Re: Servers

[David Johnson <trainman@ozemail.com.au>]

David Proctor wrote:

> Is this normal? If so, does it apply to all ISP's? If it does, which ISP
> provides the best News service? If it is not supposed to be like this, what
> can be done about it?

Unfortunately, very normal.  Usenet (newgroups) are about the most unreliable part of the
whole internet.

The only thing that can be done is to go to a new ISP which has a more reliable news
server.  There are also places that allow you to retrieve news messages without being a
customer.  To find them, do a search for "free news servers" in altavista.  You could also
try the www.dejanews.com site.  If you are only interested in aus.rail, read your messages
on Railpage at www.railpage.org.au/ausrail/

I think my ISP (www.cia.com.au) has a reasonably good news server.  What they have done is
removed all the alt.binaries newsgroups, which means that the hard disk doesn't fill up
all the time, causing you to not receive any other groups.  Apparently, they are changing
their news server too, and the alt.binaries will be available again.  It is quite complex.

--
David Johnson
CityRail Guard
trainman@ozemail.com.au
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~trainman