ThunderNews Review
2013 Editors' Choice Winner |
|
 |
- 1,743 days binary retention |
Nov. 2012 update - ThunderNews has partnered with OctaneVPN to offer unlimited VPN access along with Usenet for just $7.99 the first month and then $16.99 a month thereafter. That's a good deal considering quality VPN services like OctaneVPN can easily cost $10-$15 a month.
ThunderNews may not have the name recognition of Giganews but their services stand toe to toe with other top Usenet providers. With binary retention over 1,743 days, 1,265 days text retention, 256 bit SSL available in the US and Europe, payment options including WordPay and PayPal, and free News Rover newsreader you might think Thundernews would price themselves out of the market. Instead they concentrate on service rather than advertising and the results show.
Retention - Thundernews offers
1,743 days of binary retention and
1,265 days text retention with all plans. In testing we found the number to be better than advertised.
Completion - ThunderNews boasts a completion rate over 99%.
Newsgroups - Thundernews covers all the popular binary and text newsgroups and thousands more with over 107,000 groups available.
Speed - Thundernews has 2 server farms in the US and 2 European server farms (SSL and non SSL). They offer up to
50 concurrent connections.
Newsreader - Thundernews gives all subscribers a free registered copy of NewsRover with updates released regularly.
Support - Thundernews offers live online help as well as an online ticketing system.
Pricing plans - Thundernews offers both unlimited and metered Usenet plans. Payment options are very flexible and include credit card, PayPal and WorldPay.
Unlimited accounts:
- 50 connections, SSL + VPN - $16.99, $7.99 first month (Special)
- 50 connections, SSL - $21.99, $10.49 lifetime (NGR Special)
Metered accounts:
- 75 GB/mo. - $16.99, $8.49 lifetime (NGR Special)
- 50 GB/mo. - $13.99
- 25 GB/mo. - $9.99
- 10 GB/mo. - $6.99
Bottom Line - With 1,743 days binary retention, 1,265 days text retention, 256 bit SSL available in both US and European server farms, free NewsRover newsreader and
50 connections its easy to see that ThunderNews has a lot to offer. Not to mention unlimited accounts only cost $10.49 a month after our 50% ThunderNews discount.
