The goal of this thread is to have an ongoing list of the current deals/specials on Usenet providers/search engines/etc. The listed deals are just the specials. The providers also offer standard monthly accounts which usually cost around $15 per month.

Please post new deals and I will add them to the original post.

Special Usenet Provider Deals:

Ngroups.NET - $39.97 for 3 months

-- Unlimited access
-- 100+ Days Retention
-- 12 connections
-- SSL

BlockNews.Net - $28.95 for first 3 months, $42.00 thereafter

-- Unlimited access
-- 100+ Days Retention
-- ??? connections
-- SSL

NewsRazor.net - $10.95 per month for 3 months

Expires: Unknown
After 3 months subscription price automatically increases to $14.95 per month

-- Unlimited access
-- 60+ Days Retention
-- 10 connections
-- NO SSL

Astraweb.com - $25 for 90GB block account

Block account does not expire

-- 115+ Days Retention
-- 50 connections
-- Headers are not counted towards quota
-- NO SSL

Megabitz.net - $23.95 for 100GB block account; $28.95 for first 3 months, $39.95 thereafter

Block account does not expire

-- Unlimited Access
-- 110+ Days Retention
-- 20 connections (block account), 8 connections (quarterly account)
-- SSL
-- 8 day free trial (user must actively cancel)

Usenet-News.net - $24 for 100GB block account

Block account does not expire

-- 100+ Days Retention
-- 20 connections
-- 10% of your download is not counted against quota to make up for headers
-- SSL

UsenetServer.com - $39.95 for 3 months; $3.00 for 3 days

Expires: Unknown
UsenetServer is one of the big players in Usenet. The are a big Usenet reseller.

-- Unlimited access
-- 101+ Days Retention
-- 10 connections
-- SSL

POWERUSENET.com - Power User: $9.99 per month for 2 months; Secure Power User: $12.99 per month for 2 months

Prices increase to $14.95 (Power User) and 19.99 (Secure Power User) after two months.

-- Unlimited access
-- 105+ Days Retention
-- 6 connections (Power User); 12 connections (Secure Power User)
-- SSL (Secure Power User)
-- 5 Day free trial (user must actively cancel)

Giganews.com - $19.99 for 1st month, $29.99 thereafter

Expires: Unknown
Giganews is another big player in Usenet. Pricey but they have an excellent reputation and are known for their very long retention rates.

-- Unlimited access
-- 200+ Days Retention
-- 20 connections
-- SSL
-- 3 day free trial (user must actively cancel)

Agent Premium Newsgroups - $9.95 for 60GB block account

Block account does not expire

-- 40+ Days Retention
-- Headers count AGAINST the block account quota
-- 4 connections
-- NO SSL
-- Free trials offered (user must actively cancel)

UseNeXT.com - See website. Strange pricing.

-- Up to 120 Days Retention
-- Site does not specify number of connections
-- NO SSL
-- 14 day free trial offered (user must actively cancel)

Teranews.com - 50MB per day for one time $3.95 charge

This looks like a good deal for someone who needs text/discussion group access. No details on retention, SSL, etc.

Triton.net - $1 first month, $8.95 thereafter

Website does not give specifications. One user reported 100+ days retention for some groups and 6mb+ download speeds.

Special Usenet Search Engine Deals:

Newzbin.com - Half price access (Roughly $12 USD for a year of service)

-- Expires Dec 28, 2007

If any of y'all know of other good Usenet deals, please post. Would be nice to morph this thread into an ongoing Usenet deals thread. similar to the FAR HD enclosures thread or similar.

Good deal on the Ngroups. Which I had known about that before I switched my provider to:

UseNetServer - $39.99 for 3 months
Uknown expiration (Never?)

Unlimited Bandwidth
101 day retention
10 Connections
SSL

I've been using them for the past 2 weeks and they're pretty good. I can always max my bandwidth out at will, but I always seem to have problems connecting to them. Sometimes two or three connections will connect but the other seven won't. They all eventually do connect, but it is just a small hassle. However, I have not had any problems with, nor do I think any company's service can compare to:

Giganews - $29.99 month/$19.99 first month
Unknown expiration (Never?)
Unlimited Bandwidth
200 days retention (WOW! This made binsearch.info expand its search records to go further back.)
20 Connections
SSL

Clearly, not a "hot" deal by any means, but for top notch service, Giganews takes the cake with ease. All 20 connections always connect. The servers have never been down to my knowledge, oh and did you see the 200 days retention?!?! Comes in handy much more than once, believe me.

I've always found EasyNews to offer a great interface. Has anyone had any problems with EasyNews?

DonBlack said:I've always found EasyNews to offer a great interface. Has anyone had any problems with EasyNews?

Yeah, though I do not have service with them, I like to use their nfo daily archive list too. It's a great summary of what was uploaded/available daily.

For block account, I like www.megabitz.net. 110Gb for $23.95. Free headers, free SSL.

zhelder said:I'll admit I've been out of the Usenet loop for a few years now, but don't most ISPs provide Usenet access or has that changed? My use dropped pretty dramatically between AOL's dropping access and the proliferation of site-based forums and blogs, but I've been thinking about checking out my old haunts. But at these prices? YIKES!

If you just want to participate in discussion newsgroups, you can access usenet newsgroups for free with Google Groups.

Anybody know of another provider that rivals Easynews' Global Search feature - They make it so painless and easy, I can't imagine not being able to use it. But, lately my FiOS speeds have not been maxed out with them, so if there's someone else that can offer the same feature, and better speed, they might be worth looking into...

Thanks..

I use Newshosting.com. They're pretty damn good. I max out my connection (1.3MB/sec) and their retention rates are pretty decent (100+ for NHXL service).

I pay $100 every 6 months block payment. Comes out to $16.66/mo. A little steep, but worth it IMO. If I had lots of $ to burn, I'd definitely go with Giganews. They're the best provider, hands down.

seekay said:Does anyone have any real experience with Ngroups.Net? I've been with Astraweb for a few years now (before that UsenetServer.com for a few years) and really like it... But the $5.00/month savings is rather tempting, especially since my usage has drop substantially in the last year.

As of this posting I have had them for ~24 hours. With my 5mb cable modem connection I seem to get ~4.5mb consistently. Of course I know 24 hours of experience doesn't really mean much but I am happy so far.