Free Usenet servers luckily do exist for those who want a very occasional usage because they are unreliable and unrepresentative of the wider network. The Usenet network is stable, secure, complete (binary and text) and fast.
Want to try out Usenet for free?
There are a small amount of Usenet servers that offer free access to newsgroups. Some are servers still in beta testing, others offer limited free access to promote their paying service. But these servers are not up to the standard of the premium ones: They have reduced or capped speed - Unsupported groups - Lower retention - Unstable access - No SSl
Free Usenet Beta Access
reader.5eurousenet.com - Beta Usenet Access
5euroUsenet is a part of SnelNL (reader.5eurousenet.com = test.snelnl.com)
Free Usenet beta test
Host: reader.5eurousenet.com
Port: 80 (SSL), 81 (SSL), 119, 443, 563 (SSL)
Connections: 20
SSL: YES
Retention: 2600 days of retention
Bandwidth limit: NO
Account Sharing: NO
Setting up in Spotnet: How to setup in Spotnet
Spotweb is a Dutch system. Different programmes exist like Spotlite, Sponet 2.0 or web-based versions.
My favourite programme from Spotweb is Spotnet 2.0. The interface is great, translated into English, and you can search for films by category or thanks to a search engine. Users post a Spot including a SPOT file to download, an explanatory image and a description of the file.
Spotnet 2.0 uses NZBGet as a Newsreader for downloading, repairing and decompressing.
Free Usenet Newsgroup Access
test.xennanews.com - Best Free Usenet provider
test.xennanews.com is part of Xennanews 
(Xennanews is a sister company of XSNews 
)
Xennanews corporate offices are based in Germany
test.xennanews.com servers (XSnews network) are located in Holland
Looking for XSNews reseller?
UsenetBucket (Newsgroup provider located in Holland ) has Premium account as low as 2.95 €/Monthly - Usenetbucket is on the XSnews network
Host: test.xennanews.com
test.xennanews.com is still free, but requires a registration. Every now and then Xennanews gives away a hundred or so accounts. The first to subscribe are the lucky winners. As soon as we hear of a giveaway we publish it on our homepage and on twitter.
Port: 119 (SSL:563)
Connections: 3
Speed: 5 Mbit
SSL: YES
Retention: It's about 60 days of retention
Bandwidth limit: NO
Account Sharing: NO
test.xennanews.com Review
An account with them is a real advantage. It is the best free Usenet server and everyone wants an account. For a free Usenet, it works really well, with the speed sometimes uneven or reduced but never to the point of being annoying. Retention is satisfactory and using the XSNews servers uniquely dedicated to test.xennanews.com allows them to eventually complete any missing files.
XSUSENET - Free binary Usenet servers
Corporate offices are based in Sweden 
Servers are located in USA (UNS Holdings Backbone) 
Looking for Non US-based Usenet providers
Eweka - Best Dutch Usenet provider - You can enjoy unlimited Usenet access with free SSL and speeds up to 100 Mbit from just €7,50 a month
Looking for a low cost newsgroup service ?
ExtremeUsenet (Newsgroup provider located in Holland) has Premium account as low as 4€/Monthly and only 38.40 €/ YearlyHost: free.xsusenet.com
User: Enter the login information you received
Pass: Enter the login information you received
Port: 119
Connections: 2 Connections Maximum
Speed: 1 Mbit
SSL: NO
Retention: 10 days
Bandwidth limit: NO
Posting: NO
Account Sharing: NO
XSUsenet Review
XSUsenet is mainly known for its free Usenet access which is very popular.
This server also offers a paying Usenet service (If you follow their twitter account or facebook page they often have discount coupons as well). Their prices are calculated on your connection speed (Flatrate Usenet accounts), as some other Dutch USPs like ExtremeUsenet do. The servers used are from the major backbone UNS Holdings, based in the USA.
For a paying service we feel comfortable recommending NewsHosting which is a Tier-1 Provider with retention of 2600 days, an excellent Newsreader, no limits on speed or data, and VPN for $99/year.
Newshosting is the most used, popular Usenet Provider. Not too surprising given the quality and value of their service.