I have just recieved an email from bigpond giving detailed instructions on how to connect to bigpond ng so it appears that the stories on its demise are exagerated. I would post the email but it has an instruction not to repost. I still can not recieve it but that is probably a problem between seamonkey, my modem and bigpond server,I think it needs my password but I can not figure a way to make it ask for it.
Hmmmmm, sounds like a real asset :-)
If you can't ping the server then it doesn't actually exist ?
-- X-No-Archive: Yes
It was a detailed email in response to my email to tech dept about problems with access to NG. The answer suggests it still exists.
s n t
Or, that their tech support are unaware it has been removed. Not unthinkable.
I've had a bigpond account for a couple of years now and until very recently their new server was working fine. It's not now, and hasn't been for about a week, so if it's working okay they've either changed the settings that I've been using for the last couple of years or it's simply not working.
Knowing Telstra as the thoroughly incompetent organisation that I do, my money's firmly on the latter.
-- -- Regards, Noddy.
I'd be more than a little surprised if the "tech" actually knew what you were talking about.
-- -- Regards, Noddy.
a trace to news-server.bigpond.net.au fails to respond or return a ping from here
-- X-No-Archive: Yes
pinged from here and got
ping statistics for 61.9.134.55: packets: sent = 4, received = 0, lost = 4 (100% loss)
-- Prayer, [noun] - the act or practice of telling God that his infallible plan sucks and that you demand changes ASAP
no I thought not
but does it trace or work ? of course not as you are getting an mx response as the machine still exists Now does it work for anyone ?
-- X-No-Archive: Yes
Yes, I use It as a fall back server if eternal-september goes down. The OP hasn't configured his newsreader correctly. As I use a proper newsreader, I would suggest he RTFM and return to the source of his problem.
Note: news.bigpond.com has always been unreliable as a primary newsserver with outages frequently lasting for several days.
-- A man using Apple Maps walks in to a bar, or maybe a hotel, or maybe a church...
The source of the problem seems to be, no one can access bigpond news server any more,If I ping from here it times out. Others say the same thing Users everywhere are saying that telstra is stopping the service. I have been trying for weeks and left an email to bigpond on the subject and they sent me a detailed email on how to access it.
This sugests to me that the bigpond team seems to think that it is still working
Here is the email
Thank you for your email dated 17/04/2013 regarding not being to access BigPond Newsgroup.
Firstly, I realise that there has been a delay in responding to your enquiry and I would like to extend my apologies.
To isolate the cause of the issue please consider the following process.
- If webpages open very slowly or not at all, it is not just a Newsgroup fault, but the whole connection. - If webpages open at normal speed, continue below.
- For Broadband, server host name can be "news.bigpond.com" or "news-server.bigpond.net.au". - For Dial-Up, server host name is "news.bigpond.com:"
To check News Server Settings for Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Live Mail:
- Open the News profile.
- For Outlook Express:
- Double Click Outlook Express Icon to open mail/news program. - Click the Tools menu and select Accounts from menu. - Click the News tab to see available news profiles. - Click the BigPond news profile and select Properties to check news settings.
- For Windows Mail (Windows Vista):
- Open Windows Mail from the Start menu. - Click the Tools menu bar and select Accounts from menu. - A list of available profiles will appear. - Click the BigPond news profile and select Properties to check news settings.
- For Windows Live Mail:
- Open Windows Live Mail from the Start menu. - Select Newsgroups from the Navigation pane. - Right click on the News profile (likely to be labelled as news.bigpond.com) and select Properties.
The News properties area contains four tabs in both Outlook Express and Windows Mail:
- General. - Server. - Connection. - Advanced.
- General tab: The general tab contains personal information, including name, organisation, email address and reply to address fields:
- News Account : news.bigpond.com. - Name: contains the name you wish to appear on posts to newsgroups. - Organisation: optional. - Email Address: your email address*. - Reply Address: optional. - Include this account: unchecked.
*Note: When anyone posts a message to a newsgroup, they are revealing their email address to a public forum. Spammers have developed automated scripts (bots) to search these public forums and collect email addresses from postings to compile spam lists. It is advisable that users modify their email address in News group settings e.g. snipped-for-privacy@nospambigpond.com.- Server tab: The server tab, as the name suggests, contains the news server name plus an option to configure login details for access to the news server if necessary.
- Server name: news.bigpond.com. - This server requires me to logon: Leave unchecked. The BigPond news server does not require a username and password to access it. - Connection tab: Allows you to select the preference for the type of connection to be used when sending or receiving news group postings.
- Always connect to this account using: Unticked for all broadband connections or dialup connections where the user will always connect first before checking newsgroups - The box should be set to a BigPond dialup connection if the user is using Dialup and requires an automatic connection when Outlook Express/Windows Mail is launched. If the box is blank, you will need to click the box to reveal any available connections and set to a BigPond Dialup connection.
- Advanced tab: The advanced tab shows the news server port number and some format settings for posting messages. The default settings should not need to be changed.
- Server port number: 119 (do not change this number). - This server requires a secure connection: unchecked. - Server timeouts: can be extended for dial up users to allow more time to connect to the news server. - Break apart messages larger than: unchecked. - Ignore news sending format and post using: unchecked.
If the settings are correct but the same issue is occurring, remove and re-create the BigPond news profile.
To Create/ Re-create a News Profile in Outlook Express:
- Launch Outlook Express. - Click on the Tools menu, then on Accounts - Click on the News tab at the top of the window - If there are any existing BigPond entries: - Click on the Account to highlight it. - Click on Remove. - Click Yes when asked to confirm. Note: If another service provider account is listed do not remove it. - Click the Add button. - Select News. - Type the name that will appear when posting to a newsgroup. - Select Next. - Enter Email Address (ie snipped-for-privacy@bigpond.net.au or snipped-for-privacy@bigpond.com). - Select Next. - Type the server name: news.bigpond.com. Note: Ensure My news server requires me to log on is not ticked. - Click Next. - Click Finish. - Click Close to return to the Outlook Express main screen. - You will then be prompted to download a list of available newsgroups. this may take several minutes on a slow connection.
To Create/ Re-create a News Profile in Windows Mail:
- Open Windows Mail if it is not already open. - Click Tools and then Accounts. - Click Add. - Select Newsgroup Account. Click Next. - Type the name that will appear when posting to a newsgroup and click Next. - Enter Email Address (ie snipped-for-privacy@bigpond.net.au or snipped-for-privacy@bigpond.com)and click Next. - Type the server name: news.bigpond.com. Note: Ensure My news server requires me to log on is .not ticked. - Click Next. - Click Finish. - Click Close to return to the Windows Mail main screen. - You will then be prompted to download a list of available newsgroups. this may take several minutes on a slow connection.
The Newsgroups can now be accessed by clicking on the news.bigpond.com entry that will appear in the folders column on the left.
If the newsgroup/s you wish to see is/are not available, please reply to this email with the name/s of the Newsgroup/s to be added to the list available on the BigPond news server(news.bigpond.com).
Check Newsgroups once more. If the same issue is occurring please provide the following details for further investigation:
- Error message. - Name/s of the Newsgroup/s to be added to the list available on the BigPond news server (news.bigpond.com). - Preferred contact number. - Please indicate the date and time when you cannot access it.
If you have any other questions, please visit our Help Centre at
The Help Centre is a handy resource for our members which includes things such as our Frequently Asked Questions and our new Email Troubleshooter which has been set up to help you solve all your email problems.
Thank you for choosing BigPond.
Kind regards,
Exactly. They retrenched all the staff who actually had a clue, now they are nearly as bad as Optus and Vodaphone! :-(
Trevor.
not quite as Vodophone whose coverage is useless. Used to take my wife up to
2 days to receive SMSs
True, Telstra still have the best coverage, at a price. Unfortunately their service no longer matches the premium price.
Trevor.
That is my thought on it.
-- David Barnett
I've had accounts with all three, and in my experience Telstra is
*easily* the absolute worst in terms of staff knowledge and customer service, and by a very long way. Their only saving grace is that they have the best network coverage, which forces you between a rock and a hard place.If ever there was a country that needed a *massive* telecommunications overhaul it's this one.
-- -- Regards, Noddy.
Was there a time when it did?
-- -- Regards, Noddy.
How would anyone *outside* Telstra know that, when Telstra *themselves* can't give you an answer about it?
Given my experience with Tesltra over the last couple of years, I would imagine that if their news server *was* getting the chop the "bigpond team" would probably be the last to know :)
Honestly I don't know why you're getting so hung up about this as their server was pretty unreliable even when it *was* working. Just subscribe to Eternal-September or any of the other reliable news feeds and spend less of your life worrying.
-- -- Regards, Noddy.
Not Telstra - not even Telecom Australia - definitely P.M.G.
--
Take Care. ~~
Feral Al ( @..@)
(\-- Ü--/)
((.>__oo__
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