New Provider Recommendations please

[Slinky]

ok, i'm looking to switch up my provider, not because i am unhappy with their service but because i would like a couple of things they dont offer.

My connection is with VirginMedia, 120meg
Currently i use the VM servers as primary, and Astraweb pay by download as my backup servers.

I'm considering switching to a monthly subscription service because of a number of reasons relating to the VM servers

• DCMA take down orders/speed
• VM Traffic management via packet sniffing and blanket port throttling
• No SSL option
• Incomplete groups listings

Now as it stands, Astraweb does offer pretty much what i want, good retention, good speeds (when not capped/throttled) although DCMA orders are being actioned a lot faster lately, but i may well keep them as a backup, using the pay by download package i currently have.

But what i would like, is a monthly service i can use as my go to all the time, because of the issues with VM, these are options i'd like

• NON-US server farm
• SSL connection on Port 995 (see below)
• upto 120meg speed
• Account Sharing would be nice - as much so when i use it on my laptop via phone i don't get hit with incorrect sharing allegations

I was considering Hitnews, they allow sharing i think, have good speeds and retention and use port 995 for SSL, but i think there was some recent changes and they are now US based ?

Port 995 requirement - VM has a habit of blanket traffic throttling on the regular usenet and p2p ports, because they can't packet sniff SSL connections (legally atleast) port 995 is what they use for their email server, so can't just blanket cripple it's throughput speeds, thus allowing me the speed i pay for (they do this throttling not based on volume downloaded but simply because you use those ports between certain hours)

Someone recommended one by Mega or somethign like that, but that appears to be run my Kim Dotcom so i wont be touching that with a bargepole.

Any Ideas guys ?

[spamwerbung]

I'm with Virgin too and I elude the throttling by using 60-80 connections, the sum make the speed during the hours!

I use VM for all downloads as this is the cheapest way to get new stuff. For all others I use Astra because of the speed. I have not found another provider offer the same constant high speed.  Do avoid DMCA takedowns, you need to find a board or forums where the uploaders use encrypted file names and headers. This work very well with VM, Astra and the DMCA. 

Newest exampe: sausages, 5 hours after upload everything down. Looks like the guys uploded to /dev/null instead of usenet. 

With a prepared upload and nzb file from a reliable forum I downloaded sausages this afternoon via VM.

[Tim]

I'm with Virgin too and I elude the throttling by using 60-80 connections, the sum make the speed during the hours!

I use VM for all downloads as this is the cheapest way to get new stuff. For all others I use Astra because of the speed. I have not found another provider offer the same constant high speed.  Do avoid DMCA takedowns, you need to find a board or forums where the uploaders use encrypted file names and headers. This work very well with VM, Astra and the DMCA. 

Newest exampe: The Hobbit, 5 hours after upload everything down. Looks like the guys uploded to /dev/null instead of usenet. 

With a prepared upload and nzb file from a reliable forum I downloaded the Blu-Ray of The Hobbit this afternoon via VM.

What is VM?

[spamwerbung]

VM = VirginMedia as described above: 

My connection is with VirginMedia, 120meg
Currently i use the VM servers as primary, and Astraweb pay by download as my backup servers.

[Hecks]

Please try to remember that this is a public forum and nobody here wants to know what you're downloading.

[Slinky]

LOL - too true !!!

@spamwerbung - that's a lot of connections (60-80) does that not cause you any other problems ? and i thought the throttling restirction they placed was a total bandwidth throughput restriction, and not affected by number of connections (unless you only have a couple, at which point then your not likely to fully utilise available speed anyway)

Interesting to see someone else heading the same way i do with Astraweb as the backup to VM's free connections.

I am finding a few more things lately that are not available on the VM server and it trips through to the Astraweb one.

As for where to find nzb's etc, i recently subscribed to omgwtfnzb indexing service after getting an invite from here, figured i'd give it a try, it was cheap enough and i wanted to see if it was worth paying for such..... well, i have used it a fair bit lately, i do not use it as my automatic default choice, because AltBinz has so many search tabs, but, i can tell you tihs, there have been a lot of times when search results are nil on the other tabs, and i have found what i was looking for there, so for me, and the things i look for, it's well worth it.

[elephant66]

Dutch servers better for DMCA

Tweak was great -3 months

Usenet Bucket is cheaper -1 month at a time - SO far very good

both 1100

good speeds on 30mbit

Cheapnews was pants

[Sucker76]

Hi there.

Sorry, but my english is for the ass.
Also lieber auf Deutsch.

Ich war lange bei Astraweb und anfangs auch sehr zurfrieden. Aber seit die so eine arschkriecherische DMCA-Löschpolitik befolgen sind sie für mich einfach nicht mehr akzeptabel. Ich hatte zwar schon immer Flat und nie Blockaccount, trotzdem nervt es ohne Ende, wenn man z. B. ein Ferienspiel mit kanpp 40 GB runter lädt, nur um dann festzustellen, dass es sich auch mit allen vorhandenen Par2's nicht reparieren lässt.

Wenn man sich die Mühe macht und etwas googlet, viel liest und sich so seine eigenen Gedanken macht, landet man früher oder später bei holländischen Usenetproviern.
Aber wer ist der richtige?
Es gibt etliche Seiten, die die Anbieter vermeintlich vergleiche, aber letzen Endes doch nur ihren eigenen Sponsor in den Himmel loben. Dann nimmt man sich dort nen Testaccount und stellt fest, dass es gar kein Provider ist, sondern ein Reseller. Und Reseller können nur das anbieten, was die meist amerikanische Mutter zur Verfügung stellt.
Ist natürlich blöd, wenn Mama ohne nachzudenken einfach alles löscht was man ihr als "böse" übermittelt hat.

Schaut euch selbst um. Was zählt, ist eine eigene Serverfarm.
Günstig sollte es auch sein.
Schnell muss es sein. Zumindest nicht viel langsamer als die eigenen Internetanbindung.

Ich habe lange gesucht, ich habe sehr viel gelesen und dabei auch sehr viel gelernt. Das Lernen kann ich niemandem abnehmen, aber falls irgendwer noch auf der Suche nach einem guten Anbieter ist und sich mit der Fülle der Informationen einfach überfordert fühlt und nicht weiss welcher Anbieter nun wirklich der Beste ist: keine Ahnung wer der Beste ist.

Ich für meinen Teil bin aber bei eweka bestens aufgehoben. Eigene Serverfarm, Retention, Speed, eigener Backbone (in Holland), wirklich günstig, bei Vorauszahlung für 3 Monate gibts noch nen VPN Zugang über IPVanish gratis (hat natürlich weniger Speed), kein Abo, keine automatische Verlängerung, Info per Mail wenn die "Zeit knapp wird". Und das Beste, die kümmern sich nen Scheissdreck um DMCA. Files die bei Astraweb nach wenigen Tagen nicht mehr reparierbar waren, konnte ich Monate später dort runter laden, ohne auch nur eine einzige PAR2 Datei zu benötigen.

Nein, ich bekomme gar nix für diesen Post, hab ja auch keinen Code oder so was hinterlassen, aber der Wechsel dorthin war für mich, als geplagten Astraweb-User, fast so etwas wie eine Offenbarung. Und warum sollte ich diese Erfahrung nicht mit euch teilen?

Viel Spass