Issues connecting to Cox usenet servers - assistance requested

[exp8tr8]

FANTASTIC application, best usenet client I have every used, and I think I've tried most the better ones.  I'm a seasoned Usenet veteran, I've been quite familiar with the usenet for over 12 years, so I'm no n00b.

However, I have trouble connecting with Cox usenet servers.  I have connected successfully before in the past with the allowed 4 connections.  Now I can't access news.cox.west.net at all, and at first news.cox.east.net worked with four connections but after a couple days only works with 1 connection and the others just perpetually say retrying.  The log just says:

[3/2/2008 8:51:28 PM] [T2] Connecting (news.east.cox.net)
[3/2/2008 8:51:28 PM] [T2] Could not connect (news.east.cox.net) 
[3/2/2008 8:51:30 PM] [T3] Connecting (news.east.cox.net)
[3/2/2008 8:51:30 PM] [T3] Could not connect (news.east.cox.net) 

When I enable a connection for news.west.cox.net, every once in a while I will see:

[3/2/2008 8:50:58 PM] [T5] StatusCode: 0
[3/2/2008 8:50:58 PM] [T5] Connecting (news.west.cox.net)
[3/2/2008 8:50:58 PM] [T2] Could not connect (news.west.cox.net) 

Help?  I used to be able to pull 250Kbps with four connections, now I am down to 50-60 with one

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

[Hecks]

As a rule, there's very little that anyone here can do to help users to resolve problems connecting with individual news providers.  That status code just means that Alt.Binz isn't receiving anything intelligible from the server.  The first thing to do is test with another usenet client to see if you're experiencing the same problems.  If you are, as is likely, then you really need to take it up with Cox and/or your ISP.

A quick search of the forum doesn't show any other reports of problems with Cox, so no help on that front either, I'm afraid.

[exp8tr8]

I did search first

Yeah, it works fine with two other Usenet clients

[Hecks]

And you're definitely trying the right port, and not using a proxy?  Strange.  Maybe others have some ideas.

[exp8tr8]

Indeed, port is correct. It works for a while, but pretty soon only one connection functions and the .west. server no longer works at all

[Jesus]

A couple of things limit your troubleshooting and getting help.  First is that the log isn't verbose enough to show the actual NNTP response from the Cox news servers, which might be something like:

502 Maximum number of connections reached (Tornado v1.0.7.392)

Secondly, the '502 issue' is covered in detail in this text newsgroup:

cox.internet.discussion.newsgroups

However, many people have lost the knowledge to use a text newsreader and only know how to use web forums.

[exp8tr8]

I extracted the only errors in the log, the other parts of the log related to the one working connection which was downloading...  but not 502 errors.

I must admit, I have almost forgotten how to even post text to the usenet or read there... web forums are so much more user friendly and you can subscribe to them and get email alerts and such...   oh, and you gotta love emoticons 

[Hecks]

502 Maximum number of connections reached (Tornado v1.0.7.392)

Such messages are visible in the connection panel (press F9).

[exp8tr8]

It just shows reconnecting or connecting in the connection panel.  If I disconnect and reconnect after a few hours, it works fine on 4 connections, but after a while it gets down to only one which works and the others just say reconnecting or connecting in the connection panel.  It appears to be some timeout issue or something. Perhaps I need to change retry times from default?

[exp8tr8]

AH!  I'm so frustrated, alt.binz does everything I've ever wanted in a newsreader, but just has connection issues... the connection panel just flashes something too quick for the eye to see, then shows connecting... I only have one connection active.  The log shows:

[3/5/2008 11:23:41 PM] [T1] Connecting (news.east.cox.net)
[3/5/2008 11:23:41 PM] [T1] Connected (news.east.cox.net)
[3/5/2008 11:23:41 PM] [T1] Article started 1/261 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX yEnc
[3/5/2008 11:23:41 PM] [T1] Retry 1/261 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX yEnc
[3/5/2008 11:23:41 PM] [T1] StatusCode: 0
[3/5/2008 11:23:41 PM] [T1] Connecting (news.east.cox.net)
[3/5/2008 11:23:41 PM] [T1] Could not connect (news.east.cox.net) 

Strange. If I disconnect for a while then reconnect, it will work again, sometimes working for 5 minutes, sometimes for 5 hours, sometimes for a day or two (used to be, now more like a few hours).

[srki]

Try checking "ARTICLE cmd" option for that server in Server options in ABZ. I am using iusenet server, which is running on Tornado 1.8.0 server and wo that options articles aren't downloaded with BODY cmd.

[exp8tr8]

Thanks for the advice, SRKI... I set that, and the one connection actually seems faster (not sure if it actually is or not, though), however I only have one connection working.  Cox tech support is useless, most the techs don't even know what the usenet is :/

[Jesus]

Such messages are visible in the connection panel (press F9).

Well, apparently the message doesn't appear there long enough to be read.  Is there any way to log them?  I asked about using alt.binz in the Cox support newsgroup I mentioned, because of the difficulty in using alt.binz to debug news server problems.  If you can't even see a 502 response then alt.binz isn't much good for debugging this.  I use an old copy of Forte Agent for text newsgroups because I never liked Outlook Express.  The young whippersnappers prefer alt.binz and web-based support boards, and the old farts like downloading headers with Agent and getting help in a text newsgroup.  So there's a generation gap and the two rarely meet, but the old timers are the ones who have a lot of experience dealing with this terrible Cox news server connection issue.  My question was soon answered by the Cox Newsmaster but I'm afraid the issue is rather complicated.  It involves telnetting to the news server to check the connection response if your client won't show it to you, checking your NNTP connections count with "netstat -rn", changing the MAC address on your router or computer to get a different IP assigned, and if necessary sending email to the Cox Newsmaster to request that your connections to the news server be reset.

[Hecks]

Clearly the best solution here is to get an account with another provider, there are plenty of cheap alternatives that actually work as advertised (see the forum here for some options).  I have nothing to add about the logging issue - that's for the developer Rdl to address.