topic Re: usenet.plus.net in Everything else

usenet.plus.net

Stoker — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 17:18:08 GMT

Are there any other dinosaurs like me who access usenet news groups via the usenet.plus.net server?

For some reason my newsreader (Thunderbird) has just today started asking me for a username/password for the server. These were never needed before; I thought all Plusnet ip addresses were accepted by the upstream (Giganews ?) server without needing authentication.

Either way, it won't accept my "normal" Plusnet credentials.

Re: usenet.plus.net

darjeelingf — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 17:22:42 GMT

Same for me. As soon as first group is selected, response "RC=480 [S] (authentication required), Line='480 authentication required'".

Mike.

Re: usenet.plus.net

Stoker — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 17:30:11 GMT

I just realised that pinging "usenet.plus.net" shows it's aliased to "europe.isp.giganews.com", so somehow Giganews are no longer accepting Plusnet traffic.

Re: usenet.plus.net

BrightonRock — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 17:36:54 GMT

I would guess that someone has misconfigured something at Giganews.

I wonder if @bobpullen could be persuaded to look into this.

Re: usenet.plus.net

BernardInSussex — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 18:49:35 GMT

usenet.plus.net not working for me either. Just get an ‘authentication required’ message.

Re: usenet.plus.net

36bits — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 18:50:13 GMT

Same issue here.

Re: usenet.plus.net

druck — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 22:04:33 GMT

I've raised a support ticket, I suggest everyone else does too, as it will only numbers of complains which have any chance of getting this fixed.

The raise a ticket page took some finding, try logging in to plus.net and follow:-

Help -> Contact us -> Make a complaint -> raise and online ticket

The link for me is https://www.plus.net/wizard/?p=wizard&page=22909&wizard_id=38

Re: usenet.plus.net

bobpullen — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 23:14:30 GMT

Same problem here:-

~$ telnet news.plus.net 119 Trying 216.166.97.131... Connected to europe.isp.giganews.com. Escape character is '^]'. 200 News.GigaNews.Com group plusnet.service.customer-feedback 480 authentication required

I've raised a support ticket with Giganews (ref: #4684139).

Re: usenet.plus.net

Jaggies — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 00:07:43 GMT

Just to add my name to the list of those also affected. Using news.plus.net here.

Re: usenet.plus.net

andrewww — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 08:26:49 GMT

Same here, using text.news.plus.net

Re: usenet.plus.net

Alex — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 08:40:02 GMT

Thanks Bob,

I am not sure if I am going over my sisters later today, but I probably will and I'll try it out.

Wondering if it some GeoIP thing?

I am currently at home on my Branson Media connection, but I don't suppose there is much I can do at the moment as I assume your servers won't like a non PlusNet IP?

Re: usenet.plus.net

iw6dgm — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 09:01:38 GMT

Alex,

AFAIK you cannot connect to Plusnet Usenet from a non-Plusnet network.

BTW it's happening to me too and, yes, I am a (proud) dinosaur still accessing Usenet...

Re: usenet.plus.net

Jaggies — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 09:25:11 GMT

Don't think it is Geo-related, as I have a static IP address. More likely Plusnet haven't paid the bill...

Re: usenet.plus.net

Alex — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 09:42:37 GMT

Thanks @iw6dgm

That's what I thought, I'll try it later on.

Re: usenet.plus.net

Bogbody — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 10:07:35 GMT

Add another usenet punter here.
Mine did that yesterday - however shutting down Thunderbird, waiting 5 mins and then restarting Thunderbird saw everything back to normal.
Not tried it yet today (isolating with the C word...... )

Re: usenet.plus.net

andyl — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 12:26:29 GMT

Yep I am another 'more established' user who has noticed this and raised an issue. Also another user who has a static IP.

For me it went down yesterday afternoon, and is still down.

Re: usenet.plus.net

Bogbody — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 13:04:01 GMT

I've just tried to access usnet using Thunderbird. I'm now being asked for a username and password.
So ... it's not working

Re: usenet.plus.net

bobpullen — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 13:45:28 GMT

@Jaggies wrote:

Don't think it is Geo-related, as I have a static IP address. More likely Plusnet haven't paid the bill...

We definitely have paid the bill.

Authentication is IP-based so you should never need to enter login credentials.

The allowed IP definitions look perfectly fine to me, so whatever the issue is - it is likely within Giganews' remit.

Re: usenet.plus.net

198kHz — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 14:19:06 GMT

@Jaggies wrote:

Just to add my name to the list of those also affected. Using news.plus.net here.

Just chipping in to show there are quite a few of us usenetters still around. 😉

Re: usenet.plus.net

Jaggies — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 16:02:46 GMT

Sorry, just being facetious...
I have a vague memory of something like this happening before, but can't recall the details. I mainly use news.individual.net, only using the Plusnet news server for the Plusnet groups, sparsely populated thoug they are these days.