The original post: /r/usenet by /u/WaffleKnight28 on 2024-11-04 16:18:52.

Make sure you aren't being currently overcharged:

• Check to see when your membership renews from last year. You do not want to renew a day before black Friday if the deals are better this year.
• Check your current membership to see if the price has been raised. You may not even know it.
• Check to make sure you are not currently paying something crazy for your existing subscription. If so, cancel it now and get a better deal.
• If you were price raised, look for a better deal. Many were price raised as much as $24/year which is less than what some providers are offering now.

Finding the right Black Friday Deal:

• If you sign up for a deal that renews for a higher rate than the signup price, cancel that as soon as you sign up. Black Friday deals seem to be getting better every year.
• Wait until Black Friday to purchase, that is when the deals are all available and you can make your best choice.
• Blocks are your friend if you are not a heavy user. A 1TB block will go a long way for a lot of people.
• Some providers do price matching.
• You do not need a block and an unlimited account on the SAME backbone. This is marketing fluff.
• Some providers offer access to multiple backbones.
• You do not need VPN with usenet unless you are posting. More marketing fluff.

Best Practices for Choosing Provider:

• Multiple indexers and multiple backbones provides the absolute best setup if you want to fully experience usenet.
• There are two types of takedowns, DMCA and NTD.
• NTD and DMCA both get the same take downs but some take longer to remove. This is also true of some backbones. Some backbones remove within minutes or hours of the post.
• Some providers have reps on this board who help out. Ask them questions if you need.
• If you only use automation, you can probably just look for the cheapest provider since all providers are really good when used with automation.
• Consider supporting resellers (sites that are not owned by the backbones). Resellers have been a part of usenet for a very long time and are being driven out of the market. They have the same service as the main providers and often provide a more personalized experience. Usenet needs to be diverse to survive.
• Do not pay attention to online review sites or ratings. Those are sometimes (usually) paid for. Real users giving real experiences is more accurate.
• Almost everything is reposted ever so often. With the right backbone/indexer coverage, you are likely to find most everything except the most obscure items.

Indexers:

• This is the time of year to get into a lot of indexers who are not usually open. Create a list of the indexers you are interested in and pay attention.
• You really need to use the "*arr suite" and rely on automation as much as possible.