Anyone using IS newsgroups?

[Moederloos]

Thanks for the pointer to slyck.com moederloos, it got me pointed in the right direction!

Now a question for all your newsgroup boffs: I've got a mega-connection to IS through where I work, where international speeds of 400kb/sec on occassion are not unheard of (probably pulling directly from IS's cache), but I can't get more than 8kb/sec when pulling from news.is.co.za!

Any ideas? Something I could check from my side? I'm not sure if there could be a firewall-related cap? (But I doubt it)

Thanks in advance!

Day time speeds I get around 10-20kB. After hours etc, 50kB (ADSL 384 so this is good!).
What type of connection do you have? (ADSL etc)
What other users are there? (They might be hogs!)
What do you do when you get 400kB? (Browsing etc may well "burst")

 

[IntouchSA]

What type of connection do you have? (ADSL etc)

At work we have a 100Meg line into the IS backbone + access to IS's cache

What do you do when you get 400kB? (Browsing etc may well "burst")

Regular surfing / downloading...

Found out now from our sys admin that port 80 traffic goes over the 100Meg line, but the port 119 (news server, right?) goes over a 64k line

Now is there any way to configure GrabIt to use port 80 instead of 119 to talk to news.is.co.za? Because then I'll be styling!

 

[Moederloos]

Now is there any way to configure GrabIt to use port 80 instead of 119 to talk to news.is.co.za? Because then I'll be styling!

Doubt it - news.is.co.za listens on port 119.
I hear that a bottle of Jack Daniels can sometimes cause port 119 traffic to travel along a 100 meg line though...

 

[metatron]

when trying to connect to news.is.co.za using newsleecher it reports "offline(connect on demand)" still new to this

 

[IntouchSA]

I hear that a bottle of Jack Daniels can sometimes cause port 119 traffic to travel along a 100 meg line though...

LOL!!!

I think I should investigate & find out if there is any truth in that statement

I'm basically trying to familiarize myself with downloading from newsgroups etc so that when I * eventually * get my ADSL installed I know what I'm doing...

On that topic, who would be the better ISP for that? I'm going to be on a 192kbps connection...

 

[ant1b0dy]

At work we have a 100Meg line into the IS backbone + access to IS's cache



Regular surfing / downloading...

Found out now from our sys admin that port 80 traffic goes over the 100Meg line, but the port 119 (news server, right?) goes over a 64k line

Now is there any way to configure GrabIt to use port 80 instead of 119 to talk to news.is.co.za? Because then I'll be styling!

If you have access to a http proxy you could probably tunnel through it to the news server. (see http://www.htthost.com/)

 

[dabean]

99% completion is perfectly good - just make sure there are PAR files before you begin - I tend to download 5-20 blocks of PAR files first - If I get those, then 99.9% of all downloads work. One download needed arounf 60 blocks to repair - but the post was almost 60 days old! Even GigaNews rarely has complete posts around this age group.

(
for those needing technical FAQs, try
http://slyck.com/ng.php?page=6
)

PAR files are amazing. Couldn't believe it the first time I saw a 50 meg .rar rebuilt from scratch.

 

[Moederloos]

when trying to connect to news.is.co.za using newsleecher it reports "offline(connect on demand)" still new to this

You must be using IS ADSL or some other IS based account.

 

[IntouchSA]

If you have access to a http proxy you could probably tunnel through it to the news server. (see http://www.htthost.com/)

Thanks ant1b0dy - I had a quick look - the problem is trying to set up the htthost server somewhere outside the firewall

I guess I'll just have to live with the speed for now

 

[metatron]

You must be using IS ADSL or some other IS based account.

yup im on IS, i get the same response for any news server. Ive also disabled firewall.
Maybe something small im overlooking

 

[Moederloos]

yup im on IS, i get the same response for any news server. Ive also disabled firewall.
Maybe something small im overlooking

OK - lets try a few things:

from the command line, enter "telnet news.is.co.za 119" without the quotes.
You should see a welcome message - if so, all is well. If not, there is some comms problem - let us know what happens? (if you do connect, type quit when you get the chance to get out!)

 

[metatron]

i can telnet and i get welcome message. Is it a free news server or must u be registered

 

[metatron]

k, if i use outlook it works fine. So maybe there is an issue with that client.
will try a new one

 

[Moederloos]

i can telnet and i get welcome message. Is it a free news server or must u be registered

It is not so much "free", as for is customers only. Welcome message means you connected fine - if I try telnet from my SAIX account, it will not connect.

What settings are in the news reader - maybe there is some setting disallowing connections at specific times? Also, ensure you are not sending (or trying to send) logon info. Leave any such fields disabled (or empty if you cannot disable).

 

[BishopZA]

when trying to connect to news.is.co.za using newsleecher it reports "offline(connect on demand)" still new to this

1. Make sure your queue is not paused (File->Pause).
2. Make sure you're connected to the server (File-Connect).

 

[Gothan]

Ja the newest version of newsleecher (beta) is a bit on the stubborn side. It does not automatically connect, you first have to put things in your qeue, and then press the connect button, or press the connect button and then update the newsgroup, it does not connect automatically anymore

 

[ant1b0dy]

Thanks ant1b0dy - I had a quick look - the problem is trying to set up the htthost server somewhere outside the firewall

I guess I'll just have to live with the speed for now

You don't need to have the htthost server installed. Check the port mapping tab of httport - you'll see there's a 'microsoft news server' mapping already set up - just change the remote host to news.is.co.za, then set up your news reader to connect to localhost (after you start the httport proxy). It should work...

 

[IntouchSA]

You don't need to have the htthost server installed. Check the port mapping tab of httport - you'll see there's a 'microsoft news server' mapping already set up - just change the remote host to news.is.co.za, then set up your news reader to connect to localhost (after you start the httport proxy). It should work...

Thanks ant1b0dy. I installed HTTPort, changed the port mapping as you mentioned, then set up GrabIt to use a news server that's address was localhost:119

Then when trying to d/l a file I keep getting a "unable to connect to localhost:119" message.

Have I forgotten to click on something somewhere?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ant1b0dy]

Thanks ant1b0dy. I installed HTTPort, changed the port mapping as you mentioned, then set up GrabIt to use a news server that's address was localhost:119

Then when trying to d/l a file I keep getting a "unable to connect to localhost:119" message.

Have I forgotten to click on something somewhere?

Thanks in advance!

Make sure you click on httport's 'start proxy' (or something) button otherwise it wont be listening on port 119. Also grabit would need to be set up to connect to hostname 'localhost' (without quotes), not 'localhost:119', the port is entered separately on the news server config, which should be 119.

 

[tjomma]

I have contacted Vodacom to find out how to setup newsgroup access via 3G. So far they could not help me. I am trying to use any of the free news servers on the web. I cannot get connected at all. Not via Internet Destroyer News Reader or NBPro. Any suggestions? My 3G connection works fine as well as normal browsing.

We use IS as the internet SP at work. Will I be able to connect to IS news server with my work domain ID en password?