support.aspx?supportarticleid=2124 Excessive
Use Of Bandwidth
http://myaccount.charter.com/customers/support.aspx?supportarticleid=2615
Network Management
--
Mike Easter

[Aaron W. Hsu]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:37:36 -0400, Metspitzer wrote:

> The times I have needed to use Astraweb's server, half of the time parts
> of the post are missing.

Are the missing parts the result of DCMA filings? If you are downloading
copyrighted information, then it can often happen that parts have been
removed due to filings from the presumed copyright owners. Some content
creators are much more strict about this than others, and this is not
necessarily the fault of the provider. In US based servers at least, a
company must remove content if asked to do so in the appropriate manner,
or risk legal action.

--
Aaron W. Hsu | arc...@sacrideo.us | http://www.sacrideo.us
Programming is just another word for the lost art of thinking.

[Mike Easter]

Sqwertz wrote:
> Mike Easter wrote:

>> Peter Piper wrote:

>>> I've had Charter for several weeks now, didn't know they have a
>>> server. None of their literature mentions it. I found it at
>>> "news.charter.net"
>>>
>>> Retention is not that bad for a "free" server, about one year.
>>> They carry all the groups including "alt." groups. The bad news
>>> is they apparently bandwidth limit download to only 200kbps,
>>> worthless for downloading large binaries.
>>
>> Charter outsources their news to highwinds.
>

> So do they put some sort of artificial retention limit in place for
> indirect customers?

I don't know anything about Charter from usage, just what I read. My
provider outsources to giga and there is no limitation of retention.
The retention of the outsourced giga server is very extensive, like
'normal' giga servers, the last time I checked, which hasn't been recently.

> I guess putting an artificial retention limit and the throttled
> bandwidth may entice some customers to upgrade to "real" service.

Perhaps. My personal choice is to have a block account which giga
doesn't provide. I only occasionally want some kind of usenet binary.
If it doesn't require significant downloading, I get it from the EL/giga
server, because giga has excellent retention and completion -- but if I
do significant download, it starts getting throttled, so I go to the
block account. That account cost me about $3 or $5 several years ago.


--
Mike Easter

[MartinS]

> No, I pay $96/year for Astraweb.
> Usenet-News is my block provider, and main backup server.
> Nothing wrong with buying blocks in different places though, if that
> fits your needs! Makes sense actually, if you're going to just buy
> blocks, to get them from a couple different places, then you are less
> likely to have issues.

My ISP still provides a news server, which is outsourced to Highwinds. My
backup server for fills and older posts is Astraweb, for which I buy
blocks. 1 terabyte non-expiring for $50 is a great deal. You'd have to be
using over 160GB a month for $96/year to be a better deal. My ISP limits
total internet up and down traffic to 80GB a month. Astraweb also offers a
10Mbps account with unlimited download at $20 for 3 months, or $80/yr.

--
Martin S.

[MartinS]

Metspitzer <Kilo...@deletemecharter.net> wrote:

> Peter Piper <Peter...@Picked.com> wrote:
>> Metspitzer <Kilo...@deletemecharter.net> wrote:
>>
>>>I bought a block account because Charter provides a free server with
>>>short retention free.
>>>
>>>The times I have needed to use Astraweb's server, half of the time
>>>parts of the post are missing.
>>
>>I've had Charter for several weeks now, didn't know they have a
>>server. None of their literature mentions it. I found it at
>>"news.charter.net"
>>
>>Retention is not that bad for a "free" server, about one year. They
>>carry all the groups including "alt." groups. The bad news is they
>>apparently bandwidth limit download to only 200kbps, worthless for
>>downloading large binaries.
>>
> The server was better in the past, but it is still good for a free
> one. Charter is about the only ISP I know that still furnishes one.

Mine does, but it's in Canada. None of the other major providers do.

--
Martin S.

[Mike Easter]

sittingduck wrote:

> MartinS wrote:
>
>> 1 terabyte non-expiring for $50 is a great deal. You'd have to be
>> using over 160GB a month for $96/year to be a better deal.
>

> Damn, 1000 gigs for $50. That is a good deal.

Astraweb's stats.gif for retention is b0rken

http://www.news.astraweb.com/tools/stats.html

http://www.news.astraweb.com/images/stats.gif

From old links it looks like it is somewhere around 13-1400 days.



--
Mike Easter

[Adam Funk]

On 2012-09-24, Earl wrote:

> Metspitzer <Kilo...@deletemecharter.net> wrote in
> news:v8v068db7u7rt35jk...@4ax.com:

> U R crazy. Their service is excellent.


Astraweb might be fine for binaries, but it's run incompetently for
some moderated text groups, with the posting flag set to "y" rather
than "m", and posting messages directly without submitting them to the
moderation address, so they don't propagate. These ought to be
trivial errors for Astraweb to fix, but they just ignored the support
tickets and follow-up complaints. I'd call that bad netizenship.


--
But the government always tries to coax well-known writers into the
Establishment; it makes them feel educated. [Robert Graves]

[Mike Easter]

Sqwertz wrote:

> Adam Funk wrote:
>
>> Astraweb might be fine for binaries, but it's run incompetently for
>> some moderated text groups, with the posting flag set to "y" rather
>> than "m", and posting messages directly without submitting them to the
>> moderation address, so they don't propagate. These ought to be
>> trivial errors for Astraweb to fix, but they just ignored the support
>> tickets and follow-up complaints. I'd call that bad netizenship.
>

> I've tried getting pre-sales support from Astraweb - simple little
> question before I would buy any service, "Can I set my own MID's", and
> at least three times now they have ignored the question. Literally,
> it's a 5-second answer. But they can't be bothered.
>
> While some people here have reported that yes, you can do it (that
> wasn't always the case with Astraweb), I need to hear that from
> *them*. And since they never respond, each year I just go with
> somebody else. I've completely given up on them. Screw Astraweb.

Searching on appropriate terms indicates old 2006 discussions describing
sometimes astraweb errors on M-ID 'caused' by Agent's m-id
use/configuration.

So far, the only good thing about astraweb is that 1000G for $50. If
one just wants a cheap block for lightweight binaries, usenet-news has
blocks as cheap as $2, but their terabyte package costs almost twice as
much as astraweb's. Their retention is 1200 days.


--
Mike Easter

[MartinS]

Sqwertz <swe...@cluemail.compost> wrote:

> Adam Funk wrote:
>
>> Astraweb might be fine for binaries, but it's run incompetently for
>> some moderated text groups, with the posting flag set to "y" rather
>> than "m", and posting messages directly without submitting them to the
>> moderation address, so they don't propagate. These ought to be
>> trivial errors for Astraweb to fix, but they just ignored the support
>> tickets and follow-up complaints. I'd call that bad netizenship.
>

> I've tried getting pre-sales support from Astraweb - simple little
> question before I would buy any service, "Can I set my own MID's", and
> at least three times now they have ignored the question. Literally,
> it's a 5-second answer. But they can't be bothered.
>
> While some people here have reported that yes, you can do it (that
> wasn't always the case with Astraweb), I need to hear that from
> *them*. And since they never respond, each year I just go with
> somebody else. I've completely given up on them. Screw Astraweb.

Your loss.

--
Martin S.

[MartinS]

Sqwertz <swe...@cluemail.compost> wrote:

> (He says as he posts from Highwinds/Teranews)
>
> Hardly. I have plenty of places I can take my business. And I'm not
> ignored with any of my current providers.

I post with bubbanews (even though the header says teranews) because
it's free and doesn't reveal my ISP. I rarely use tera/bubba to D/L.

My main download source is my ISP (also Highwinds) with Astraweb as a
backup. I very rarely have problems with either.

--
Martin S.

[Metspitzer]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:37:36 -0400, Metspitzer

<Kilo...@deletemecharter.net> wrote:

>I bought a block account because Charter provides a free server with
>short retention free.
>
>The times I have needed to use Astraweb's server, half of the time
>parts of the post are missing.
>
>Completion - High number of peers. 99%+ completion..........is a LIE

I just bought a 200G block from http://blocknews.net/
The reason I did was that Astraweb didn't have a single part of a post
I was trying to get from alt.binaries.erotica.pornstars.80s.video.

I don't know if it was because Astraweb didn't carry the group nor did
I bother to find out.

I downloaded around 40 posts (25G) from the group tonight using
blocknews and didn't have a single missing part.

I know who will not be re subscribing to Astraweb.

[Mike Easter]

Metspitzer wrote:

> I just bought a 200G block from http://blocknews.net/

At 11 cents a gig, that is actually cheaper than a similar sized block
of 180G from astraweb at almost 14 cents a gig.

> The reason I did was that Astraweb didn't have a single part of a post
> I was trying to get from alt.binaries.erotica.pornstars.80s.video.

astraweb carries (in addition to others similarly named):

alt.binaries.erotica.pornstars.80s
alt.binaries.erotica.pornstars80s

not .80s.video, but that is an active group.

> I know who will not be re subscribing to Astraweb.

--
Mike Easter

[Dan C]

OK good, does this mean you're gonna stop whining now?


--
"Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me".
"Bother!" said Pooh, as he dressed up like Santa and grabbed his axe.
Usenet Improvement Project: http://twovoyagers.com/improve-usenet.org/
Thanks, Obama: http://brandybuck.site40.net/pics/politica/thanks.jpg

[andrew]

On 2012-10-06, Metspitzer <Kilo...@deletemecharter.net> wrote:

> I just bought a 200G block from http://blocknews.net/
> The reason I did was that Astraweb didn't have a single part of a post
> I was trying to get from alt.binaries.erotica.pornstars.80s.video.
>
> I don't know if it was because Astraweb didn't carry the group nor did
> I bother to find out.
>
> I downloaded around 40 posts (25G) from the group tonight using
> blocknews and didn't have a single missing part.

Should keep you busy for a while :)

Andrew
--
Do you think that's air you're breathing?

[Adam H. Kerman]

Metspitzer <Kilo...@deletemecharter.net> wrote:

>I just bought a 200G block from http://blocknews.net/
>The reason I did was that Astraweb didn't have a single part of a post
>I was trying to get from alt.binaries.erotica.pornstars.80s.video.

That's an improper name for a newsgroup.

It's alt.binaries.[type of binary].erotica.[topic] and should have been
alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica.[topic], probably.

There's no archived newgroup message, so it's not even a Usenet group. If
any server had created the group, it would have been local to that server
only.

Do you want to see if you can figure out the proper name for the group?

[MartinS]

andrew <and...@skamandros.invalid> wrote:
> Metspitzer <Kilo...@deletemecharter.net> wrote:
>
>> I just bought a 200G block from http://blocknews.net/
>> The reason I did was that Astraweb didn't have a single part of a post
>> I was trying to get from alt.binaries.erotica.pornstars.80s.video.
>>
>> I don't know if it was because Astraweb didn't carry the group nor did
>> I bother to find out.
>>
>> I downloaded around 40 posts (25G) from the group tonight using
>> blocknews and didn't have a single missing part.
>
> Should keep you busy for a while :)

Hope he has laid in a supply of tissues.

--
Martin S.

[Metspitzer]

On Sat, 06 Oct 2012 10:20:48 -0400, MartinS <m...@my.place.invalid>
wrote:

I am calibrating the end of No Fap September. Isn't everyone?

[MartinS]

Sqwertz <swe...@cluemail.compost> wrote:

> Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>> Metspitzer <Kilo...@deletemecharter.net> wrote:
>>
>>>I just bought a 200G block from http://blocknews.net/
>>>The reason I did was that Astraweb didn't have a single part of a
>>>post I was trying to get from
>>>alt.binaries.erotica.pornstars.80s.video.
>>
>> That's an improper name for a newsgroup.
>>
>> It's alt.binaries.[type of binary].erotica.[topic] and should have
>> been alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica.[topic], probably.
>>
>> There's no archived newgroup message, so it's not even a Usenet
>> group. If any server had created the group, it would have been local
>> to that server only.
>

> Highwinds, Readnews, and Giganews all carry the group she mentioned.
> So that's easily the top 90% of the Usenet backends (by volume) out
> there in UsenetLand.

Maybe he/she is going blind.

--
Martin S.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Sqwertz <swe...@cluemail.compost> wrote:

>On Sat, 6 Oct 2012 05:30:19 +0000 (UTC), Adam H. Kerman wrote:
>>Metspitzer <Kilo...@deletemecharter.net> wrote:

>>>I just bought a 200G block from http://blocknews.net/
>>>The reason I did was that Astraweb didn't have a single part of a post
>>>I was trying to get from alt.binaries.erotica.pornstars.80s.video.

>>That's an improper name for a newsgroup.

>>It's alt.binaries.[type of binary].erotica.[topic] and should have been
>>alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica.[topic], probably.

>>There's no archived newgroup message, so it's not even a Usenet group. If
>>any server had created the group, it would have been local to that server
>>only.

>Highwinds, Readnews, and Giganews all carry the group she mentioned.
>So that's easily the top 90% of the Usenet backends (by volume) out
>there in UsenetLand.

I guess if it's created on several networks, it's Usenet. Anybody can
create any group with any name, even if there's no archived control
message and even if the name is improper and stupid.

But you can't damn a News site for not creating this group.

I'm sure the part of the '80's pr0n movie he wasn't able to download
was integral to the plot.

[Mike Yetto]

Adam H. Kerman <a...@chinet.com> writes and having writ moves on.

It was the one with the really bangin' guitar riff.

Mike "and how to trim the moustache"
--
In theory, theory and practice are the same.
In practice they are not.