Newsgroup access questions

[Dan Mitchell]

The speed is great, but my new cable ISP's NG service leaves a lot to be desired. Didn't think it could be done, but they may even be worse that the old dialup service. So I'm wondering what some alternate NG services might be. I especially like to download music binaries from the various mp3 NG 's. With this & my previous NG service however, about 75% - 80% of these large attachment postings are missing segments, rendering the useless. I have heard there are ng-only subscription services which provide much better service in terms of number of ngs carried, how long they retain messages, and ability/willingness to carry large messages (i.e., those with binary attachments). Has anyone had experience with any of these? With what I'm paying for cable, I wouldn't want to spent much more for NG 's. Also, about how many NG 's ARE THERE??? My previous dial up server hosted about 59,000 NG 's, my current cable one slightly fewer. Any comments or referrals to good ng info sites appreciated. BTW, I looked briefly at the Usenet page, from what I can tell they want ~$40/month for NG access there. JEEEESSSHHHHH!

TIA

Dan