Metered Accounts - Reading Between The Bytes
NewsAdmin Staff Writer

If you're like me the holidays offer a great opportunity to reconnect with family, reflect upon the past year, and consume frightening amounts of food. The day starts with a tantalizing parade of appetizers... chips & dip, a cold cuts platter, perhaps a cheeselog... and after several hours of grazing the celebration culminates with the transporting of a perfectly cooked holiday meat from oven to tabletop. You quickly grab an available seat, survey the terrain... juicy prime rib, melt in your mouth mashed potatoes, fluffy biscuits... and begin to shovel the delectable morsels onto your plate.

Midway through your holiday indulgence, fork & knife are unexpectedly plucked from your hands, and you're asked to vacate the premises immediately. The host explains that you've depleted your food quota as a result of your excessive appetizer consumption, and you'll be forced to leave without your leftovers. Hungry & bewildered, you catch one last glimpse of your uneaten dinner, before being briskly escorted out the front door.

What the hell does this have to do with Usenet? Isn't this site supposed to offer information about newsgroups? More importantly, was it a port wine or sharp cheddar cheeselog? All very good questions, and I'll try my best to answer some of them within the confines of this article.

The holiday meal analogy may have been a creative stretch... okay, maybe contortion is a better word... but it isn't far removed from the experience that some folks endure when purchasing a metered newsgroup account. Metered accounts limit the amount of data that can be transferred from the newsgroups, and they're less expensive than unlimited download accounts, but each provider is different in respect to how they deliver these accounts.

Usenet providers will typically assign a daily or monthly data limit to their metered accounts, and you may find that one arrangement is more convenient than the other. With a daily limit you may find yourself speed eating your dinner as your plate is prematurely removed from the table, while a monthly limit allows you to comfortably digest 2nd, 3rd and 4th helpings.

When downloading a list of files within a newsgroup your newsreader is going to retrieve header data from your provider's news servers. In the context of one newsgroup that data may not be significant, but if you find yourself downloading files across several binary newsgroups, the header data will quickly add up. In fact, header data can represent as much as 20% to 25% of your Usenet downloads. This is important to note because some providers will count header data against your metered account's capacity, putting you in a position where your download quota is being wasted on appetizers rather than the main course. If you're shopping around for a metered account, you'll have a better chance of satisfying your appetite for content with a provider that does not tally header data.

A thoughtful host makes sure that their holiday guests leave with a few pounds of leftovers for the road, and some Usenet providers take the same approach when it comes to leftover download capacity. At the end of the month if you haven't used your entire download quota, some providers will carry the unused capacity forward until you've used it, while others will scrape the leftovers into the trash bin. It brings a tear to my eye to see perfectly good GB's go to waste like that, so I would encourage you to seek out a provider that will allow you to keep your leftover account capacity.

Another consideration is freebie download capacity. In addition to your standard quota, some providers will add free capacity to your account for answering a quick survey, referring a new customer, or maintaining an active membership for a specific period of time. These no strings attached freebies are a nice bonus, and similar to a free holiday meal, should not be passed up when offered.

In closing, do yourself a favor and take the time to read between the bytes when shopping around for a metered newsgroup account. It could put a little extra money back in your pocket, and ensure that your Usenet hunger is properly fed.

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