confuseddddddd

[pulli23]

In this forum i have seen people talk about newsgroups etc. However the website is not free, then in another thread someone said that virgin customers get it for free.

alos that newsgroups is a place wherere you download media etc

[Hugh]

Newsgroups cover a multitude of sins - some are discussion groups (like virginmedia.xxxxxx), others are for down/uploading files.

[Delta Whiskey]

Virgin do host a basic newsgroup server (news.cable.ntlworld.com) but if you want better retention and complete posts then you really need a premium ISP. I use Easynews http://www.easynews.com/ others will suggest their favourite provider.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsgroup
http://www.slyck.com/ng.php

[homealone]

In this forum i have seen people talk about newsgroups etc. However the website is not free, then in another thread someone said that virgin customers get it for free.

alos that newsgroups is a place wherere you download media etc

'usenet' is the term for the multitude of newsgroups that are available on various servers across the internet.

In general the 'free' service provided by some ISPs does not include access to the full list of groups - Virgin Media carry around 30,000 out of more than 110,000 that are theoretically available.

To get access to the full list you have to go with a paid for service, such as that provided by Giganews. These paid services usually have a tiered payment structure, based on the amount downloaded per month, e.g Giganews is $7.99 pm for 2GB, $12.99 for 25GB & $24.99 for unlimited downloads. (extra for SSL). As an example a 40 minute TV programme, compressed as a DivX file is about 400MB, DVD files are 'full size' - so 4.7GB for a single layer disk image.

The other advantage of paying for access is that the commercial servers keep the files available for much longer (Giganews now retains files for 170 days, while I've seen VM servers drop files after just a couple of days in some of the busier groups). Also binary files with multiple parts are much more likely to have all parts available (the completion rate), than ISP provided services.

Finally, yes the newsgroups enable downloading of media files, such as TV shows & films, however these groups tend to be very large, with heavy traffic, & are less likely to be carried by the 'free' services.

In my experience the ISP provided groups are fine for text groups, such as the various VM support ones, but anyone seriously wanting to download media, etc, from binary groups would be best looking at a paid service.

[xpod]

I considered paying for decent Newsgroup access for all of two seconds, before deciding we dont download enough of anything to warrant even the extra couple of quid.....:)

Uma certainly dont mention the fact that if your really want to be downloading her over & over again(especially at your max speeds) then your probably going to have to sign up for decent Newsgroup access too.:)
A good torrent app and a decent nights sleep does me just now though.

I haunt a few of the VM discussion groups on occasion and i may well re-consider some decent access in the future but for now it would be pretty pointless i think.

I`ve probably downloaded more in partial downloads(that were immediately deleted)this last 3 months,just checking for that 20Mb of ours than what i have to actually use.:rolleyes:

[homealone]

I considered paying for decent Newsgroup access for all of two seconds, before deciding we dont download enough of anything to warrant even the extra couple of quid.....:)

Uma certainly dont mention the fact that if your really want to be downloading her over & over again(especially at your max speeds) then your probably going to have to sign up for decent Newsgroup access too.:)
A good torrent app and a decent nights sleep does me just now though.

I haunt a few of the VM discussion groups on occasion and i may well re-consider some decent access in the future but for now it would be pretty pointless i think.

I`ve probably downloaded more in partial downloads(that were immediately deleted)this last 3 months,just checking for that 20Mb of ours than what i have to actually use.:rolleyes:

Yup, you have to weigh up the pros & cons fairly carefully.

For myself the biggest problem I have is being selective, virtually all the tv programs I watch, now, I download - however, when a show takes 20 minutes to download, but 40 minutes to watch, I end up with a back-log ...

I tried torrents but had problems - mainly very slow speeds, but newsgroups, especially now I've grasped the fundamentals of using NZB & PAR files are much faster (for me) & using an index service like Newzbin or Merlin makes finding the stuff I want a breeze :)

[colirv]

I don't need access to binaries, but I've found the 10 EUR p.a. subscription to the text-only news.individual.net well worth it.

[xpod]

Yup, you have to weigh up the pros & cons fairly carefully.

For myself the biggest problem I have is being selective, virtually all the tv programs I watch, now, I download - however, when a show takes 20 minutes to download, but 40 minutes to watch, I end up with a back-log ...

I tried torrents but had problems - mainly very slow speeds, but newsgroups, especially now I've grasped the fundamentals of using NZB & PAR files are much faster (for me) & using an index service like Newzbin or Merlin makes finding the stuff I want a breeze

I reckon if people have the 20Mb merely for downloading then there could be some advantage in just downgrading to the 4Mb and using the saved ££ for some decent Newsgroup access possibly???
I think that could be better value for money for many?

I have seen up to 6-700Kb`s on "good" torrents but rarely over a couple of hundred Kb`s on the kinda of stuff we`re probably talking about....usually a lot less.
For what we do download it`s more than enough though and most stuff is usually downloaded come the morning either way.

[homealone]

I reckon if people have the 20Mb merely for downloading then there could be some advantage in just downgrading to the 4Mb and using the saved ££ for some decent Newsgroup access possibly???
I think that could be better value for money for many?

I have seen up to 6-700Kb`s on "good" torrents but rarely over a couple of hundred Kb`s on the kinda of stuff we`re probably talking about....usually a lot less.
For what we do download it`s more than enough though and most stuff is usually downloaded come the morning either way.

I'd agree with that, 4Mb does me for what I need, I suspect some people may want the 20Mb tier mainly because it is the highest upload speed, hence better for seeding torrents.

The client I use (Grabit), has a function that turns the PC off when all queued files are downloaded, which is handy when downloading at times when throttling is disabled, like overnight :)

[xpod]

I'd agree with that, 4Mb does me for what I need, I suspect some people may want the 20Mb tier mainly because it is the highest upload speed, hence better for seeding torrents.

I know a couple of people on the 20Mb(i advised they downgrade asap) who never knew one way or another exactly which service they were on and who certainly did`nt need any 20Mb.......why they were ever placed on 20Mb i`ll never know.

They barely knew how to open their browsers let alone utilise 20Mb.
I only found out about the latter of the two because she came through to ask about her slow computer/internet......Vista capable/20Mb:)
I caught her quickly but the other poor lass had been paying for 10/20Mb for about 6 months without ever knowing one way or another exactly what she had......or needed to be more precise.Never downloaded a thing in her life and only ever plays bingo online,which her son put a shortcut to on the desktop.

I wonder how many more there are like that:erm:

[Leeds_Tykes_RFU]

I rather suspect also there are many people like me, on the top BB tier simply because it comes as part of the VIP deal. I rarely utilise the speed, although unlike some unfortunate subscribers, I do get the max most of the time! Although it IS nice, on the odd occasion that I do download a large file, to get it so fast, I have to say that 4 meg would be more than adequate for my household. At least for the time being anyway!!