Xtra pulls plug on access to thousands of specialised net newsgroups

A move by internet provider Xtra to dump its long-running Usenet newsgroup service has been been criticised by members of the online community, who say the plug is being pulled with only a week's notice.

The Usenet, a series of newsgroups covering thousands of topics that are hosted on servers around the world, has existed since 1980 as a place for people to swap ideas on specialised topics. Many people access Usenet through email clients such as Outlook Express.

Usenet groups are generally text-based and therefore relatively low-tech compared to the newer forums, groups and weblogs available from the likes of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.

Xtra is not the only ISP to withdraw support for Usenet. America Online dropped its support earlier in the year and Microsoft's MSN network phased out newsgroups two years ago in favour of its MSN Communities service.

An Xtra spokeswoman said use of its hosted Usenet service had dropped 30 per cent in the past six months.

Xtra suggested users switch to third-party newsgroup hosting services, such as that at www.giganews.com (see link below).

It is the short notice for turning off Usenet that has upset New Zealand users of the service, who point out that the move appears to breach Xtra's own terms and conditions on the termination of services, which requires that 30 days notice be given.

"They have also conveniently re-classified Usenet as a 'complimentary' service as justification for removing it. At no time in my nine-year customer history with Xtra has there been any indication that this service was complimentary. I considered it part of the core service that most major ISPs provide for their customers," one Usenet user told the Herald.

"In the end, to stop a service that has been provided by Xtra since its inception with only seven days notice seems just plain bad customer service. But, this is behaviour one expects from a monopolistic organisation," John Holley in an article at the weblog hosting site at www.publicaddress.net.

Xtra rivals such as iHug and Paradise, still offer Usenet access.

An Xtra spokeswoman said that since Usenet was not a Telecom product, it was not required to give the 30-days notice. She also said that usage of the usenet had dropped by 30 per cent in the past six months but was not able to say how many people were using it at its peak.