Virgin Blocking My Usenet

[sare^baw's]

I recently joined virgin media for the 50mb service, i soon discovered that my usenet was blocked. If i wait 15 mins it eventually connects and downloads but the speed is only about 28mb. I have tried the 3 different ports used for Usenetnow and SSL. Same problem. Is there a solution to getting an instant connection and at full speed?

 

[sare^baw's]

what have you done to rule out your usenet provider?

nothing, i done a little searching and read about virgin blocking or throttling usenet. So i thought this was the obvious choice. What should i do re my usenet provider Usenetnow?

 

[sare^baw's]

What ports? I'm on virgin and it's fine.

also add news.virginmedia.com on 119 for upto 30 day old articles.

edit*

UseNetNow is on Readnews so try a free Highwinds, AstraWeb, Tweaknews or Giganews account to compare speeds.

I tried these 3 SSL Ports: 443, 563, 5563

Ok i tried virgin usenet and i got 52mb. i have signed up for a free trial of tweaknews. I gues this proves its nothing to do with virgin, im sorry virgin

 

[sare^baw's]

With articles less than 30 days old i get 52mb, same articles are still very poor using my original Usenet now and the Tweaknews trial. With tweaknews and at best i got 18mb using SSL on port 445, the rest were 5mb.

 

[sare^baw's]

Can you connect to your router via cat5/6 cable? You should try putting it in modem mode and downloading then.

I have an issue with half speed FTP transfers while wired in router mode, as soon as I switch to modem mode I get full speeds. I've had discussions on the forum and had engineers round and none were able to figure it out. Point is, modem mode fixes my problem.

cheers mate but the modem mode did nothing for me.

Try Supernews. It's run by the same company as Giganews but without the silly added extras (and three times cheaper).

Supernews only have a 3 day trial and you have to fully sign up for the trial. Ill pass, these things can end up being more hassle than they are worth to cancel.

 

[sare^baw's]

Ok i signed up for supernews, with and without SSL and using the eu and .com address i only get about 5mb download speed.

Something is wrong virgin usenet is 52mb but anything else is rubbish.

 

[sare^baw's]

How many connections are you using to the servers? Try 10 or 15 and report back. What software are you using to connect?

Im using newsleecher and i have each server set at 15 connections.

supernews eu - ssl 563 23mb - ssl 443 52mb

supernews .com - ssl 563 9mb - ssl 443 52mb

tweaknews - ssl 563 6mb - ssl 443 20mb

virgin port 119 52mb

usenetnow eu - ssl 563 43mb - ssl 443 42mb

usenetnow us - ssl 563 36mb - ssl 443 42mb

So supernews is the only one getting 52mb however it was not yesterday, i cant remember is i tried port 443 yesterday. Usenetnow is performing better today.

 

[sare^baw's]

It seems like you're being affected by congestion in your area, or perhaps VM's NNTP throttling (unlikely given you're using SSL).

Does it look like my best option is to stick with supernews and see how it goes for the first month? It looks like usenetnow is not giving me the speed i want.

 

[sare^baw's]

Usenetnow suited my needs before as my speeds were rubbish so i could max out my 5mb download speed lol, its just a month ago i moved to a house where i could get virgin and now im finding i cant get the 52mb i should be getting. Thanks to all the good help i have found a solution with supernews, so fingers crossed it proves to be reliable using port 443.

 

[sare^baw's]

I have been on Supernews and VM for about 10 years. Always been fine.

Can you get full speed on all ports or do you have to stick with one?

 

[sare^baw's]

supernews still going strong so my subscription has started and i cancelled usenetnow. many thanks for everyones help.