What is a Usenet Reseller

There are dozens of Usenet providers that currently advertise their services on the internet. Companies with names like Giganews Usenet, SuperNews Newshosting, UsenetServer, TheNewsgroups and ThunderNews. However, in the previous list, there are only a couple that actually provide access to their own servers (Tier-1 providers), the others resell access to the Tier-1 providers.

The list of Tier-1 providers is fairly short, and due to purchases and bankruptcies, etc, it gets a little shorter every year. At the time that I wrote this article, I only knew of the following Tier-1 providers.

For experienced users there can be advantages and disadvantages to choosing a reseller over a Tier-1 provider. Normally, if you want to use their services you will need to provide your own news reader application. In addition depending on the news reader software you choose you may have to setup additional applications for working with binaries.

  • Advantages

  • typically they have slightly lower prices because they buy access in blocks and resell at lower rates than the provider
  • servers are maintained by the highly experienced people at a Tier-1 provider
  • access speeds (unless throttled) are the same as for people directly buying from the Tier-1 provider
  • Disadvantages

  • limited customer service - basically they are limited to billing and account password issues
  • steep learning curve for new usenet or computer users. lack of real support leaves it up to users to figure out how to configure browsers and binary applications
  • sometimes they change who they are reselling for based on their costs, and if they change servers it can mess with your newsreader
  • no access to servers. if there is a problem with a server they can only contact the provider and ask for help, like any other user
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