986 days now - & that\'s a \'true\' 986, not like some providers that have incompletes galore when you go over 300-400 days. I\'m pulling 900+ day data & it\'s still 100% fine.

1 - Why is Slyck still not supporting AWs fine service?
2 - Why do they quote AW as having 0 (zero) days retention (above)?
3 - How can they recommend Thundernews when their retention is abysmal & not these guys?

Unlimited data, 715 days retention, SSL, US & EU Server farms & 99% completion for $11? Yes please!

Why anyone would still be paying $30 to Giga is beyond me...

I bought a 180GB block for $25 via Paypal. This works great for me since I don\'t need to download everyday and when I want to download somethings that aren\'t available via bittorent or IRC I know I have another source. By paying for a block instead of monthly unlimited, I don\'t feel obliged to download as much as I can during a month. I only download what I need. So far my connection speed has been maxed out. I formerly had Giganews that was part of the free 2GB/month given to Comcast customers and I never got Max speeds so I didn\'t want to waste my money or time with Giganews again. Block downloading is the way to go especially with an ISP that has 250GB/month cap. Unlimited D/L is iswaste.

I\'m currently on the $96/yr unlimited special ($8 a month!) and it is great. I was with Giganews for two years prior and have had minimal troubles since the switch.

On occasion, completion can be a tad bit spotty. I\'ve had a couple instances where a file that came down incomplete downloaded fine later when trying again. Never anything that PAR2 files haven\'t been able to handle (if available).

Other than that it is an unbelievable value, especially since retention is currently only ten days behind Giganews. I have no trouble maxing out my 20mbps line.

Had billing issues and speed issues- also West Coast US. Gave them a 2.

I had some billing issues with Astraweb. I canceled the account but was still billed multiple times. I eventually had to call my credit card company. From now on I am only using Paypal to pay for online stuff. Credit cards are too much hassle. As for the service, I think Astraweb would be fine if they had an East Coast server. My routings out to the West coast servers was inconsistent. Good but not great.

After hearing all sorts of negative stories about some providers, I took the plunge with Astraweb and I couldn\'t be happier the service hasn\'t dropped a beat... Started out with the 25GB=$10 Unlimited 50 connections pay by download and now I have moved onto the 120GB pay by download.
For all those people who are still undecided, give Astraweb a go... you won\'t regret it. Looking forward to staying as long as Hoosierdaddy.
Sometimes the biggest news server isn\'t always the best.

i just switched from giganews to astraweb.,... for one reason 1/3 of the cost... same files... excellnet service

I\'ve been with Astraweb for over four years now. There were a few stumbles here and there back in 2004 and 2005. Speed was very inconsistent and retention was not as good as claimed. But I stuck with them and boy am I glad I did! I have literally watched as this provider has gone from strength to strength. Speed is now excellent. And retention is getting up there with the best in the business. About the only glitch I see is that completion sometimes leaves a little to be desired. But I realize that propagation is a complex issue and isn\'t always the fault of the provider. Other than that, the service is superb. Highly recommended.

Astraweb is AMAZING, I have tried most all providers and other than giganews or powerusenet (giganews reseller) there is no beating astraweb. I just hope they stay this way. get the $11 deal while you can, it is worth it.

$11 a month, excellent completion and retention, no downtime issues, 20 connections (I max out with 5), SSL...what more could you ask for? Giganews will always be king but Astraweb has set the bar for all other providers.

The best block account offering around right now, increasingly big retention and ive never had problems with customer service or extended downtime.

Rarely a problem maxing out at my max speed (3GB) and very good value for money.

Had the 25GB $10 block account.

The speeds to the UK were BAD even when using the european server. I could not max out my 10meg cable connection - the max i ever got was around 5mbps.

Never had any problems with completion but the comparitively low retention compared with giganews etc was annoying.

The block accounts do not expire so i just use mine for filling now and for this purpose it is very good. It is very rare for my posts to not appear complete on other (pay) servers.

Astraweb is excellent. I use it for Pay-By-Download blocks. They have the best pricing for block accounts, they never expire, and they allow unlimited connections. Speeds are great. I download at maximum speed as my ISP allows and I'm on cable broadband. They have recently increased their retention up to 50 days and I think they are planning to increase it more sometime soon. Completion is also very good, I've been using it for about half a year and I haven't ran into many missing files and they could all be repaired. They are improving their service and they got good prices. They also have a good privacy policy. I most definitely recommend Astraweb.

Astraweb's speed was a problem, however it seems to have been corrected during the spring/summer of 2006. Retention is satisfactory, considering the price paid per gig. Makes a great fills news server.

Astraweb has established a reputation for being one of the few providers to offer block accounts, and therefore my comments refer specifically to block accounts. A block account is a service that allows the user to buy a specific download quantity that never expires and has no other restrictions like speed limits or daily quotas. This is the ideal purchase method for light or sporadic users, and much more economical than paying a monthly fee. Although Astraweb also sells traditional pay-by-the-month service plans, it seems most customers who choose Astraweb purchase block download accounts. Astraweb has at least twice before offered a "special" on its $25 block purchase, in which they increase the amount from 65GB to 90GB for a limited time, typically lasting a few months before returning to the 'regular' price.

Usenet-News also offers block accounts at similar prices. Usenet-News includes a much wider selection of block sizes and -- most importantly -- Usenet-News has over twice the binary retention as Astraweb. One advantage of Astraweb over Usenet-News is that Astraweb places no limit on headers, while Usenet-News gives free header downloads only up to 50% of the purchased block amount; after which header bandwidth is then included in the block amount. Since there are many websites such as www.binsearch.info that allow for browsing and searching headers online, there is little need for users these days to download headers anymore, as it is a huge waste of bandwidth compared to using binary search sites.

Another possible advantage of Astraweb over Usenet-News might be for users downloading from an ultra-fast internet connection (such as a DS3/T3 line or faster). Astraweb allows an unlimited number of connections on its block accounts, while Usenet-News restricts each account to eight connections.

Astraweb's low binary retention is its most serious competitive disadvantage compared with Usenet-News - which currently offers two to three times the retention at roughly the same price. Many news providers have increased retention during the last year - (Usenet-News's feed provider Highwinds only recently doubled retention) If Astraweb wants to remain competitive, they will need to either cut prices or expand their server capacity to match Usenet-News's retention. As the service currently stands, an Astraweb account really needs to be combined with another company's service, particularly a high retention service such as Usenet-News.

The option to buy gigs without a time limit fits me perfect.

Speed sometimes slow but rention is almost at a month and blocks don't expire. Makes great fill server.

retention great, speed is way too slow, takes forever to download the headers.

10$/month is the best for me because of my poor adsl connection. me and my brother have 256kbit/sn connections and we share this server. for me, only 5$/month means a lot of games movies and apps..it is enough for me ;)

Astraweb retention is now upped from 15 days to 25 days although you won't see this on their website unless you logon as a member. The best thing about astraweb is the fact that it offers a pay as you go option, so you don't have to subscribe, you don't get a monthly bill, and you use the service as often or as little as you like, A one-off fee of $10:00 buys you 25 GB's credit on their servers that's about £5:70p in my money, with no time limits, no speed limits, and no connection limits, plus they have EU servers, I reckon it's a good deal, try out the pay as you go option and if your not happy with the service use up the 25GB credit, then look elsewhere. Your in no way committed!

Don't use this service .I paid out for it almost 2 weeks ago and still do not have access.I have repeatededly sent emails and just get told that they have problems and to be patient.What a joke.....

I live in the uk, and with a 1mb line i get speeds between 76 and 124 KBps regularly with astraweb. Been signed up to their dsl unlimited 2mb deal for well over a year now, and at $15/£8 per month, for me, its well worth the money.
Much better than my isp's freebie server with 1 day retention and continuous incompletes and purged posts.

Claims 15 days retention, but that is only headers, most article bodies are only avilable for 12-13 days. Around 0.2% back-end errors, i.e. back end cannot locate artice, but more than half the time the article can be retrieved after 1 or more retries. Difficult or impossible to retrieve large multipart binaries with 100s of segments and dozens of parts without also subscribing to more reliable back-up server to pick up the missing segments.

Server slows down evenings and weekends and cannot reach stated service speed at those times, appears to be a controlled drop to 75%, 50% or 25% of plan service speed limit.

Quick, 95%+ completion, and about 14 days retention on most groups.

I've been using Astraweb for about a week now. Retention is decent. About 14-15 days. But do NOT be fooled by their speed claims. 600kbps? Baloney. Especially not if you live on the US side of the pond. My own download speeds range from an utterly abysmal 20-25kbps (shades of dial-up daze) all the way up to a barely limping 55-60kbps. When I tried to get in touch with Astraweb about it, I discovered that the only means of contact with them is via anonymous e-mail through a website form. And when I tried to contact the people who handle their billing (not Astraweb but an outside vendor) I got voicemail. Left them a message. No reply yet after four days. So far, not such a positive experience. My verdict? I'm going to cancel my subscription and go with AirNews.

I've been using Astraweb's $10 unlimited option now for about two weeks. Retention claims to be 15 days. I've found that it is that, although at least at the beginning I was finding that completion could be horrific on older articles. They'd still be listed, but many would not DL. I am not sure if that was because they were about to get kicked (nearing the 15 days), or if it was the particular group I was using.

That said, I'm rating astraweb as a 5, because for $10 I've had constant, reliable 60k/sec+ downloads. Completion is, I'd estimate, around what their claim of 99% is. The standard pars associated with material have always been enough to build any missing files.

I plan on continuing to use astraweb. I'm sure a $15 account from newshosting would be better, but I would be surprised if $10 would buy any better than what astraweb is offering.

Great service for the price. It's not the best, but I have had no major issues with them. Their tech support and billing support are good. All in all, a better service then the price would indicate.

Very cheap to buy 'blocks' of data but can be unreliable. Completion is not bad. All in all it is very good value for the price but maybe you would prefer to pay a bit more and get better reliability.