Re: AT&T Usenet Netnews Service Shutting Down

[Oppie]

And this would affect Saturn owners... how?
I have Verizon and rarely use their usenet since they cut out all the useful
groups. Teranews.com is a good deal.

cross-post removed

<news-s...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:1244504412....@flph199.ffdc.sbc.com...
>
> Please note that on or around July 15, 2009, AT&T will no longer be
> offering access to the Usenet netnews service. If you wish to continue
> reading Usenet newsgroups, access is available through third-party
> vendors.
>
> Posted only internally to AT&T Usenet Servers.
>

[Bob Shuman]

Well Oppie, I do use AT&T's DSL service and them deciding to arbitrarily
shut off my access to all newsgroups, including the rec.auto.makers.saturn
does indeed directly affect me.

From what I can gather, their message was not supposed to be posted outside
their own news servers/user community, so the fact that you received it
would be an indication that your news service provider may be getting a feed
from AT&T (so I am speculating that your access may also be at risk too?)

I have voiced my frustration directly to AT&T customer service, but quite
frankly no one there or in their Internet Technical Support group knew what
I was talking about. I guess that UseNet must not be in demand and is
viewed as something to cut to save a few $. As someone who has used it for
nearly 20 years and come to rely on it, I need to find an alternative means
to access news groups.

Bob

"Oppie" <Op...@saynotospam.com> wrote in message
news:kiPXl.146$923...@newsfe01.iad...

[oppie]

I got really mad at Verizon when they dumped the bulk of their Usenet at the
demand of the NY attorney general...
I've had a www.teranews.com account for several years and they had their ups
and downs. Right now they seem to have gotten their act together and things
are working pretty well. The only time I use the remnants of the Verizon
Usenet server is for internal network stuff. All other usage is through
Teranews.
A free account has a small setup fee and afterwards is limited to 50Meg/day.
I have a sponsor account which is $30/year with a 30GB limit. Paid accounts
have a longer article retention also.
I just did a refresh of the teranews group list. It topped off somewhere
near 100,000 groups.
Oppie (aka Bob Oppenheimer)

"Bob Shuman" <no_sp...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:PvXXl.19005$%54.1...@nlpi070.nbdc.sbc.com...

[Bob Shuman]

Thanks Oppie. This looks like just what I would be looking for to continue
my access after the 7/15 AT&T deadline.

I still wonder why you received the post from the AT&T News server since it
was directed to all accounts and intended only for AT&T subscribers. ...

Bob

"oppie" <fi...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:YrZXl.23558$En5....@newsfe09.iad...

[IYM]

Another good service I've been using is motzarella.org

It's free with unlimited posting...Just no binaries (which is fine by me)...

IYM

[Oppie]

Whenever someone cross posts a "private" group to an external server, the
secret is out. In this case someone cross posted a sbcglobal.disgard message
to this group.
I have the same problem with the verizon only groups (starting in 0.verizon)
that somehow got listed on teranews. Such is life...

"Bob Shuman" <no_sp...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message

news:z_ZXl.31476$Ws1....@nlpi064.nbdc.sbc.com...

[Bob Shuman]

IYM,

Thank you for another alternative solution.

Bob

"IYM" <"S U N risr"@optonline.net> wrote in message
news:h0qolm$vhf$1...@news.eternal-september.org...

[marx404]

I use Motzarella, many ISPs have discontinued with NG services. NGs are
outdated by now anyways with all the Forum services and web site discussion
boards anyways.

--
marx404
<all gmail posts blocked>
_________________

"Oppie" <Op...@saynotospam.com> wrote in message

news:5e7Yl.6189$f36....@newsfe19.iad...

[IYM]

marx404 wrote:
> I use Motzarella, many ISPs have discontinued with NG services. NGs are
> outdated by now anyways with all the Forum services and web site discussion
> boards anyways.
>

It might yet make a small comeback though, when more companies follow
the lead of my place of employment and block web access based on
entertainment, video streaming, internet radio, news, education and
unfortunately...forums. But because it is not web based, usenet is not
filtered / blocked. So I rely on the NG's as my small portal to the
outside world during work. Granted, it's like a portal on the lower
deck above the engine room, whereas the web based forums are lounged out
on the top deck, but I can at least still see outside a little....

IYM

[Bob Shuman]

My work location filters out "undesirable" newsgroups and leaves the work
related ones get through, so that is why I access them from my home account.

Bob

"IYM" <"S U N risr"@optonline.net> wrote in message

news:h0rlp0$6kd$1...@news.eternal-september.org...

[IYM]

Well, that's kind of what I do at work using motzarella. As long as you
have access to the internet, and the company doesn't block
motzarella.org deliberately from the servers, I can get all that
motzarella offers. The filter software only is searching for web based
content when you use a web browser in order to block it, so a direct
access to motzarella using a newsreader is not noticed. I can't access
the motzarella.org website from IE or Firefox on my work PC, but as long
as I have an account, I can access it using Thunderbird, OE or any news
reader on my work PC. Kind of the same deal for my personal e-mail. I
can't access Optonline or Verizon's web site or web based e-mail using a
browser as it gets blocked, but Thunderbird or OE is able to go out
every 5 minutes and retrieve the mail from those sites....Your company
does have control and can filter newsgroups offered on THIER isp, which
is what you are most likely accessing with your newsreader. If you
access your own independent newsgroup account (ie, teranews, motzarella,
etc) you should have no prob....

IYM