Best European (Dutch) Usenet Providers

We’ve had a chance to test a number of European newsgroup providers this year.  The Dutch are very fond of Usenet and it shows in their services.  You’ll find a number of companies located in Europe that offer unlimited, speed capped and block Usenet accounts.  We’d like to share some of our favorites with you today.  You can visit our Dutch Usenet page on NGR for a more comprehensive selection along with reviews of each service.

1. TweakNews

Tweaknews special

TweakNews is our favorite Dutch Usenet service.  They offer a number of flatrate and block accounts.  Best of all, you can take advantage of our special to enjoy unlimited, uncapped Usenet and VPN access from just €7,50 a month. Tweaknews binary retention is 2,500 days which is nearly 7 years of binary posts. That puts them well ahead of every other European Usenet provider other than Eweka. Their very high completion rate and reliability helped them earn the top spot in our list.

The Tweaknews NewsgroupReviews special includes unlimited Usenet and VPN:

  • Unlimited Usenet + VPN – €9,99 a month
  • Unlimited Usenet + VPN – €7,50 a month for 12 months
  • 100 GB block – €13,00 one-time
  • 250 GB block – €30,00 one-time
  • 500 GB block – €45,00 one-time

2. Eweka

Eweka promotion

If you’re looking for a newsgroup provider that rivals the large U. S. companies then we recommend Eweka.  They are the only Dutch option with retention in line with Newshosting and other leading U. S. providers.  Eweka offers access to their tier-1  network for a very fair price.  You can enjoy unlimited Usenet access with free SSL and speeds up to 100 Mbit from just €7,50 a month during their high speed promotion.

Here’s a closer look at the Eweka account offerings:

  • 50 Mbit unlimited – €7,50 for 30 days (our visitors can enjoy a free upgrade to 100 Mbit unlimited)
  • 100 Mbit unlimited – €9,60 for 30 days
  • 1 day test account – €1,10 for 1 day

You’ll find that Eweka offers several hundred days more retention than other European Usenet providers.  If you want the best speed and retention then we highly recommend their service.

3. XLned

XLned

XLned is all about value.  They offer some of the best prices we’ve seen from a leading European Usenet service.  As you can see XLned’s prices start at just €2,99 a month with even lower pricing on 6 month and annual plans.  XLned doesn’t have the higher retention that Eweka offers but they still have two and a half years of binaries.  The XLned plans are based on speed with caps ranging from 2.5 Mbit up to 120 Mbit.

XLned offers five plans with varying speed caps:

  • XL Lite 2.5 Mbit  – €2,99 a month
  • XL Small 5 Mbit – €4,99 a month
  • XL Basic 10 Mbit – €5,99 a month
  • XL Plus 20 Mbit – €6,99 a month
  • XL Gold 120 Mbit – €9,99 a month

4. Pure Usenet

Pure Usenet

Pure Usenet offers more retention than XLned but they are still quite a ways behind Eweka.  Like most Dutch providers, PureUsenet offers speed capped plans.  The difference being that they also offer an uncapped plan for € 8,29 a month.  For that price I would go with the Eweka € 7,50 a month deal for 10 Mbit but if you need even more speed then Pure Usenet is a good choice.  The service is fast and reliable.

Pure Usenet offers six plans based on speed:

  • Pure XS 4 Mbps  – €1,83 a month
  • Pure S 8 Mbps  – €2,63 a month
  • Pure M 20 Mbps  – €3,43 a month
  • Pure L 30 Mbps  – €4,23 a month
  • Pure XL 60 Mbps  – €5,03 a month
  • Pure XXL unlimited  – €6,63 a month

5. UsenetBucket

Usenet Bucket

UsenetBucket is similar to SnelNL in terms of binary retention.  The difference is they do not offer a Usenet client.  You’ll find they offer some accounts with slower speeds for a lower cost.  Along with a super fast 400 Mbit account for a more premium price.  As with all the services on our list, UsenetBucket offers free SSL with their accounts.  They are also one of the only providers that accepts Bitcoin payments.

Here’s a quick look at the UsenetBucket plans:

  • Basic Bucket 10 Mbit – €2,95 for 30 days
  • Comfort Bucket 40 Mbit – €4,95 for 30 days
  • Ultimate Bucket 400 Mbit – €12,95 for 30 days

6. SnelNL

SnelNL

SnelNL is great for users who want a Dutch service with an integrated newsreader.  You can use the SnelNL client to search newsgroups, download, repair and extract content.  It will even preview audio and video files.  The service costs €7,95 a month for speeds up to 60 Mbit.  They have some different account options with speed ranging from 5 Mbps all the way up to 120 Mbps.  SnelNL also offers a 3 day, 1 GB free trial.

SnelNL offers three plans based on speed:

  • Small 5 Mbit  – €3,95 for 30 days
  • Basic 60 Mbit – €6,95 for 30 days
  • Fast 120 Mbit – €8,95 for 30 days

7. XS Usenet

XS Usenet

XS Usenet is best known for their free newsgroup accounts.  They have changed quite a bit over time though.  With several limitations.  The free service is limited to 1 Mbit speeds and 10 days of binary retention.  That might work for some quick fills if you’re going for new content.  If so grab a free account.  Otherwise they offer premium unlimited plans with speed caps ranging from 3 Mbit up to 120 Mbit.

XS Usenet premium unlimited speed capped plans are as follows:

  • 10 mbit – €3,19 a month
  • 25 mbit – €5,19 a month
  • 50 mbit – €7,29 a month
  • 100 mbit – €8,99 a month
  • 150 mbit – €9,99 a month
  • 200 mbit – €13,99 a month

I hope you’ve enjoyed our list of the top European (Dutch) Usenet providers.  If you have others you’d like to recommend please contact us via Twitter.  We’ll continue to test services and update our list.

Free XS Usenet Drops Retention and SSL

Back in April we wrote about changes to the XS Usenet free plan.  Including a download cap of 25 GB a month.  We speculated at the time that XS Usenet might be focused on steering free users over to premium accounts.  Their recent changes seem to point in that direction.  As XS Usenet is now limiting free users to 10 days of binary retention and the plan no longer supports SSL connections.  Making the free service far less useful.

Let’s take a look at what XS Usenet free accounts looked like at the beginning of 2012 versus now:

  • Previous – 400 days retention, SSL, 1 Mbps speed, no download limit
  • Current – 10 days retention, no SSL, 1 Mbps speed, 25 GB download limit

As you can see their free Usenet account use to be a good offer.  Especially for backups and fills.  It looks like a lot of users signed up as XS Usenet recently mentioned on Twitter that they’re nearing 200,000 users.  Now it looks like they’re working hard to convert all those non-paying members to premium customers.

We’ve heard from some members who feel like XS Usenet pulled a bait and switch.  While we agree their free service isn’t all that useful anymore please remember that it’s still free.  With no strings attached.  You can walk away at anytime without owing anything.  You’ll find some really good alternatives for under $10 a month.

XS Usenet accounts are priced at €6.99 a month.  The homepage lists ‘as low as €2.99′ but that only covers their 2-day account.  So the equivalent cost in dollars is around $9 a month for 900 days of binary retention.  That combination of price and retention makes it hard for XS Usenet to compete with the larger services.  Not to mention they lack the network infrastructure and redundancy offering by leading tier-1 Usenet providers.

Here’s a quick look at some current Usenet specials to compare features and value:

In April we recommended keeping free XS Usenet accounts until restrictions impeded the usage.  At this point their free plan is almost useless.  We recommend you sign up for one of the providers listed above or read some reviews and compare all your options.  Then consider a good block account for a backup and fills.

Visit Newsgroup Reviews to learn more about Usenet.  Follow us @NewsgroupRevs for the best Usenet deals.

Free XS Usenet Speed and Bandwidth Caps

Last Fall we introduced NGR Blog readers to XS Usenet and their free accounts.  At the time their free plan was restricted to 1 Mbps download speeds.  Since then we’ve had positive feedback from those who frequent the service and enjoy the free access.  However, XS Usenet recently made a change to their free plan.  Setting a cap of 25 GB of downloads a month.  Might this be the first step in steering free users over to premium plans?

Everything else about the free XS Usenet accounts are the same.  They still offer 2 connections and up to 1 Mbps download speeds.  With SSL encrypted connections and up to 400 days of binary retention.  Sign ups still just require an email address.  The only difference is the new limit of 25 GB of downloads a month.

While the publicity of offering free accounts likely helps XS Usenet build their brand, they still need paying members.  For that reason we’re guessing the new 25 GB limit is the first step in persuading free users to consider premium accounts.  Something that is less appealing given their retention level and cost.

XS Usenet accounts are priced at €6.99 a month.  The homepage lists ‘as low as €2.99’ but that only covers their 2-day account.  So the equivalent cost in dollars is around $9.15 a month for 400 days of binary retention and 12 connections.  That combination of price and retention makes it hard for XS Usenet to compete.

Let’s quickly compare the XS Usenet premium accounts to some other unlimited Usenet plans:

Our recommendation is to enjoy the free XS Usenet accounts but keep an eye out for future restrictions.  If it gets to the point where the limitations impede your usage then consider all your options.

Visit Newsgroup Reviews to learn more about Usenet.  Follow us @NewsgroupRevs for the latest specials.

XS Usenet Offers 1 Mbit Free Account in The Netherlands

Over the Labor Day weekend we heard from an NGR fan in the Netherlands.  They shared a new free Usenet offer with us and in turn we would like to share it with our readers.  Please understand that we do not have any connection with XS Usenet.  Nor have we tested the service so we can’t vouch for their reliability.  Regardless, XS Usenet appears to be offering free 1 Mbit accounts in The Netherlands.   You can visit their homepage – http://www.xsusenet.com/en/ for more information and to sign up for free 1 Mbit Usenet access.

As mentioned above we don’t have any experience with the XS Usenet service.  From visiting the site we see they offer the free account which is speed capped at 1 Mbit.  Along with a 100 Mbit premium account.  They support 600 days of binary retention.  We did not see any information in regards to SSL on the site.

It looks like XS Usenet is available to users in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.  They accept both PayPal and iDeal payments.  If you are looking for a premium European Usenet provider with higher retention then check out Eweka.  They offer unlimited Usenet with 1,100+ days of binaries for €7,50 a month.

Visit Newsgroup Reviews to learn more about Usenet.  Including the latest provider updates, binary retention stats, added features, free trials and special offers.  Follow us @NewsgroupRevs for the latest Usenet news.