FAQ
What is NewsReader.Com?
We are one of the oldest Usenet service companies on the web. We started back in 1996 as the first commercial web-based Usenet service company and have continued to grow and prosper. As others have come and gone, we remain steady with one of the highest customer satisfaction levels in the business.
To make sure we keep all of our customers satisfied, we offer a no-questions money-back guarantee. If you ever find that the service isn't worth the money, just send us e-mail and let us know that you would like to cancel your account and get your money back for the current monthly period. We will be happy to do that for you.
NewsReader.Com is a subscription service. It costs $9.95 per month with a 30 GB download limit. Payment is by credit card or checkcard only. Charges appear as NewsReader.Com on your statement.
For NNTP server usage, only article bodies count towards your download limit -- all header downloads are unlimited as well as news group lists and other NNTP commands.
For Web-Based access, only file attachment downloads count towards your download limit -- you get unlimited access to all text articles and headers..
With a paid account, you will get access to both our award-winning web-based (HTTP) newsgroup interface, and our custom developed NNTP server. All of our technology is custom-developed in-house and cannot be found anywhere else on the Internet.
You can try out the web interface for free. Check out the Free Web Demo page.
To sign up for the service, or to just check out the official Terms Of Service agreement, click here.
Why would anyone want to use a web-based newsreader?
With the NewsReader.Com web-interface, you can read news from any web browser, from anywhere you can access the Internet; from home or from work. Our server keeps track of what you've read so nothing's lost when switching locations. And firewalls that block NNTP access aren't a problem. If you can browse the web, you can read news.
You get all the Usenet newsgroups - nothing is left out or censored. There's no special software to install or configure. If you have a web browser, you have everything you need.
When you use the NewsReader.Com web-based interface, you will never again need to upgrade your software. We are constantly upgrading our service to keep up with the ever changing demands of Usenet.
Our service gives you advanced features not found on other Usenet web interfaces. You get in-line pictures and files (including automatic decoding of multipart articles) which are easy to download; constant re-scan for new news (your posts show up in seconds - not hours); complete newsrc information stored on our servers; the ability to reply by e-mail, news, or both; the ability to cancel, and supersede your articles; and many more features.
NewsReader.Com is the only web-based newsreader to receive the GNKSA award for meeting the minimal standards for decent net-behavior. As of April 1998, only 6 newsreaders had received this award out of the more than 30 newsreaders tested.
Do you still want to use your favorite newsreader anyway? We understand that. That's why we offer NNTP access as well with every account.
So how many groups do you carry?
Tons. We try to carry all the groups which anyone wants. If you have to see a number...
On January 1, 2006, there were 86,855 groups on the server.
You can download a current copy of the active file from: http://newsreader.com/cgi-bin/active.
If there is a Usenet group you want that we do not carry, please let us know. Send an email to support@newsreader.com and ask us to add it for you.
What is your article retention like?
As of Jaunary 2006, the retention of the text groups is around 60 days and growing. It will be many months of retention as the overview files build. The retention of most the binary groups is around 18 days. with the retention of top 10 or so highest volume binary groups such as alt.binaries.x limited to around 10 days for overviews.
On the web interface, there's a software limit of 10,000 articles per news group. This will limit the retention of a few high-volume news groups to numbers less than those quoted above. This is only a limit of the web interface and not the NNTP servers.
What is your multipart completion like?
Excellent.
How many servers do you offer?
The main NNTP server is news.newsreader.com. It ignores cancel and supersede messages.
For the web interface, the URL is:
More servers?
Well, actually, yes, there are multiple front-end servers for supporting NNTP and web access. For higher bandwidth users, you may want to access the servers separately because they allow up to 8 connections per front-end server. Or if there are problems with the service, those that understand all this may want to test the individual servers, so I'll list them here. This list however tends to change almost monthly so if you use any of these server names, you may have to make frequent changes to your configuration. Any changes to this list are posted in messages to newsreader.announce and newsreader.general.
As of Jan 1, 2006:
news.newsreader.com is a DNS entry which currently points to 3 machines:
- nr1.newsreader.com
- nr2.newsreader.com
- nr3.newsreader.com
Do you have download limits?
Yes. All accounts have download limits. The download limit for new accounts is 30 GB (32,212,254,720 bytes) per period. Your paid-period is over when either your month has ended, or you have reached your download limit. Once that happens, the account will either close or auto-renew depending on what option you selected on the Account Status page.
What about bandwidth limits on the NNTP connections?
There are no bandwidth limits associated with the accounts. However, many factors affect performance. What you will be able to get over a single connection is hard to predict. As of December 15, 2003, typical download speeds reach about 5 Mbit per connection for the users with good connections. Most high-speed users have no problem using up all their bandwidth if they use newsreader software that supports the use of multiple connections.
How many concurrent NNTP connections are allowed?
8 connections per user, per server.
Are there alternate ports for accessing the NNTP servers?
In addition to the standard NNTP port of 119, the news.newsreader.com NNTP servers can also be accessed on port 23 (TELNET), 53 (DNS), and 443 (HTTPS). Some people find these non-standard ports to be useful when trying to deal with firewall limitations.
Do you offer a Traceroute page?
Yes - Traceroute
You can use the information on the traceroute page to understand more about the speed of the network between the NewsReader.Com servers (located on the east cost of the US) and your computer.
Is there a system status page?
All system status information as well as announcements about the service are posted to the local newsreader.announce and newsreader.general newsgroups. Please be sure to read the messages posted to these groups for important information about the service. You can use a web "demo" account to both read the messages in those groups and post messages to them. Click the link above and enter "demo" for the user name and pick a password at random.
How do I cancel my subscription?
You can do that from the Account Status page. Set the "End of Period" option to "close". Your account will then be blocked at the end of your current period. You can re-activate a closed account by re-entering your credit card information. If you would like your account completely removed from the system, send an e-mail message to support@newsreader.com and be sure to include your account user name in the message.
I need to change the credit card for my account, how can I do that?
You can do that from the Account Status page. You can change the information at any time during your month. The next time it's billed, we will use whatever card is listed for your account.
Who created NewsReader.Com?
Curt Welch - For more information about me, check out my web site: http://CurtWelch.Com/. (It's a few years out of date)