Giganews Review
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Giganews provides a solid Usenet service but they are also three times the price of other leading Usenet providers. Those comfortable paying $35 a month for their Diamond plan can enjoy the extras. Otherwise we suggest you consider one of the many $10 a month alternatives.
Let's take a look at Giganews features and price compared to other leading services including UseNetServer, Newshosting and Astraweb:
Giganews Price Comparison
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Retention |
Extra Features |
Monthly |
Annual |
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| - Giganews |
1,750 days |
Client, Storage, VPN |
$34.99 |
$400+ |
| - UseNetServer |
1,740 days |
Usenet Search |
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| - Newshosting |
1,740 days |
Client, Search |
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| - NewsDemon |
1,740 days |
Client, Storage |
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| - Astraweb |
1,739 days |
Usenet-Only |
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As you can see Giganews is four times the price of both UseNetServer and Newshosting. Hard to believe since each provider offers quality Usenet access. Not to knock Giganews service levels. We just think the $35 price tag is way too much. If you are comfortable paying $35 a month and would like to learn more about Giganews' features read on.
In December 2009 Giganews started offering VPN access. The service (VyprVPN) is included with all Diamond Usenet accounts. Members receive PPTP / L2TP VPN access. In November 2010 Gignews released a Usenet browser named Mimo. It has since been recoded with UI enhancements. The newsreader is included for Diamond customers. They also include 5 GB to 30 GB of Dump Truck online storage.
Giganews is fast. Speed use to be more of an issue than it is now a days. As we can max a 40 Mbps line with a number of services. Giganews Diamond plan allows up to
50 simultaneous connections. With news servers located in the US and Europe. Those who download headers can also download their Giganews accelerator software.
In the past Giganews charged $5 a month for SSL access. In the Fall of 2010 they updated pricing to include 256-bit SSL encryption with all accounts. A nice addition as almost everyone includes SSL.
Giganews offers a variety of plans ranging from unlimited downloads down to 5 gigabyte a month. Here are the details of each account:
Giganews offers these plans with 1,750 days of binary retention:
- Diamond: unlimited, SSL,
50 conn., VPN, Mimo, 30 GB - $34.99/mo.
- Platinum: unlimited, SSL, 20 connections, 5 GB storage - $24.99/mo.
- Silver: 50 GB/mo., SSL, 20 connections, 5 GB storage - $14.99/mo.
- Bronze: 10 GB/mo., SSL, 20 connections, 5 GB storage - $9.99/mo.
Giganews offers these value plans with 30 day binary retention:
- Pearl: 5 GB/mo., SSL, 20 connections, 5 GB storage - $4.99/mo.
Giganews support is responsive. According to their site they have customers in over 180 countries and therefore offer 24/7 support with a low average response time on support tickets. They also offer a customer satisfaction survey for every support incident.
Bottom line - Giganews offers a solid service but is quite expensive at $34.99 a month for Diamond access. Even the $24.99 Platinum plan is overpriced considering how many other providers offer $10 unlimited Usenet with free extras like clients, search, storage and VPN access.
