To use ezGroups, you must have access to a Usenet server, so if your ISP doesn’t provide one, you can sign-up with Easynews. Usenet servers are very large, powerful, and complicated. And they are very expensive to operate, so your ISP or USP (Usenet Service Provider) do not allow just anybody to access their servers. So, contact your ISP/USP and ask for three things:
- The “Usenet Server URL”
- Your “Usenet Server Username”
- Your “Usenet Server Password”
Usenet servers are often called “news” servers, so if you are talking to your ISP and the person on the phone doesn’t know what Usenet is, try asking them for the “news server URL”, or tell them that you are trying to access “the newsgroups”.
On the ezGroups “Setup News Servers” window:
Name box: Enter the name of the server. It can be the name of your ISP/USP, or a nickname that you make up.
Server URL box: The server URL should look something like this: news.yourISP.com. Only your ISP/USP can tell you the URL, so if you don’t know it, you must contact them.
Username and Password boxes: Enter a user name and password if your ISP requires you to do so. Otherwise, make sure to leave them blank. If you fill them in when they are not required, you may not be able to log on to the server. Usenet servers often have a different username and password than those used to log on to your ISP, or retrieve your email. When in doubt, ask your ISP.
Port and SSL: Please see our Usenet Port & SSL Settings page.
ISPs often require that you be directly connected to their network in order to access their Usenet server – even if they give you a username and password. So, if you are mobile, but can’t connect like you just did at home, that might be the reason. Call your ISP and ask them.
Keep in mind that many ISP’s “throttle” their Usenet servers, just as they do with BitTorrent. In other words, they deliberately make them run slowly to reduce their network traffic. So, your ISP may provide you with a blazing fast internet connection, but a Usenet server that runs at a snail’s pace. With most ISP’s, the only way to get high performance is to also subscribe to a third-party Usenet service such as Easynews.