ISP suggestions (want to use USENET)

Currently no landline, so choice might be restricted (I could go with BT as their free install deal is on for a line, but equally, have seen one or two other ISPs will do installation - eg opal.co.uk for a business line)

I have not had a landline for 2 years, and before that had used Eclipse and others, with no problems, but at that time had a wider selection of firms. Now moved to a village location, with 2-3 Mbps maximum likely speed.

So, I'm first insterested in ISPs which offer Binaries news feed as part of their service (if any!) and if so, what download limits they impose.

Second would be ISPs which don't do too much traffic shaping of news feeds.

ISP Choices: BT-based, LLU available: AOL, Orange, TalkTalk/Tiscali

I'm not a massive downloader - heck, 2 years without using USENET at all - but would be looking for an ISP allowing say 30+ GB traffic a month, and would be pleased to know of any offering 'unmetered' off-peak hours.

My max USENET traffic would be under 5 GB a month, I expect.

Horror stories about slow speeds on certain ISPs welcome so I can avoid them, but no need for 5 about the same ISP, please

The first thing to ask is what exchange are you currently located on - Samknows.com will advise you on this.

Curious to know why you consider it so important... I listed pretty much what was on the SamKnows page as far as which LLU services are available, I suppose I could have mentioned that WBC is not expected for a while.

Anyway, that's the SamKnows page for the nearest exchange, I just happen to be some distance from there (near the eastern limit of its coverage, unfortunately)

Not many ISPs provide a binary news service these days, and those that do usually throttle them quite hard. I'd say that if your Usenet usage is going to be 5GB or under your best bet is to buy a 180GB block from Astraweb for $US25. That's just under £15 at today's exchange rate and if your 5GB a month is accurate that will last you 3 years. This means that your choice of ISP isn't limited to those with a binary news service. As for who to go with, that depends on how much you want to spend. Zen and IDNet both have products available with 30GB+ allowances that should not slow down significantly regardless of time of day but they will set you back £35 a month. Given that you only expect to get speeds of 2-3Mb, I'd consider an Entanet reseller like ADSL24, 30GB a month peak allowance (peak=8am-midnight Mon-Fri), unmetered at all other times for £19 a month. I know Entanet had their problems earlier in the year but it looks like things have settled down again and anyway it is only a 1 month contract so there's little risk if things don't work out. Another one to consider is Vivaciti Surfwise 75, £20.70 for a 75GB allowance again on a 1 month contract.

Regards,
Steve

Ah... good old Astraweb - they've bumped up the amount - I paid $50 for 180GB a few years ago - but with exchange rate going up, may well spend another $50 with them soon!

I had suspected that binaries were dropping in availability from UK ISPs, given the number of dedicated news services (APN, Astraweb, SuperNews, UseNext, and so on, some as low as $3-5 a month now) but felt if there was a UK ISP, at the very least it might not be doing much throttling, and in any case, I'd have Astraweb to fall back on...

I only mention spending more on Astraweb, having seen the ADSL24 account you mentioned.

Thanks for the response - very useful info, even if I end up using someone like Opal (a fiver +VAT per month first year, tenner+VAT second year with only a FUP - must get spreadsheet out and do some comparisons... free BT line + BT line rent + ADSL24 fees vs 99+VAT line from Opal + Opal line rent + low BB fees

The Surfwise account looks quite appealing if I were to do more streaming of TV or similar, though scheduling off-peak may be a better option for some types of user - I have certainly downloaded new linux ISOs using peer-to-peer from time to time and 'free' off-peak traffic seems clear winner.