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Giganews Reviews

Giganews Reviews

By Leo S. Leo S. Verified by Sander D. Sander D. Last updated: July 11, 2024User Reviews (0)
Overall
4/5
(4)
Features
(3.5)
Price
(4)
Customer Service
Pros
  • Great download speeds
  • Great text and binary retention
  • 110,000+ newsgroups
  • SSL encryption + VPN
  • Prompt customer support
Cons
  • No refunds
  • Limited trial accounts
Table of contents

Giganews was created in 1994 and it grew steadily to become one of the biggest Usenet services of our days. In fact, the company is not limited to providing Usenet services and likes to make sure you have the best experience by adding VyprVPN and all its VPN features to the deal, without forgetting other shiny exclusives like Giganews Accelerator or their multi-platform Usenet browser called Mimo. Giganews has plans for all tastes and wallets and all of them come with a nice 14-day free trial that you should certainly put to good use to dive in the complex world that Usenet can be. However, make note that the amount of features offered will depend on the plan you choose. In addition, you can also visit the Giganews website’s control panel to edit personal settings, view Usenet usage and manage your VyprVPN account among other details.

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Features

Features
Retention time
4,994 days
Bandwidth
Unlimited
Rollover gigs
Usenet browser
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As mentioned, Giganews offers more than just a Usenet service as it provides extra exclusive features both to increase your arsenal of tools as well as to guarantee you the best security level. With 110,000+ newsgroups available and more than 6 and 8 years of binary and text retention respectively, Giganews’ service is one of the most complete. Without further ado, the following are just some of the main features you’ll have available when using Giganews.

Exclusive features

To start with, in order to access the Usenet, a specific browser is required. Giganews’ one is called Mimo and despite the fact that it’s not very appealing from an aesthetics point of view, it behaves pretty well, delivering what is asked. It’s simple and very easy to use, since it was designed specifically according to Giganews’ multi-year retention features. Its setup is a breeze without any major details to look at, and once you’re ready to use it you can opt for different type of searches: you can either search for all results or specific newsgroups or choose between the NZBIndex.nl Usenet and Mimo Usenet search engines. Each one of these will display a different type of results and you can also filter your search according to text, binaries and images to fully correspond to your Usenet needs at the time.

VyprVPN

Another great feature is a VyprVPN account that you get for free included in the Diamond and Platinum plans. This is a pure VPN tool that’s not exclusive for the Usenet client as it will protect your entire computer. The plan you choose will dictate how vast the offer is but you can get as much as 2 VPN connections, numerous different protocols including ChameleonVyprDNS and more. Last but not least, there’s also the Giganews Accelerator, a free built-in technology that will help you download everything faster, being especially useful when transferring entire newsgroups’ content.

Network

VPN network
EU servers
U.S. servers
Logs
n/a
# newsgroups
110

In what the Giganews network is concerned, first of all it is important to make it clear that the company doesn’t outsource. In other words, Giganews operates its own servers, not reselling them as third party ones, besides writing the code and building the network itself. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, the company has 110k+ newsgroups and, thanks to its Giganews Accelerator, download speeds are fast and stable. According to the company, there are 4 server locations between North America and Europe and all of them have 100% uptime, with no maintenance outages. However, one of the greatest aspects is the multi-year retention that Giganews’ servers offer, more precisely 6+ years for binary and 8.5+ years for text.

Mimo Usenet by Giganews

Privacy protection

Privacy protection
SSL
VPN

To clarify Giganews’ privacy protection it would be rather foolish not to start with VyprVPN, one of the best additions to the service. In fact, as we mentioned this is one of the top VPN providers offered to you for free if you opt for one of the most complete plans. It will protect your entire computer with the best encryptions and includes protocols such as PPTP, OpenVPN, L2TP/IPSec and the shiny Chameleon. But that’s not it as VyprDNS and a NAT firewall are included too. Regarding the company’s own privacy policy, you can rest assured your details are in good hands as Giganews doesn’t sell the collected data (login details and billing information) to any third parties. Furthermore, all Usenet connections are encrypted with 256-bit SSL although their website doesn’t feature valid HTTPS.

What is important to note about Giganews’ privacy policy and user protection is that it holds a “Two Strikes and You’re Out Policy”. This means that anytime the company receives a second DMCA Notice for a repeated abuser having posted an infringing article, it will ban all posts from the corresponding abuser’s account or even close it for good.

Pricing

One of Giganews’ main characteristics is the amount of different plans it has available and your choice will dictate how many features you’ll have at your disposal. With this being said, the so-called limited Usenet plans are divided in three: PearlBronze and Silver. None of these include VyprVPN and the number of connections is limited to 20, as well as the monthly access, which will never be higher than Silver’s 50GB. Pearl is the cheapest one, being priced at $4.99 per month, besides being the most limited one too – retention days are capped to only 30 for instance.

Moving on, then we have the unlimited Usenet plans, the most complete ones. There are two choices you can make: Platinum and Diamond, the latter being the most popular one. Costing $14.99 the first month and $29.99 per month in the following months, Diamond gives you unlimited monthly access, complete retention days, some impressive 50 connections and a subscription to VyprVPN Pro. Regarding the other unlimited plan, Platinum has the same 20 connections as the limited Usenet plans, with the addition of VyprVPN Basic. This one costs $19.99 per month and doesn’t include a discount for the first month.

You can pay using credit cards or PayPal only and you can count on a 14-day free trial on every single plan. Besides trial users not being allowed to post and accounts being limited to Usenet, this is a nice touch by the company, since once you decide what plan to purchase your deal is made as there’s no money back guarantee or refunds.

To end with, there’s a nice friend referral program that can earn you as much as $29.99 for each friend as long as they stay customers for at least one month. You can later use the credits either for upgrading to a better plan or to enjoy a couple months for free.

Payment options
Visa
Mastercard
American Express
Discover
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Customer service

Customer support
24/7
Live chat
Email
Phone
Show all

Customer service is another one of the positive points of Giganews: the company makes it clear that it provides 24/7 support whenever needed. In fact, you can contact the team in a variety of ways, either using the always-handy ticket submission platform or by accessing the live chat in under a few minutes. You should also pay a visit to the FAQ page and to the blog where you’ll find the latest articles regarding the company in particular and Usenet as a whole. Last but not least, Giganews is also present and quite active on social media, namely Facebook and Twitter, but Google+ too. The company’s YouTube page is also very useful since this is where you’ll find the tutorial videos that compose Giganews’ so-called Usenet University.

Bottom line

To conclude our journey to the world of UsenetGiganews is truly one of the world’s industry leaders. In fact, while testing the service there’s not much we can point fingers at, as download speeds are pretty fast and stable. Binary and text retention days are also quite high and the fact that all Usenet connections are protected with 256-bit SSL encryption is nothing but sweet, assuring safe access to over 110,000 newsgroups. However, some may consider it quite the costly service, particularly when opting for the lighter and limited plans. On the other hand, when opting for Diamond considering all the added tools such as the free VyprVPN subscription, its specially designed Usenet browser Mimo and Giganews Accelerator it adds to the bargain, the $29.99 monthly cost is not that expensive at all. Not to mention the free 14-day free trial and the 50% off the first month.

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