theUsenet highlights:
- 1,179+ days binary retention
- 1,179+ days text retention
- Up to 50 connections
- 256-bit SSL encryption
- Unlimited + block accounts
- TheUsenet free trial available
Update: theUsenet discontinued service in 2012.
theUsenet recently launched service. The newest provider to the market offers a nice mix of retention, features and value. Starting with high retention and 256-bit SSL encryption. Performance is solid with theUsenet offering 50 connections with most accounts. Speaking of accounts, theUsenet offers unlimited, metered and block plans.
theUsenet offers 1,179+ days of binary retention and growing. With 1,179+ days of text retention across 100,000+ newsgroups. We tested a Ubuntu distribution at around 450 days and didn’t have any incompletes.
theUsenet news server information:
– US Secure server farm – us-secure.theusenet.com
– EU Secure server farm – eu-secure.theusenet.com
– US Standard server farm – us.theusenet.com
– EU Standard server farm – eu.theusenet.com
They offer the following port settings:
– Secure ports: 563, 80, 81
– Standard ports: 119, 23, 443, 3128, 7000, 8000, 8080, 9000
As with any new Usenet provider one of the lingering questions is the quality of customer support. We signed up using PayPal and received our username and password during the process. In addition to a welcome email with server addresses, ports and some more useful information. Then we fired up Newsleecher and downloaded without any issues.
As for account options theUsenet has all the bases covered. Starting with two unlimited plans. In addition to some metered accounts and several non-expiring blocks ranging from 10 GB all the way up to 1,000 GB.
Here’s a summary of the theUsenet monthly accounts:
– Unlimited, 50 connections, SSL – $9.50 a month
– 100 GB a month – $8.00 a month
– 50 GB a month – $6.50 a month
– 30 GB a month – $5.25 a month
– 15 GB a month – $4.00 a month
theUsenet also offers a number of non-expiring blocks:
– 10 GB block – $2.75
– 25 GB block – $6.75
– 50 GB block – $11.75
– 75 GB block – $13.75
– 100 GB block – $12.50
– 200 GB block – $15.00
– 500 GB block – $40.00
– 1,000 GB block – $65.00
New customers are eligible for a free theUsenet trial. The free account offers 10 days of Usenet access before billing starts on monthly plans.
We enjoyed testing theUsenet and look forward to tracking their progress as the service grows. The performance and reliability are both solid. The block pricing is very competitive. Monthly unlimited and metered plans are a good value as well. We especially like the unlimited account for $9.50 a month and 200 GB non-expiring block for $15.
