Re: Newsgroups and their messages

Tech-Archive recommends: Speed Up your PC by fixing your registry

From: Vanguard (see_signature)
Date: 01/09/05 

Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2005 15:24:43 -0600

By the way, after defining a news account that uses
newsgroups.comcast.net to use the Comcast authentication server to get
at the Comcast-contracted Giganews NNTP service, I've had the
frustration, too, of getting the bogus login popup from OE saying to
enter my login credentials. This had nothing to do with bad credentials
but everything to do with their authentication server timing out and
returning a 520 error code, and all OE can figure out is that the
credentials might've been bad so that's why you get OE prompting you to
correct your login credentials (which were correct in the first place).
Nothing of the login credentials gets included in your posts. It is
used simply to get past their authentication server and then pass you on
to Giganews, so you can still dictate what e-mail address, if any, gets
included in your posts. You can still munge or spoof your e-mail
address in the news account you define in OE but you need to specify
your real e-mail address (for your primary or owner account) in the
login credentials.

You used to have to signup for a Comcast-contracted Giganews account.
That one was working for me just great (until I exceeded the 1GB/month
quota despite the promise it was to get upped to 2GB/month). Now
Comcast users don't have to signup for the Comcast-contracted Giganews
service which means that either Comcast had to pre-define all the
Giganews accounts or they get an unfettered connect to Giganews and use
their own authentication server (newgroups.comcast.net) to make sure a
Comcast user is trying to use Giganews. So their authentication setup
is screwed up.

Complaining to Comcast will be the only way to force them to iron out
the kinks. Comcast doesn't want to support NNTP. As far as they are
concerned, they're stuck with it but it gets lowest priority. Make the
squeaky wheel even louder. Complain to them.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Newsgroups and their messages
    ... Were you an ATTBI customer that got acquired by Comcast? ... using the old ATTBI newsgroups server? ... Giganews, so you have to open a Giganews account as a Comcast customer ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers)
  • Re: Newsgroups and their messages
    ... > Were you an ATTBI customer that got acquired by Comcast? ... > still using the old ATTBI newsgroups server? ... > NNTP service to Giganews, so you have to open a Giganews account as a ... > Giganews account is 1GB/month and headers count in the download ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers)
  • Re: Newsgroups and their messages
    ... > newsgroups.comcast.net to use the Comcast authentication server to get ... > server and then pass you on to Giganews, ... > still munge or spoof your e-mail address in the news account you ... > Comcast users don't have to signup for the Comcast-contracted Giganews ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers)
  • Re: Comcast NG support goes away 10/25.
    ... Giganews directly, a lot of ugly slowness went away. ... Comcast couldn't have done anything to Giganews. ... interaction with you was your authentication - after that was done, ... problems with their authentication server and they'd go through periods ...
    (rec.audio.pro)
  • Re: Can I delete Outlook Express and re-install
    ... I have deleted all references to Comcast ... Q. "Is it a name@xxxxxxxxxxx account or a name@xxxxxxx account"? ... Which is what it is still trying to do now with Hotmail. ... When I got Qwest, ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress)