ThunderNews
thundernews.com Overview
Thundernews has been offering quality Usenet services with above average binary retention than many others in this space Expectionalcustomer service when needed, along with SSL encrypted access from either their US or European server locations. Speed is good with up to 50 connections (not that you’ll need anywhere near that many).
One of the main differneces between ThunderNews and most any other Usenet access provider is the importance they give to choice. This can be a good or bad thing depending on your needs. If you want something simple, just go for the Unilimited Max. Otherwise, you could spend a good portion of your day going through each option and sub-option each of their monthly and non-expiring block account packages they offer.
- 50 Concurrent Connections (for Regular Plans  and Premium Block Plans)
- 99% Completion Rate
- Free News Reader Software
- 24/7 Chat & E-mail Support
- Unlimited Message Uploads
- Broadband Speed
- Multiple Access Ports
- 2 US Servers
- 2 EU Servers
- 256 bit SSL Encryption ( for Regular Plans and Premium Block Plans)
Pricing
Pricing is relatively competitive in this field, but they do offer more options/plans than other providers.
For their monthly plans, you can receive further discounts with quarterly, semi-annually and annual plans on any of their core monthly plans.
Monthly Plans
Block Accounts
A good helping of block account options are a treat, although you do have to consider a $1.00 more if you choose to add SSL to any of them.
Connections
With you have a choice between their multiple server farms in both Europe and the United States to ensure you get the fastest speed available, depending on where you are. In our tests, the connections were good, but did not max our internet connection.
Connection Options:
- GeoDNS (nearest server): news.thundernews.com
- North American servers: us.thundernews.com
- European servers: eu.thundernews.com
- SSL ports: 563, 80, or 81
- Non-SSL ports: 119, 23, 443, 3128, 7000, 8000, 8080 or 9000
What they may lack in overall speed, they make up for with up to 50 concurrent connections available with your account. This allows you to max out your possible connection speed to their servers, ensuring that you’re able to get what you want.
Support
Support is speedy, if not a little flawed. Although our tickets would get a rapid response, don’t expect follow ups if you continue the ticket thread with the same support specialist. They seem to have a big support team and although one may answer a ticket, another may answer the next time you contact them, which means you have to go through the same situation again with them. In the end, all of our issues were resolved relatively quickly.
They also have an extensive FAQ you can also reference any issue you have to find out an answer without having to contact them.
Conclusion
With over 10 years of service, ThunderNews has proven to “get” Usenet users and cater to veterans with their comprehensive packages, reliable service, fast speeds and high retention rates.
For those new to Usenet, price choices can be just as dizzying and confusing as their website design and colors.
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