On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:06:27 -0400, Jack Stein said...

Vincent wrote:
On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:03:18 GMT, Smaug Ichorfang said...
Vincent wrote in
:


I'd have to think that most newsgroup users get their access through
standalone newsgroup services

What in the world would make you think such a thing? I've been around
playing with computers since FidoNet days. Since before Timmy Berners-Lee
discovered html and the WorldWideWeb. Since back in the day when the
internet was only usenet, mail, and ftp. Then along can AOL and things
went downhill ever since. **sigh**

I was referring to the current state of Usenet, and not the pre-Web days.

Folks still access the newsgroups through their ISPs, they still connect to text
based newsgroups through free resources, but there is definitely a growing
percentage of Usenet users that access through paid newsgroup services.

Usenet has changed considerably since the late 1980's... more newsgroups, more
content, larger files, etc... and most ISPs & free resources do not want to
invest in the equipment or an outsourcing arrangement to provide an adequate
newsgroup service.

I'd bet byte for byte the equipment is far cheaper than it used to be.
Heck, I'm sitting here with over 550 GIGS of hard drive storage myself,
and I don't have millions of users paying $50/month for service.

I don't run a newsgroup service, and it's not my area of expertise, so it's just
speculation on my behalf

I'm not aware of any newsgroup services charging $50 month, and most of the
services I'm familiar with are inexpensive.

My provider for example (Newsguy) has newsgroup accounts for as little as $3
month, and I doubt that Newsguy or any of the newsgroup services have millions
of paying individual customers. If I used your numbers... say 2 million
customers at $50/month... these newsgroup services would be generating $1.2
billion dollars a year. I'm sorry, but that seems highly unlikely.

As far as hardware, I dunno. Like any other business I'm sure there are other
costs that these folks incur... servers, bandwidth, employees, healthcare
benefits. etc... so as their cost of doing business increases, so do their
membership fees. I suppose it's the same reason why a loaf of bread no longer
costs $.25, or cars no longer cost $5,000.


As a result people move to dedicated newsgroup providers to
get a better level of service (longer retention, no missing posts, etc.)

As it stands, I doubt you could get a better level of service than I get
from Comcast which provides Giganews free to their users.

I get my Internet access through Roadrunner. It upsets me that I can't get
Usenet through them, but nowadays it's simply more convenient, reliable &
affordable to get my newsgroups through a dedicated provider like a Newsguy.

Around here it costs about the same for Verizon and Comcast, the two
large high speed providers. Verizon has fiber, Comcast has cable.
About the only difference I can see is Verizon supposedly is dropping
all the Alt binaries and Comcast still provides everything free. The
way I see it, Comcast has my business as long as they continue to
provide more bang for the buck. Dropping binaries is reducing services
that I use, and use a lot. Many people don't use any of this, and it's
free and right at their fingertips. Many fewer people will use these
services if they have to take the initiative in finding a service, and
then set it up.

I'd like to see Comcast advertise the fact they provide all newsgroups
free so people can share photos with the world whilst Verizon, their
lame competitor doesn't. Even if people don't know what it is, they
would love it because it's about pictures and it's free.

While I hope it's not the case, I have a feeling that ISPs will begin to
discontinue their newsgroup services in light of the decisions made by
Roadrunner, Verizon, AT&T, etc.

V