topic Re: Newsgroup not connecting in Everything else

Newsgroup not connecting

Muddymike — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 08:53:31 GMT

Plusnet help staff are unable to work out why my connection to News.plus.net for newsgroups access fails to connect. It’s been working perfectly via Thunderbird for years, as far as I can see nothing has changed my end.
Plusnet technicians have admitted defeat and told me to seek an answer here.

Any ideas?

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

bobpullen — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 09:06:42 GMT

Are you connecting from the Plusnet network? e.g. not via a VPN or an external Internet connection. The service is IP authenticated.

Have you tried removing and recreating the news account in Thunderbird?

Exactly what is happening when you try and connect?

What happens if you open a command line window and try to connect to the server by doing: -

telnet news.plus.net 119

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

Muddymike — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 12:52:25 GMT

I only use Plusnet I’ll try the command line test when next on my PC, no idea how or if I can do that from this iPhone!

Sometimes it connects but only message headers download, sometimes it doesn’t connect or download anything.
Mike

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

Muddymike0 — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 16:56:39 GMT

After many failed attempts I’ve at last managed to re register and access this forum.
I’ve tried posting the telnet thing in the command window on my pc but just get an error message saying telnet is not a recognised command. I’ve got a screenshot but can’t work out how to attach it here!

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

jab1 — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:04:54 GMT

@Muddymike0 To insert the screenshot into a post, select the icon to the right of the 'smiley' above the reply window, and follow instructions.

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

Dan_the_Van — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:13:29 GMT

@Muddymike0

How to enable telnet in windows https://www.makeuseof.com/enable-telnet-windows/

HTH

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

Muddymike0 — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:32:17 GMT

I don’t have a smiley above the reply window. I have “Menu” but there’s no option in there to add an image! I’m connected using my iPhone.

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

jab1 — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:34:38 GMT

Select the 'desktop' option - click the 'hamburger' to do so.

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

Muddymike0 — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:34:54 GMT

Tried following the instructions in your link but I get lots of warnings of it being unsafe so backed out.
Why is this necessary? I only want my newsgroups to work as they have for years!

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

Muddymike0 — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:37:21 GMT

Hamburger????

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

jab1 — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:37:48 GMT

Very strange. Can't explain the 'unsafe' warnings, so I'll back out and leave this to @Dan_the_Van

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

jab1 — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:41:28 GMT

@Muddymike0 wrote:
Hamburger????

OK. Which browser are you using on the phone? i use Firefox, it may be different if you are using Safari.

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

Muddymike0 — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:43:11 GMT

Safari

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

jab1 — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:49:41 GMT

OK - in that case I have no idea - just looked and can't find an option to select the desktop site on there.

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

Dan_the_Van — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:57:07 GMT

If you are looking to post the error message you got when trying telnet then I wouldn't bother as I've given you the answer.

The purpose of telnet is to confirm your pc can contact the newgroup server on port 119

Which version of windows are you using?

Snipping Tool is handy to take screenshots in Windows.

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

jab1 — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:58:11 GMT

@Dan_the_Van He's using an Apple phone, apparently.

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

Dan_the_Van — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 18:17:23 GMT

@jab1

I thought he was having issues with telnet in a windows command shell and he then had issues posting the error message which you were assisting with or I might be wrong.

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

jab1 — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 18:21:35 GMT

Dan, so did I, until I read the last few posts. Unfortunately, I use Firefox on all my devices, so have no knowledge of Safari on Apple.

Wish I'd not bothered trying to help, to be honest.

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

Dan_the_Van — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 18:30:50 GMT

John, all I was saying telnet needs to be enabled in windows.

@Muddymike0

You can try putty if you are worried about the error messages https://putty.org/

create a session as such

If you managed that bit you'll see

Dan

Re: Newsgroup not connecting

Muddymike0 — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 18:33:41 GMT

This is getting confusing. I started this request for help on advice from Plusnet help staff who are unable to fix my newsgroups connection.
The telnet (whatever that is) bit only came up when someone here advised trying to connect to it, the image attachment problem (which I still don’t see a way of doing on my iPhone) only came up when I wanted to post a screenshot of the telnet error message.