This is the error that the Giganews Usenet server gives if you connect from more than one IP address at a time:
481 (remote) gn;gnXXXXXX: max number of simultaneous IP addresses reached
Your account number will be in place of the XXXXXX.
Giganews is just trying to keep people from sharing accounts, which you have to expect. However, you could get this error innocently. Suppose that you have a LAN with two computers attached. Normally, you can download with both computers simultaneously because Giganews only sees the IP address of your router.
However, if you leave one computer downloading, and then dial into a VPN with the other, you will get the error when you start up your second Usenet client program. The outside world can no longer see your IP address, but rather the IP assigned by the VPN.
So, to Giganews, it now looks like there are two different users, in two different locations, trying to use the same account. This will happen even with Giganews’s own VPN service.
You might be able to solve this problem by logging both computers onto the VPN. However, if your VPN company uses a lot of IPs, your second computer may still have a different IP address. If so, contact them and see if there is a way to have the same IP assigned to any computers logging on with your account credentials.