Usenet Access

You want access to usenet? Comparere is for beginning and advanced usenet users. Below you can learn all about Usenet. We have reviewed the following Usenet Servers: Newshosting, Ngroups, Binverse, Giganews, Usenet.net, Power Usenet, UsenetServer, Supernews, Rhino Newsgroups, Newsgroupdirect, Thundernews, Easynews, Newsdemon, Usenext and Firstload. Some of then offer free usenet trials for 2 - 14 days. Because everyone has different reasons to choose for a usenet servers we created a best usenet section. You can find here which usenet providers good is for the feature/price etc. you want. 

Usenet Explained

Usenet was born before the internet. At first Usenet was used to discuss with users around the world on all sort of topics. To make Usenet more evident 9 hierarchies were born as a result from people with different interests wanted to discuss: comp.* (computer related discussions), humanities.* (philosophy, fine arts and literature), misc.* (miscellaneous topics), news.* (news discussions and announcements), rec.* (recreation and entertainment), sci.* (science related discussions), soc.* (social discussions), talk.* (discuss controversial topics) and the hierarchie alt.* at the beginning to exchange self created software. But grew out as the hierarchie were binaries (movies, games, music and software) were posted, and still are posted. Because the binaries (movies, games, music and software) are posted in alt.*. Alt.* became the biggest hierarchie.

So someone decides to upload a movie to the hierarchie alt.*, in the newsgroup alt.binaries.boneless. The file is now posted in the newsgroup and will be shared in the network of servers (usenet servers) which are giving access to the newsgroup alt.binaries.boneless. The network of usenet servers is very big.

Usenet is basically a network of servers (usenet providers) which are giving access to newsgroups.

Usenet Newsgroups

Usenet newsgroups are internet discussion groups. At first usenet newsgroups were to share or publish text information/foundings on just about any topic you can imagine. Nowadays usenet newsgroups are used to post binary (movies, music and games) files on and still it is used to publish text information and foundings. Usenet consists of 9 hierarchies, if you don't know what hierarchies are, find out under usenet explained.

Usenet Newsgroup Access

Underneath these hierarchies usenet newsgroups were ordened. Such as alt.binaries.boneless and alt.binaries.tv. In these usenet newsgroups, posts (such as movies, games and music) are uploaded and shared on all servers (usenet servers), which are giving access to these usenet newsgroups. If you are connected with a usenet server which is giving access to usenet newsgroups, you are able to download all the latest posts (such as movies, games, music) in these usenet newsgroups. You can download them because you have access to these usenet newsgroups via your server (usenet server).

Below you will find the list of server and how many newsgroups they can access

Binverse: over 100.000 newsgroups
Giganews:over 107.000 newsgroups
Newshosting: over 100.000 newsgroups
Newsgroupdirect: ?
Easynews: over 57.000 newsgroups
UseNeXT: over 60.000 newsgroups
Power Usenet: over 110.000 newsgroups
Ngroups: over 85.000 newsgroups
Supernews: over 110.000 newsgroups
Thundernews: over 85.000 newsgroups
Rhino Newsgroups: over 110.000 newsgroups
Usenet.net: over 110.000 newsgroups
Firstload: over 60.000 newsgroups
UsenetServer: over 100.000 newsgroups

Usenet Servers

Before you get mixed up you should know that Usenet Server and Usenet Provider both mean the same.

Usenet servers are servers which contain posts (movies, games etc.) of the newsgroups. These posts are indexed by the server (usenet server). Connecting to a usenet server must be configured via the hostname (for example news.newshosting.com) and their ports (Ports: 119, 23, 25, 80, 3128 SSL ports: 443, 563). Because these usenet servers have a lot of maintance, bandwidth and hardware costs, they charge you a small amount per month. Once you pay for a subscription you will receive a username and password which must be used to log into the usenet server. So if you have received the inlog data, hostname and ports you are able to download. To start downloading with Usenet you will also need a Usenet Newsreader. A Usenet Newsreader is not a reader of a paper, but software to download movies, games, music etc. with. We will learn you more about Usenet Newsreaders in the next chapter.

Usenet Server Access

Besides the inlog data, hostname and ports. Usenet Servers also offer concurrent connections. These are the connections to the server of the Usenet Server from your PC. The more connections you have the faster your download speed will be. Our registered members with experience rated usenet providers for you, so you can learn from their experiences.

But if you want to achieve download speeds over 1 MB/s there is one other very important thing you should know. The Usenet Server does not replace your Internet Service Provider. If you have an ISP downstream of 20 MBIT/s your fastest download speed will be 2.5 MB/s. Why? ISPs always measure in BITS instead of BYTES. In order to calculate the BYTES per seconds, you will have to divide the BITS by 8. You can check your downstream here.

Usenet Newsreaders

A Newsreaders is a computerprogram that is used to read/download articles, movies, games and music from usenet, for example there are some files you like to have and are posted in the alt.binaries.boneless then its possible with a newsreader to download the files you need. Some of the Usenet Providers (Usenext and Firstload) have got a newsserver where you can download these files at full speed. ISPs often don't have a newsreader and so there are a few to choose from, as a lot of people are using their ISP to download:

Usenet Newsreaders for Windows

Newsleecher, Grabit, Alt.binz, Newsbin Pro, Forte Agent, Binary Boy, Newsrover, SABnzbd, Newsreactor, Ultraleecher, Usenet Explorer, Tamava, Ozum and Xnews.

Usenet Newsreaders for Linux

Hellanzb, Pan, BNR2, Klibido, Ninan, Tamava and Urdland.

Newsreaders for the macintosh

Unison, Hogwasher, Nzbdrop, OSXnews and igrab news.

Usenet Guide

1. Dutch Usenet Guide

Introduction 
Usenet was born before the internet. At first Usenet was used to discuss with users around the world on all sort of topics. To make Usenet more evident 9 newsgroups were born as a result from people with different interests wanted to discuss: comp.* (computer related discussions), humanities.* (philosophy, fine arts and literature), misc.* (miscellaneous topics), news.* (news discussions and announcements), rec.* (recreation and entertainment), sci.* (science related discussions), soc.* (social discussions), talk.* (discuss controversial topics) and alt.* at the beginning to exchange self created software, but soon grew out as the newsgroup were binaries (movies, games, music and software) were posted and still are posted. Because the binaries (movies, games, music and software) are posted in alt.*. Alt.* became the biggest newsgroup.

Usenet Providers
Nowadays the alt.* newsgroup consists of more than 100.000 newsgroups, containing movies, games, music, software etc. The Usenet Providers (such as Giganews, Newsgroupdirect and Newshosting) are offering access at these newsgroups through their servers. So you are able to download from newsgroups through the servers from Giganews, Newsgroupdirect or Newshosting. These servers often offer SSL (Secure Sockets Layer, protocol to code data so it can't be monitored by 3rd parties), high retention (the number of days files such as movies are kept on the servers) and lots of connections (the more connections/threads the faster you can download).

Usenet Newsreaders and indexing sites
Ok, so you know when Usenet was born, what usenet is and how you can connect to usenet. The only thing you have to know now is how to download the Usenet files. The Usenet Providers aren't software applications to download with, they purely are the servers containing the files. Compare Usenet Providers to your ISP. In order to download Usenet files you will need to have a Newsreader such as Newsbin Pro or Grabit. And an indexing site were you can grab newsgroup files (nzb's). Free indexing sites are: nzbindex.com and tvnzb.com. Install your preferred Newsreader, and configure Grabit or Newsbin Pro, once you have done this you can search and download a newsgroup file (nzb) on nzbindex.com or tvnzb.com.

Usenet Retention

Usenet Retention is the time the usenet provider will held a post on the server. For example linux.rar is posted 300 by user X. Usenet providers indexed that file, but Usenet Provider A is only offering 200 days retention while Usenet Provider B offer 400 days of retention. The file will be available for download on Usenet Provider B, but not on Usenet Provider A. The file linux.rar is deleted by the server from Usenet Provider A. The Usenet Newsgroups are filled with binary and text files.

Usenet Text Retention

Usenet Text Retention is Usenet retention for text files. In the Usenet Provider Reviews we only reviewed the Usenet Binary Retention.

Usenet Binary Retention

Usenet Binary Retention is Usenet retention for binary files. The binary files are archived movie, game or software files. Usenet Servers and their binary retention. Updated 1 september 2009:

Binverse: Over 200 days of binary retention
Giganews: building to 400 days binary retention
Newshosting: building to 400 days binary retention
Newsgroupdirect: building to 400 days binary retention
Easynews: 200 days of binary retention
UseNeXT: Over 160 days of binary retention
Power Usenet: building to 400 days binary retention
Ngroups: building to 400 days binary retention
Supernews: 200 days of binary retention
Thundernews: building to 400 days binary retention
Rhino Newsgroups: 200 days binary retention
Usenet.net: building to 400 days binary retention
Firstload: over 90 days of binary retention
UsenetServer: building to 400 days of binary retention

Usenet SSL

Some Usenet servers offer SSL encryption. This means that your connection will be encrypted so that third parties can't control or look into your connection. So downloading with SSL is much safer. This is a list of Usenet Servers which provide SSL encryption:

Binverse: all packages offer SSL
Giganews: only the diamond package offers SSL
Newshosting: all packages offer SSL
Newsgroupdirect: only the start package does not feature SSL
Easynews: all packages offer SSL
UseNeXT: ?
Power Usenet: only the secure power user package offers SSL
Ngroups: all packages offer SSL
Supernews: only the secure power user package offers SSL
Thundernews: all packages can be purchased with or without SSL
Rhino Newsgroups: offers no SSL
Usenet.net: only the first package with 30 concurrent connections
Firstload: offers no SSL
UsenetServer: all packages offer SSL