# Rogers dumps newsgroups service - no rebate.



## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Newsgroups have been a part of my online life since the beginning. Now Rogers in it's wisdom has decided to not include it nor change the price to reflect the loss of service - to replace will cost $15 per month.

Rip. 

If you are a Rogers customer you can show displeasure here

[email protected]

Even if you don't use the NNTP servers it's the principle - loud comments appreciated on behalf of those mlike me who do use them.

tor.forsale for example etc has been a real good source of many items, cell phones, audio gear etc. 








........nasssssstyyyy Rogersssss


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## kloan (Feb 22, 2002)

It's a ripoff. Especially since they limited the speed to what, 30-40k max? Whoopdeedoo better retention... then again, Sympatico's retention is beyond rediculous... every single thing I've tried to download is only partial.... I think newsgroups are dead, or at least on their way, if ISPs keep this up.

If all you want is text, Google is perfectly fine for newsgroups.. I use it all the time to check the tor.forsale groups..


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## ArtistSeries (Nov 8, 2004)

Just another company getting cheap and trying to have customers pay for what should be included...


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## retrocactus (Jun 17, 2003)

This totally sucks....it's just a matter of time before the other ISP's follow suit.

It's actually surprising usenet has existed so long on Canadian ISP's...I can't imagine the server requirements to host the binary groups alone.

Of course, there is always this and the new p2p darling, bit torrent...which I've actually been using more than usenet lately but as discussed in other threads, that is being throttled.


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## Roland (Aug 15, 2002)

One thing I've found is that companies only have one principle..... maintain a profit margin at any cost to the customer. The rest is just meaningless to them.


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## Trevor... (Feb 21, 2003)

Shaw turns over their usenet servers so rapidly as to be useless, especially tough on the binaries as by the time the 30th of 30 file segments is posted, the first 10 have rolled over.


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## mikef (Jun 24, 2003)

I can understand why Rogers discontinued the NNTP service (presumably due to the lack of use by a majority of Rogers subscribers), however for those using them, I think we should be compensated. Some people are reporting a discount on the Extreme package for the inconvenience.

I've sent and email, I am curious to know what, if any, the response will be.


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## Klaatu (Jun 3, 2003)

Roland said:


> One thing I've found is that companies only have one principle..... maintain a profit margin at any cost to the customer. The rest is just meaningless to them.


That is certainly true of larger corporations such as Rogers and Sympatico.... still I notice a lot of people on EhMac who insist on giving them money -- and then complain when crap like this happens.

There are alternatives, people.

In my case I've been with Look Communications since their first year. I remember about three times when they entire service was down on a long weekend, and with only skelton staff on duty, it wasn't fixed until the regular work week started. Sometimes that was three days! Three days without internet put me into serious withdrawal.

But it's been about four years since anything like that happened, and their dsl service is awesome. Fast speeds, always on, no caps. 

One of the things the smaller companies know they have an edge is in providing service the majors won't. For years the newsgroups have always been unreliable because it demands having to maintain their own newsgroup servers, which still never guaranteed 100% retention.

Look was smart and opted to simply hook up all its users with Giganews as part of their basic package. That meant 100% retention and preservation of files for at least 30 days.

The only kicker is they put a speed cap on. Maximum speed is 16 kBps, and up to five connections at a time. That's still plenty for me as I always use Thoth which allows me to build a queue list. So I can leave my computer on all day. Once every 24 hours or so it kicks me off, but usually Thoth just jumps to the next file on the queue list and carries on.

I love newsgroups. I tried p2p and Bittorrent, but I always come back to usenet. I consider it the overlooked gem of the internet, and I hope it never dies.


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## mikef (Jun 24, 2003)

If there were an alternative for me, I would've switched years ago... I cannot get DSL where I am.

BTW, Rogers was using Giganews as their news service as well. They haven't hosted their own NNTP servers for a few years.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

I tried Giganews but Unison would not hook up to the server.

Instead Unison has a link to an associated server - cheaper and really fast and it configured Unison with a single click.
Up and running in 2 minutes with my own password and login names :clap:

Smooth Mac friendly http://www.panic.com/unison/access.php

Giganews took 4 hours  to get me a pass/login and then the server was not accessible.


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## pimephalis (Nov 29, 2004)

MacDoc said:


> I tried Giganews but Unison would not hook up to the server.
> 
> Instead Unison has a link to an associated server - cheaper and really fast and it configured Unison with a single click.
> Up and running in 2 minutes with my own password and login names :clap:
> ...


I agree 100%, MacDoc. I can't say enough about how great Panic's NNTP service was. It was the most 'mac-like' of any subscription I've ever made to an online service. I cancelled and started to rely on Rogers services (which were hella slow, and only allowed 2 connections at a time), but I may have to go back to Panic.

Rogers has simply screwed its customers over on this one, big time.

And to Klaatu's point, I was previously with tht.net and before that iam-net.com for my high-speed, but when the former was bought by Look communications and we, as customers, were not forewarned, I was not happy. When we lost our internet connection for days, and both parties pointed fingers at one-another, I was highly displeased. When Look finally owned up and said "we screwed up, but we can't connect you again until the beginning of the month (6 days away), and by the way, your fees are going up and by the way, there's no credit for lost uptime ...", they lost me as a customer.

So, the lesson is that you can get crappy service from the small guys too, and run the risk of having your ISP 'eaten' by a larger fish.


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## oryxbiker (Nov 29, 2001)

Trevor... said:


> Shaw turns over their usenet servers so rapidly as to be useless, especially tough on the binaries as by the time the 30th of 30 file segments is posted, the first 10 have rolled over.


Shaw servers ain't all that bad. They usually keep files for around four to five days. And they have a max download speed of 1MB/s. Telus on the other hand keeps files for less that two days!!!!!!! And has a capped speed of 200KB/s. I use usenet servers almost everyday. I love them. Bittorrent and p2p networks don't even compare to usenet servers. I would even be willing to pay five bucks a month just to use them if it came to shutting them down.


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## Bambu (Jan 2, 2006)

MacDoc said:


> If you are a Rogers customer you can show displeasure here
> 
> [email protected]


*MacDoc...

What is John Munro's position at Rogers?

TIA

John.*


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## Bambu (Jan 2, 2006)

mikef said:


> BTW, Rogers was using Giganews as their news service as well. They haven't hosted their own NNTP servers for a few years.


*mike....

So let me get this straight.... Rogers was using Giganews as their news service and charged me $43.28 a month for a Net connection. Now they are yanking USENET and if we want to use Giganews we gotta pay extra for it? Not bloddy likely!  


This is a copy of an email that I sent Rogers regarding them 'Yanking' the USENET service....


I'm PISSED!

Today I tried to access the 'USENET' (news groups). All I got was a '480 Autentication Required'. I then did a Google search using that string. I was flabbergasted to learn that Rogers/Yahoo Internet Service had discontinued the USENET service as of December 15, 2005. What is going on here??? I have been using the USENET for 9 years with [email protected] / Rogers/Yahoo.

When I first signed up with [email protected] in 1997, the services that you 'agreed' to supply me with were Web, Email 'AND' USENET. Since 1/3 of my service has been 'yanked', I am demanding a 1/3 monthly reduction of my Rogers/Yahoo Internet service.

I feel very insulted to say the least.... I never recieved a notice from Rogers/Yahoo regarding the discontinuation of the USENET, and.... the big kick in the ass is that now you tell me that I have to sign up with 'GIGANEWS' at an additional fee on top of my $43.28 that I already pay you for my Internet Service. I DON'T THINK SO!

I want a reduction of my Rogers/Yahoo Internet bill of $14.50 a month. Or, I will 'YANK' (like you did with the USENET) my Internet Service (I hear Bell Sympatico is pretty good!) and my cable TV service.

Anyways, it's your call. Give me a $14.50 reduction on my Internet bill or I will look elsewhere for an ISP and TVSP!


Anyone who uses any of Rogers services should yank them and go with another provider.

Anyways, we'll have to see what Rogers reply is. Should be interesting tho. However, I'm sure they'll say something like: " We're sorry Sir, there's nothing we can do and we cannot give you a discount ". Yeah, the usuall BS!

I'll let ya know what the say...  

Johh.*


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## IronMac (Sep 22, 2003)

Probably somewhere in their contract they reserve the right to change what services they provide to you.

So far, Bell Sympatico's service doesn't seem half-bad...there are disconnects for some reason but none that last more than a minute.


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## Myrddin Emrys (May 24, 2005)

I switched from DSL due to not getting the bandwidth I was paying for and now I am not getting the services I pay for from Rogers... I am screwed either way but at least I can say that I have a GIG mailbox, 9 E-Mail addresses, Flickr like use for photos and now Del.ici.ous is on board; I didn't have any of these services on DSL, and for an extra $15 I do, and an average bandwidth of 7.2 Mbps down.

It's important that we tell Rogers they are remiss in the situation but equating 1/3 to NNTP for the average person is not correct, maybe 1/6 or 1/7.


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## jay_eh (Jan 6, 2006)

Rogers still looks at itself as a cable / entertainment provider in the 'digital age'. That's the problem with it, IMO. The company as a whole does not really 'get' the idea of providing internet service. All I know is that the Sprint internet backbone was great... now that Rogers bought out Sprint Canada, I have a feeling the backbone will not be as good as it once was. 

And as far as the 1/3 NNTP thing - I kind of agree with you (I also use NNTP on Rogers and am not happy) though in Rogers' eyes they look at the average user (what Myrddin says). They'll say that its just one component of a bunch of things the Internet offers and you're paying to use the Internet.


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## mark_s (Oct 18, 2007)

*Try this...*

news.rogerstelecom.net, worked on my dsl account in Montreal.


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## FeXL (Jan 2, 2004)

Holy revived thread, Batman!


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