wideboyuk

How the hell do I connect to a newsgroup server?
Can i just use any old newsgroup server - eg news.btopenworld.com or do I have to subscribe?
I have tried my isp - news.totalise.co.uk and also the btopenworld one but it says connection refused?
I am accessing via a lan at work.

Any ideas please?

Jye

You usually need a user name and password to access news servers.

Try google groups http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&ie=UTF-8

wideboyuk

Thanks but i really want to be able to access via a newsgroup server.
My ISP (totalise) doesnt seem to be working.
Does anyone know of any others which I can use?

wideboyuk

should have said that i'm trying to access alt.binaries.mp3 groups.

Jye

Can i just use any old newsgroup server - eg news.btopenworld.com

No, newsgroup access isnt a free for all Im afraid, some ISP's dont even carry binaries, I know Freeserve dont.

You would need to sign up for something like Claranews to get full binary group access, I think its something like £20 a year.

albob

it's on NTL (for free), but I imagine you would need to be an
Ntl subscriber

IWatkins

Some ISP news servers only work if you "dial in" using your account. I.e. on Netcom, I can only access the news server (but don't need to login) only if I access the new server via Netcom's dial-in. If I try to connect via any other dial-up system it fails.

You say you are on a LAN at work ? Maybe you are seeing this problem, or more likely that the NNTP port (usually 119) to the server is enabled through your firewall system ?

Cheers

Ian