Usenet completion guide

Best USENET completion

The most important factor in selecting the best newsgroup server provider is the completion of its USENET network. If you are planning to download binaries at all, article completion rates are essentials.

What is "USENET Completion"? or “completion rate" or "completeness rate”?

Newsgroup completion is the number of articles and files that a certain USENET server will have compared to the number of articles and files available. Technically speaking, all of the USENET servers recommended by NGProvider are capable of 99% newsgroup completion. All the Newsgroup companies have solid peering relationships with each other (High quality world-wide newsfeed exchange) so barring any kind of system crashes, all USENET providers can get all the articles.

It’s important to note that a completion rate is not exact (All USENET providers claim high completion rates—>99%). It’s always an estimated number, because nobody knows for sure exactly how many articles are available at any given time. Occasionally a whole group of articles may be missing. Even if you choose an excellent USENET provider you will still have completion issues from time to time. Many in the USENET community are wondering why completion rates seem to be dropping and content disappearing from news servers.

Why it matters for Usenetters?

When it comes to selecting a USENET provider, choosing one with high completion rates is highly recommended. A higher completion rate indicates that a larger portion of requested posts will be accessible to you.

Sometimes it happens that your main USENET provider is missing some parts of your download

The biggest reason you'll encounter failed downloads are takedown notices. The post may be removed from servers due to copyright infringement (Notice & Takedown request). Notice and take down may vary from Jurisdiction to jurisdiction. But every USENET Service Provider must respect the laws of the country (or international law) in which it is based.

➩ Jurisdiction determines Policy for retrieving copyrighted files (DMCA = USA // NTD = Netherlands - because dutch USENET do not have DMCA takedowns like US providers).

➩ DMCA: In the Unites States, USENET providers have the official statute of Common Carriers (Operate as a telecommunications service) which gives them legal immunity: they are not responsible for the content existing on the network. However, they are required to remove a file within 48 hours if the DMCA requests them to do so for X reasons. All USA providers have to comply with DMCA takedowns.

➩ NTD: In The Netherlands, the DMCA does not exist (NO DMCA USENET), but there is something similar. Dutch USENET providers have their own version. It's called: NTD Gedragscode (NOTD: Notice and Take Down). European USENET servers have around 5 business days to remove infringing material once noticed (NTD compliance).

The post you are trying is out of your server's retention. All news servers keep data for a limited time so the post is older than your server’s retention capacity. Retention and completion go hand in hand. The longer a post is stored, the higher the completion rate. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is choosing a USENET provider that doesn’t have a high retention rate. This means you won’t get access to a complete and growing database of USENET posts. High retention rates are important as it gives you access to more Newsgroup posts than a provider with limited retention.

Retention measures the number of days archived binary or text data is stored on a server, and is one of the most important features a provider can offer because a higher retention number means more access to more articles, more successful searches, and more complete downloads.

▶ ▶ Importance of Usenet Retention and Completion in choosing a Usenet provider ◀ ◀
Technical problem (Hardware failure).

Propagation issues, the content has not been completely propagated on the USENET server you are downloading from, this will only happen on new content (less than an hour old and mostly on sundays). Sometimes posts appear anytime up to 5 hours after they were originally posted. This can cause failed or incomplete downloads for some users.

How to improve Usenet completion rate?

NZB sites are the key to improve completion. If you want to avoid incomplete files, your first strategy is having multiple USENET indexers. From my experience, having multiple USENET indexers is the Best way to avoid incomplete downloads. Several USENET indexers give you access to different files. Having multiple USENET indexers increase your chances of finding NZBs that are still online. A good NZB Site could drastically improve your completion rates because NZB Sites are now using obfuscated USENET. Here are good Usenet indexers that support obfuscation. Usenet is now stealth!

If NZB Sites don’t always solve your incomplete USENET files, try adding a block account. Having a good NZB Site and a USENET combo will almost always ensure 100% completion of all the downloads. I would say that a combination of both strategies is ideal.

Best Usenet completion

Best USENET providers that offer good completion

  • EWEKA completion - Best for High Completion Rates

Eweka operates Independent server farms with excellent completion rates and impressive retention

Eweka provides an excellent service. Our favorite european provider. Eweka is a Dutch Tier 1 USENET provider based in Alkmaar, Netherlands so Eweka is under jurisdiction Dutch law (NTD procedure). Generally, it is better to sign up for USENET service providers based in Europe because European based servers are not subject to US DMCA laws, but they are subject to NTD requests. Based in the Netherlands helps to maximize completion rates.

Also Eweka binary retention is 5,400 days. The longer a post is stored, the higher the completion rate. When it come to retention and completion, Eweka hosts files longer and better than the majority of European USENET servers.

So Eweka is a TOP choice if completion rates is your top priority. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to find a USENET provider with a better completeness rate. We tested retention and completion by grabbing binary files from 2011 to 2023, and Eweka downloaded all of them. 

  • NEWSHOSTING completion

Remarkable 99.9% download completion rate and industry-leading rention

Newshosting is a US based USENET access provider and follows DMCA notice. However I haven't had huge issues with completion. If you combine Newshosting with NZB sites, you are all set. With a good indexer I feel that completion is a non issue.

Newshosting also provides access to over 11 years of binary retention -- Newshosting provides the best USENET retention in the industry. Newshosting continues to add storage capacity for more retention. With this quality of retention, you get access to a complete database of USENET posts. Compared to low retention USENET providers Newshosting gives you access to more USENET posts (difference of billions of posts). Low retention USENET providers provide a small fraction of the posts available from Newshosting.

We tested retention and completion by grabbing binary files from 2011 to 2023. Newshosting fetched them all.

  • USENETSERVER completion

High-quality binary retention and superior completion rates

UsenetServer maintains a near perfect 99.5%+ completion rate thanks to:

UsenetServer owns and operates its own Tier-1 network with worldwide server locations.

UsenetServer connects to multiple high-quality backbone providers and the largest ISPs in the world.

UsenetServer is fully compatible with Obfuscated files. It is still possible to only have one Newsgroup service provider for downloading. You don't need to have lots of Usenet Service providers from different backbones to download on Usenet. You just need to subscribe to a lot of NZB Sites. NZB Sites with obfuscated files will almost always ensure 100% completion of all the downloads. The following are popular NZB indexing sites with complicated files: NZBGeek - NZBFinder. The completion rates of the Stealth version of Usenet is very high.

UsenetServer subscribers also can access binary files that were posted to Usenet newsgroups up to 5,400 days ago and spooling work (Spooling: refers to retention growing daily). UsenetServer maximizes your chances of a successful download. Compared to low-end providers with only about 1 year of retention, you get access to more than billions more posts with UsenetServer. Low-end providers offer 100 to 1,100 days of retention, which is only a a fraction of Usenet history.

During our test, UsenetServer scored highly for completion and retention rates.

If you’re not sure about USENETSERVER you can test it for 14 days before making your final decision.

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☛ TEST USENETSERVER
  • TWEAKNEWS completion

Ideal for users looking to make sure they're able to access all USENET articles they want

Last but not least, Tweaknews is another awesome USENET provider to consider. Tweaknews offers one of the best completion rates on the market, thanks to:

Tweaknews is a Netherlands-based Usenet provider. Tweaknews follows NTD policy. Based in the Netherlands helps to maximize completion rates.

TweakNews also offers five block packages (Their blocks have no time limit so you don’t have to worry about them expiring).

Tweaknews offers 4,500+ days of binary retention. You basically use it as a backup for when your primary account doesn't have what you're looking for.

MBG

During our test, we were able to find all posts on their servers.

  • NEWSGROUPDIRECT completion - Usenet Provider with multiple backbones access

Newsgroupdirect uses multiple Usenet backbones at the same time. Its “Triple Play” plan includes access to the Usenetexpress backbone, GN backbone and the Farm backbone. Using multiple backbones gives you access to a wider range of files.

The most effective way to improve Usenet coverage is using a Usenet provider connected themselves to multiple backbones.

Triple Play offers unlimited downloads, 100 Connections, SSL Encryption, up to 4,200 days of binary retention (via UsenetExpress backbone - Each backbone has their own independent retention) and Ghost Path VPN Access.

  • USENETEXPRESS completion

UsenetExpress is a US based Tier 1 USENET service provider with 4,200 days of binary retention and follows DMCA notice. UsenetExpress makes a big promise on the completion rate front, guaranteeing users 99% completion.

UenetExpress also has block account. It's cheap (500 GB / $20) and I'm used it to fill in completeness. For your backup account to be effective, you need your backup provider to pull from a separate USENET backbone. There are too many providers to list here, but check out this map for a good overview of USENET providers and Backbones.

  • VIPERNEWS completion

Vipernews offers USENET service in the Netherlands, theoretically should give you the best completion chances possible:

Vipernews is an independent provider with servers in the Netherlands. Vipernews is subject to NTD requests.

You can now buy a 500GB block account at Vipernews.com for just € 13.99. A backup block account improves completion.