helmsman wrote:

The news server is busted and the idiots that work there can't fix it!
They haven't add a group in years and have forgotten how to fix it.
I dumped the bums and am now with Worldnet.att
================================================= ==========
System Status - Details
Last Updated on: 12/13/2006 11:18:22

Customers utilizing Earthlink's DSL and Home phone service may
experience difficulties using Earthlink's News Groups. Our engineers
are aware of the issue and are working as quickly as possible to
resolve the issue.
================================================= ==========
It went down the 8th and if you call for help they blame it on YOUR
machine. Fxxx them!

The EL news server has been bad for months and was down most of the weekend. For
months now the completion rate for large binary files has been under 10% and
mostly unusable. Some years back I left MSN because they abandoned their news
service and went to EL who now seems to be doing the same thing. My guess is
that they really don't care because very few of their customers even know what
Usenet is these days. I agree with helmsman, go for an outside service...