Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Probably when NTL have worked out all the kinks in it :) No point in NTL launching a flawed service or they'd get slated for it. Yes, it's taking a while to resolve the problems and the trials has been postponed a few times, stopped and restarted when problems have been found, but in the end NTL are doing thinks right IMO. Get the service right then launch, not launch and tidy up the problems after.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Well now that the trial has finished what did people think of it. A big disappointment for me in terms of completion. Speed and reliability good, though not sure if it would continue with more people on the server. Completion was worse than before though IMO. Can't really see how it was a trial of an "enhanced service".

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

I thought it was a huge disapointment as well, i'd recommend that ntl go get their money back because who ever they bought these off must be laughing all the way to the bank

The servers off no improvement at all, if anything their worse with the awfull completion... like already said i doubt they would hold under the pressure if they ever went live.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/foo.fig...mbsDown1sm.jpg

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

I gave up and subscribed to claranews unlimited.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Me too. just signed for Astraweb. Just been waiting too long for NTL to sort this, and there seems to be no sign of them doing that. The trial has been a big flop for me.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

It's worth mentioning that in our "Trial Closure" e-mail, we did mention that there will be additional hardware going in in early March (like the 1st week in March) which should resolve any outstanding issues.

It would be great if all of you would be willing to let us know in a few weeks...lets say 15 March to allow for completions to build up.......if the service has improved by then or not.

We are listening. :)

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Excellent. Looking forward to the reinstatement of all the missing binary groups. That £1milli on investment seems to finally have come through. Thanks.

Guess ntl finally came to their senses and realised just how much transit bandwidth they'd save by providing a full feed again. Nice one.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Sorry, i never received that e-mail.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Is the new Hardware initially only on the trial server or will it be available over all the NTL servers?

I too would welcome the re-instatement of the binary groups.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

I believe it will be all

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

I notice you highlighted the word "any", but I fear they won't be reinstating the groups which were removed. I hope I'm wrong?!

On the other hand I am pleased they're getting some new hardware in a week or so.:)

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Thanks. Will do.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Is the trial server still receiving traffic? I seem to be getting no new headers.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

It was yesterday morning. I'll check again tonight.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

New headers were uploading fine at the weekend, though some groups still have plenty of incompletes.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

I must admit that since I joined the trial there has been a great improvement in the newsgroup service I have received.

The connection to the server has been a lot more reliable and faster.Posting and downloads have been much better. There still appear to be some downloads where one of the parts is missing,mainly the larger,multi-part downloads but hopefully that can be improved.

Header downloads now activate virtually automatically as I switch from group to group,which didn't happen before and they are much faster.

I also used to have problems connecting to the server late at night e.g. 10.30pm onwards and put this down to increased usage by NTL users but this seems a lot better too.

So well done NTL!! :angel: (Famous last words?) ;)

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

The normal cable server seems a little better over the last few days, I don't have access to the trial one, but hopefully that is even better - I hope we get to see the benefits of the upgrades soon.

Cheers

Ian

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

I agree with what you're saying, but then you would expect spped and reliability to be better with far less people on the trial server. Let's see if it continues when everybody is on it.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

That's a fair point. I was just reporting back my experience so that the trial organisers can note the improvements or not in the areas mentioned. It will indeed be interesting to see what happens when everybody tries to use the server. Just hope it all works for everybody.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Yes. I'm looking forward to the installation of new equipment this week that should improve things further.:D

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Does anybody know if the upgrade has taken place yet?

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

I hope not, its no different here :(

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

I presume not or I'd expect they'd have restarted the trial to see if there was an improvement.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Help anyone, do to a hard disk failure I've lost the settings ie news server detail, can anyone help and mail them to me.
Thanks

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

I think you are better PM'ing POINTMAN for that info!!

Bigboab

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Or email trails@ntl.com

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

So have we had our new Hardware installed, and which server should we now be using?

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

.....just heard it went in LIVE today. All Trials and new kit are on news.ntlworld.com

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Thanks Pointman.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Seems much better in the last day or so - very nice :)

Who should I send new newsgroup requests to ?

One more thing - I'm using news.cable.ntlworld.com and have noticed a big improvement - should I now be using news.ntlworld.com or are they both now on the new equipment ?

Thanks in advance

Ian

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Hmmm have more groups been cut?

Seems to be missing even more, groups that were on the trial server have disapeared...

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Hope you are wrong, Foo Fighter. I will be well peeved if NTL have removed more groups when what we need are some of the old groups reinstated. I thought they were beginning to listen to their customers at last!:(

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Yep. alt.binaries.multimedia, one of the largest groups, has been removed.:Yikes:

Just how NTL think this is them improving the service is beyond me. So come on, NTL, explain how this "addresses all remaining issues"?:confused:

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

:LOL: One of the ways to make the servers faster is to remove half the data. Nice one NTL :rolleyes:

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

This takes the ****, this trial was a joke

the servers are crap, you wasted everyones time... obviously you couldn't be bothered to do a proper job so were left with servers that are worse then before the trial started...

next time save everyone the trouble and don't even bother. Can we assume this trial was a failure? not one person is happy with them.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Yep - cant disagree with that....

Yet another supurb job by NTL :rolleyes: - Is it any wonder that people get p$ssed of with your company when you treat them like this ?

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

I think the server is much better than it was, its not perfect and the missing groups are a pain, but completion is miles better than it was.

Just my view..

Ian

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

I think the problem is that everybody's perspective is different because we are probably getting different degrees of quality of service.

If you get a very poor service then understandibly your view will be different to someone whose service is very good.

NTL need to set up some kind of monitoring or feedback project which involves users from all NTL areas and platforms, on different connection speeds using a variety of PCs with low speed to high speed processors and different operating systems. In that way they can get an overall view of the service being provided, identify problems and solve them.

Personally, I've noted a great improvement in my newsgroup service in Manchester, but I realise that this may not be the case for everybody.Let's hope that NTL can get it sorted for everybody soon.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

I'm getting massive time outs tonight on the server, shame its been great up till now - I guess its busy :(

Does anyone know an email address to send group requests to or if we can connect on another port other than 119 ?

Thanks

Ian

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Stu did you get on the trial ?

I didnt think you were an NTL customer ?

I found the trial to be quite poor but i accept it was a trial. I advise anyone who goes on a products trial to expect the worst (its a trial after all)
I have found the server to be brilliant lately (crosses fingers)

The question i would have to ask NTL and the guys who ran the trial is....why consider offering another version of newsgroups which carry binaries?

AFAIK the only companies that offer a good standard of news service (bin included) are the ones who charge for it. The best i know for value is Clara.

A good news service is not a pre requisite of an ISP imho. Maybe it should be and yes it used to be. But the strain and demand of news servers these days would make a good free service un-economical

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Having given the new service a few days more I've decided that perhaps my earlier criticism was a bit harsh.

The service is pretty fast and far more stable than it was before. Retention and completion are also way better than before, so a thumbs-up to NTL for that. Now if we could just get a few of the missing groups re-established.....;) :)

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Seems to have gone a bit awry this morning though, I'm not seeing any new posts in any groups after about 9am :(

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

pipex have an excellent news service with binaries, free with their ADSL connection. And at 23 quid for a 512 thats where i think ill be this time next month unless NTL get an equally good service by then, which is doubtful.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

ive noticed the retention on the servers is better but the connection drops to 0kbps for ages then :mad: goes up again it takes ages to download something any ideas wats the cause of this

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Pipex seem to be impressing a lot of people at the mo. I must say i am impressed if they run a free tip top news feed. Any ISP's i have used in the past have not. They have all had news feeds in the strictest sense but nothing to write home about.

I suspect (although im happy to be proved wrong) that if they had a million customers this may be slightly different. Most people dont expect a free reliable (binaries incl) news service which is why the likes of Clara and Easynews do so well.

Well done to Pipex tho

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Mate from work would download around 20gb per week from Pipex Binary Newsgroups. And at a cheaper monthly cost than im paying NTL for my Poor news and capped service.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

So then ,,,,the question has to be ...Why are you not with Pipex then ?

Must be a non serviceable area you live in eh ?

I must admit i might just have to check Pipex out if NTL ever treat me badly :D

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

I will be shortly

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

I'm not having that problem at all. In fact things have improved so much over the last couple of weeks that I'm hardly having to use my easynews account at all. In fact with just 3 days left until my account trips over to the next 30 days I've only used 2 Gb of my 6 Gb quota and that's never happened before.:shocked:

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Loads of posts missing tonight compared to Easynews :(

Oh well, NTL's servers were great for 2 days.....

Cheers

Ian

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

What groups are you having problems with, Ian? I only ask because our experience differs so greatly. Also, what newreader are you using?

Newsgroups
 

So, just how many newsgroups have been culled?

I am new to the whole newsgroups thing and not only is ntl's service dreadfully slow, and also not all seem to be there.

Is this just temporary or is it permanent?

:confused:

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

NewsbinPro for bins and OE6 for text.

Everything seems ok again, except for the time outs, sometimes I have to click a post several times in OE6 before it will display, Easynews is fine though - which seems to point to the NTL newsserver as having the problem.
I can live with it, as completion is pretty cool on NTL's server at present.

I'm using news.ntlworld.com

Cheers

Ian

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Where is the alt.binaries.cd.image newsgroup?

It was available on Pipex but now I can't access it anymore because I do no longer have an account with them. :(

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

You will find very few groups with images for DVDs and CDs and stuff. Seems all the large groups have been removed. You should have stuck with Pipex.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Well I could mention quite a few that are still available, but if i do they might remove 'em!;)

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Au contraire.... :)

THe ones i usually use are all there.

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Theres no good groups, you'll have to subscribe to some usenet providor as ntl can't handle its customers

I'm on
Claranews (unlimited)
Astranews (pay as you go)

Re: Newsgroups
 

Don't know about extra culls, but the server performance (the NEW severs?) is a bad as it ever was, if not worse.

Performance on headers is quite good, but on bodies (and not big binaries, but text as well) is truly MISERABLE, if it doesn't bomb out, it'll do 7-10 and then freeze up for ages - it MIGHT move on when it feels like it, or it's just as likely to drop out.


What was the point of the newsgroups trial?
Perhaps thet were "nursing" the trial server, as it was reasonably ok during the period, but although use of it was extended beyond the trial period, it was getting flaky then - while the old server pool was actually having a pretty good run.

Re: Newsgroups
 

I find completion to be very good now - so the trial seemed to work for that but I agree with the time outs - reading text groups is a nightmare - it just times out all the time :(

Re: Newsgroups
 

I'd tend to agree with that. Headers are quick, but bodies (both text and binaries) are a nightmare and always seem to freeze for ages, triggering the OE "would you like to wait for another 60 seconds" stuff.

:mad:

Re: Newsgroups
 

Im afraid I have totally given up on NTLs News Servers........Giganews all the way, I know its a bit pricey but its worth it :)

NTL should really be able to sort out a decent Newsgroup service and email but for some reason this business has dragged on for months if not years :(

My best advice is to register a domain, get a decent email service and subscribe to www.giganews.com

Re: Newsgroups
 

The text.news server was perfect for me as I don't do binaries... Seemed to be the only one that worked propley as well!! Where is the list of new news servers, why no email from NTL telling us this stuff??

Re: Newsgroups
 

Has NTL pulled the plugs out on any of the news servers in the last couple of days.

I say this as I was downloading newsgroups from the following servers;
62.253.162.114
62.253.162.115
194.168.222.40
194.168.222.41
However two days ago theses servers have seemingly stopped working. What a pity if they have been pulled as they're the only ones I've been able to download anything from during the past few months that haven't continuously timed out tking all day just to get a few messages.

If these are no longer available does anyone here know of the address for news servers that actually work?

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Some of the servers I have been using stopped working last night.

Looks like only the main servers ie news.ntlworld.com and their aliases are available and while they have big retention, they are lagging behind on new posts and downloads timeout a lot :o

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Almost everything is incomplete from last night, whats happened ?? it was going so well :(

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Completion may have dived, but I actually got ALL my marked bodies, with only a few mild stalls.

I begin to wonder if they break things deliberately, so we'll be glad when they just about work!

Re: Newsgroups Trial Resumes
 

Just about everything is incomplete, its useless :(
I'd rather have the stalling, but now I have both stalling *and* massive incompletion.

The service status doesn't mention anything...

So much for the trial fixing stuff, well it did for about a fortnight..