Gigahertz21 wrote:the only way to use the IPv6 servers is to go through a tunnel broker
That is correct if one of two cases are true:
1. You have Windows XP or below (Windows Vista and 7 have IPv6 built in.), or...
2. Your ISP doesn't support IPv6 yet.
In my case it is my ISP that is the problem, as I have Windows 7 x64. And it looks like this is your problem too as you have Vista.
Over the next year or two ISPs will have this facility available to you, as they
need to change. There are very few IPv4 domain addresses left for people to create web sites on the Internet. IPv6 is the answer, but your ISP needs to upgrade their equipment in order for you to access he new addresses. And this takes time and money, so it is slow going. You never know, maybe your ISP is already testing it, and if you contact them they might switch you over to it early and you can help them with the testing?
My ISP is currently upgrading and testing their equipment but are not testing with customers, only in house. So I went with an IPv6 tunnel broker.
I see you did ask about them. First off, they are
free and
neither you nor your ISP will notice any difference on your usage or how you use the Internet. The IPv6 tunnel broker just allows you to go to these new addresses.
A good little tutorial about using IPv6 and the usenet servers I know of is here:
http://www.kaisersblog.com/2009/01/free ... sing-ipv6/
I have tried all three of the IPv6 tunnel brokers listed, and here's my experience...
Hurricane Electric (
http://tunnelbroker.net/)
Doesn't require a program to run on your computer and seems the easiest to set up. However you do need to sign up with them, but this is free and easy. Unfortunately I couldn't use it, as it requires a certain switch in my modem to be set and my modem (which is ISP supplied and preset by them) doesn't allow my to access the deep internal settings.
Freenet6 / gogoNET / gogo6 or whatever they are called (
http://gogonet.gogo6.com/page/freenet6-ipv6-services)
Requires a program to be initially run, but after that you can just set it to run as a Windows service each time the computer starts and close the program. Registration is optional, as you can use the tunnel broker program in anonymous mode if you wish.
Note: the program is set to pick a server for you, but this is not always the best choice. ie. For me it was selecting Montreal, Canada as the best server, but clearly Sydney was the best server as it was in my own country! But this was easily to set in the program.
I would recommend this tunnel broker if you have some sort of problem with Hurricane Electric.
SixXS (
http://www.sixxs.net/)
Requires a program to run in the background. You also have to register with them and each registration is looked at by hand. So it can take half a day for the registration to be approved. Plus the details that they want to know upon registration is quite full, as they like to know exactly who is using their service. So it is not as simple a registration process as the others above. Also, once you have the program running and registration done, you then have to apply for the server you would like to use your tunnel through. So this is more extra wait time to get started.
It may be complicated to get going, but I've found their service to be rock solid. With gogo6 (remember I can't test Hurricane to judge) you will on occasions need to disconnect and reconnect their service, as it seems to have the occasional hiccup. But not SixXS, it just connects and keeps going.
So my recommendation is to test them in the order I've listed them. But personally I've settled on SixXS as the one I like to use.
Good luck.
[Edit]
Forgot to reply to you last question: are free usenet servers worth the trouble. I think so yes. At least two out of the three servers I listed previously are working at the one time. So you just set things to download and away you go. You just have to be mindful about which servers are going so you can judge your retention and know which downloads you can get. I find my free servers are better than my friend's who has binary usenet through his ISP, as they have limited his retention to 100 days.
Are they better than a paid news service? Well no. Especially the unlimited accounts that are available from most providers with 1000 plus days retention. With those you don't have to worry about what you are clicking on to download, you just grab anything you want. Also, because you are paying for a service, you always have someone to call for help or to fix problems.
