Hello all,

This morning's e-mail included the letter below from Verizon FIOS, my
ISP provider. (But at least they are not lowering the price for reducing
my service. G)

One more blow to what's left of usenet. Anyone suggest any alternate
service? I don't really need "more exciting ways of getting and sharing
information via the Web".

Regards,
Tim Schwartz
Bristol Electronics



Dear Valued Verizon Online Member,

Newsgroups were initially developed as a text-based way to share
information on the Internet. Today, demand for newsgroups is much lower,
since most users have switched to more exciting ways of getting and
sharing information via the Web, such as social networks, email and
sites such as our Verizon Central Newsroom.

Because of the reduced demand for newsgroups, on September 30, 2009,
Verizon will discontinue its USENET newsgroup service. Subscribers will
not be able to post or download material from the Verizon newsgroup
service after this date.

INFORMATION ABOUT VERIZON'S ELIMINATION OF ITS NEWSGROUP SERVICE

1. When will Verizon discontinue its newsgroup service?

The service will be discontinued on September 30, 2009. After
this date, Verizon's Newsgroup service will no longer be active.

2. If I want to continue to access newsgroups, what are my options?

There are several commercial newsgroup providers that you can
consider. You may want to review some options at
www.newsgroupreviews.com. The available content, posting policies, terms
and prices (if applicable) will vary, so you should select the one that
is right for you. If you elect to access a non-Verizon newsgroup service
over the Verizon network, our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy
will still apply to your use of our Internet service.

3. Are any changes to my software required?

Yes. You will need to do two things. First, you will need to
remove the verizon.net USENET newsgroup service from your newsreader
software. Second, if you want to continue accessing newsgroups, you will
need to configure your newsreader software to connect to your new
newsgroup service. Follow your new service provider's instructions for
accessing their newsgroup service.

The following link explains how to unsubscribe to Newsgroups in
Outlook Express:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/171190

4. Will this change to the newsgroup service affect my Verizon
Internet service?

This change will not affect your ability to use your Verizon
Internet service or other commercial newsgroup services, and there will
not be any change to the price you pay for your Verizon High Speed
Internet or Verizon FiOS Internet service.


Sincerely,
Verizon Online

Tim Schwartz wrote:

Hello all,

This morning's e-mail included the letter below from Verizon FIOS, my
ISP provider. (But at least they are not lowering the price for reducing
my service. G)

One more blow to what's left of usenet. Anyone suggest any alternate
service? I don't really need "more exciting ways of getting and sharing
information via the Web".

Regards,
Tim Schwartz
Bristol Electronics

(snip)

Text-only usenet access:

http://www.eternal-september.org/

Free, works well, includes money-back guarantee!

On Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:39:44 GMT, Tim Schwartz
wrote:

Hello all,

This morning's e-mail included the letter below from Verizon FIOS, my
ISP provider. (But at least they are not lowering the price for reducing
my service. G)

One more blow to what's left of usenet. Anyone suggest any alternate
service? I don't really need "more exciting ways of getting and sharing
information via the Web".

I switched over from Verizon's usenet service to APN (Agent Premium
Newsgroups) http://www.forteinc.com/apn/index.php a few years ago,
mostly to enable newsgroup access from points other than when logged
into VOL. APN is a reseller of EasyNews with a slightly different
pricing structure. I've been pretty happy with it.

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

In article ,
Tim Schwartz wrote:
This morning's e-mail included the letter below from Verizon FIOS, my
ISP provider. (But at least they are not lowering the price for reducing
my service. G)

One more blow to what's left of usenet. Anyone suggest any alternate
service? I don't really need "more exciting ways of getting and sharing
information via the Web".

Contact your ISP and tell them that. Mine started restricting newsgroup
access at certain times of the day to throttle back demand. If this was
effective, it can't be as little used as some say.

I wrote to the MD and said I'd change ISP is this continued - if large
data use was a problem with it they could stop taking the binary ones.
Ordinary text newsgroups are extremely economical of bandwidth.

Got a very nice reply saying it was under continual revision - to provide
the best value service for their customers in a very competitive world.
Since then access has been normal.

Snag was when they blocked the port for their news server, it also
blocked my access to any of the others I tried.

--
*I want it all and I want it delivered

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Rich Webb writes:

On Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:39:44 GMT, Tim Schwartz
wrote:

Hello all,

This morning's e-mail included the letter below from Verizon FIOS, my
ISP provider. (But at least they are not lowering the price for reducing
my service. G)

One more blow to what's left of usenet. Anyone suggest any alternate
service? I don't really need "more exciting ways of getting and sharing
information via the Web".

I switched over from Verizon's usenet service to APN (Agent Premium
Newsgroups) http://www.forteinc.com/apn/index.php a few years ago,
mostly to enable newsgroup access from points other than when logged
into VOL. APN is a reseller of EasyNews with a slightly different
pricing structure. I've been pretty happy with it.

aioe.org free
astraweb.com $10 for something like 20 GB with no expiration.

--
sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
| Mirror Sites: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is
ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included in the
subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

Tim Schwartz wrote:

This morning's e-mail included the letter below from Verizon FIOS, my ISP
provider. (But at least they are not lowering the price for reducing my
service. G)

One more blow to what's left of usenet. Anyone suggest any alternate
service? I don't really need "more exciting ways of getting and sharing
information via the Web".

Text only? I use www.individual.net $10/YEAR. Works great with T-bird.
Very reliable. SPAM posts eliminated from servers.

Tim Schwartz wrote:
Hello all,

This morning's e-mail included the letter below from Verizon FIOS,
my ISP provider. (But at least they are not lowering the price for
reducing my service. G)

One more blow to what's left of usenet. Anyone suggest any
alternate service? I don't really need "more exciting ways of getting
and sharing information via the Web".

Regards,
Tim Schwartz
Bristol Electronics



Dear Valued Verizon Online Member,

Newsgroups were initially developed as a text-based way to share
information on the Internet. Today, demand for newsgroups is much lower,
since most users have switched to more exciting ways of getting and
sharing information via the Web, such as social networks, email and
sites such as our Verizon Central Newsroom.

Because of the reduced demand for newsgroups, on September 30, 2009,
Verizon will discontinue its USENET newsgroup service. Subscribers will
not be able to post or download material from the Verizon newsgroup
service after this date.

snipped

Free or very cheap Usenet/News Servers (note that free servers may
experience occasional outages and/or missed posts):

http://www.eternal-september.org [formerly motzarella.org, Free]
http://www.albasani.net [Free, Germany based, very good spam filtering]
http://www.aioe.org [Free, daily postings limited to 25]
http://usenet4all.se [Free, Google Groups filtered]
http://www.news.cis.dfn.de [Free, Germany based]
http://dotsrc.org/usenet [Free, Denmark based, may lack some groups]
http://www.usenet-replayer.com [Free, web-based; posts are relayed]
http://www.x-privat.org/international.php [Free with fee-based options,
may lack some groups]
http://www.teranews.com [One time setup charge, carry some binary groups]
http://www.bubbanews.com [One time setup charge, fee-based options]
https://www.altopia.com [$6 per yr & up, carry some binary groups]
http://news.datemas.de [5 Euros ($7) per yr, Germany based]
http://www.glorb.com/usenet.php [$10 per yr]
http://news.individual.net [10 Euros ($14) per yr, Germany based, very
good spam filtering]


Metered/"pay by download" servers (preferred by some for economy, binary
access):

http://www.news.astraweb.com
http://usenet-news.net
http://www.octanews.com


Popular paid servers:

http://www.giganews.com
http://www.newsguy.com
http://www.supernews.com
http://www.powerusenet.com
http://www.easynews.com
http://www.forteinc.com/apn
http://www.newsrazor.net
http://www.binverse.com
http://secure.usenet-access.com


Reviews & info on paid servers:

http://www.newsgroupreviews.com
http://www.newsgroups.gs
http://ngprovider.com


More info on servers, both paid & free (somewhat outdated):

http://www.exit109.com/~jeremy/news/...providers.html

--

News Readers, list of:

http://www.bubbanews.com/clientlist.html
http://www.newsreaders.info/

On Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:34:38 -0700, Sofa Slug wrote:
Tim Schwartz wrote:
:
http://news.individual.net [10 Euros ($14) per yr, Germany based, very
good spam filtering]

Recommended on this end. Been using them since 1999-200 or so.
Also can recommend the "pay-pal"-like payment option they offer.
I'm having a Senior Moment now and I forget the name of the payment service.

I am only annoyed by the replies that phules make to drive-by spammers.
(As if spammers EVER read followups to their sewage...)

Jonesy

On Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:50:57 -0700, UCLAN wrote:
Tim Schwartz wrote:

This morning's e-mail included the letter below from Verizon FIOS, my ISP
provider. (But at least they are not lowering the price for reducing my
service. G)

One more blow to what's left of usenet. Anyone suggest any alternate
service? I don't really need "more exciting ways of getting and sharing
information via the Web".

Text only? I use www.individual.net $10/YEAR.

ITYM 10 Euros/year. Sometimes it's close to $10USD -- sometimes not.