Comments on: Rogers kills Usenet access

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:32:17 +0000

With all the recent news on what TM is doing, its no wonder why so many are jumping ship. For me, what kept me on were the LEGITIMATE newsgroups access they had to offer. With that gone now, my motivation to stay is non-existent. Luckily, I found another usenet provider, newsdemon.com that lets me access the newsgroups. Now I just have to find a new reputable ISP.
D. Linus

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 09:23:34 +0000

NNTP definitely dead now! I can’t access on my newservers now. Screw Ted!

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 08:45:30 +0000

You didn’t see anything because this “story” is B.S.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 08:22:04 +0000

Thats fine if you can get Bell high speed in your area. I live in SCarborough, but its not in my area. So my only choice is Rogers broadband or go back to dialup with Sympatico. I can see that Rogers could have taken out some of the newsgroups which attract pornography and others groups that might attract the wrong crowd, but not the whole of Usenet. Seems like a bad move to me. I am wondering if Bell might follow suit.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 08:17:04 +0000

I use Rogers lite high speed and I didn’t see any notification on my November bill about them stopping Usenet, unless I missed it, but I knew about it from a forum. I think Rogers just say that only 30,000 customers use Usenet. I suspect its probably a much higher figure, but they say 30,000 to justify their discontinuing Usenet and save money by allocating the news servers to mail servers. On top of losing Usenet and most of us having to pay for some other news reader, Rogers increased my Internet bill by $5.00 this month adding insult to injury. Whether it does any good or not, I am going to write to them with my complaint about stopping Usenet. I’ve used it for many years and have a lot of friends on newsgroups.
I feel I pay enough money monthly to Rogers, without having to pay for a separate for a newsreader provider. Bell still has Usenet, or will they follow Rogers lead? I would change to Bell if they were in my area for high speed. So I am prettty well stuck with Rogers for high speed Internet. All Rogers customers should complain to whoever will listen to stop Rogers from taking advantage of customers who they know are helpless against their policies. They are just greedy. What else is new?

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 02:48:35 +0000

I have been predicting for years that most major ISPs would get rid of binary usenet groups. However, it is surprising that Rogers would kill all Usenet access.

The binary Usenet has such a huge potential liability for ISPs because of the risky content, primarily child porn and illegal file sharing. Under Canadian law, possession of child porn is sufficient for a conviction. It is guaranteed that right now, and at all times, there are child porn images and/or video in some binary Usenet group, which may be hosted by an ISP. That means that the file is stored on the ISP’s computers and that they are in a position to be convicted of possession of child porn.

Another downside for ISPs is the costs associated with binary Usenet traffic and storage. While less than 3% (30,000) of their (Roger’s) customers made use of Usenet, it likely constitutes up to 25% of the total network traffic.

In the end, if Rogers was to have killed on binary Usenet, the loss to consumers wouldnt’ve been consequential because Google Groups now not only archives Usenet but allows posting to them through a web interface.

Frankly, I predict that all major North American ISPs will follow suit and eliminate access to, at a minimum binary Usenet, if not all of the Usenet to their customers.

The big issue then becomes, is this a reduction of service and what constitutes a fair payment for the reduced service.

CanadianAlien.com
The binary Usenet tutorial

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 06:39:05 +0000

Just switch to Bell Sympatico, far superior service, excellent usenet with OE6, with posting + replying right from OE6.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 01:07:17 +0000

The regulators are foxes guarding the henhouse. They are clearly in the pockets of the Internet Infrastructure Cartels. Go ahead and complain. It might do some good eventually, and if you have an alternative ISP that is not more oppressive than Rogers, switch to that company. However, in order to really get their attention, set up FreeWan Cells or muni-networks. If enough people do this, the big guys will be forced to leave the Net alone.