Best Usenet Providers 2020

I would not be surprised if most of you reading this blog have no idea what Usenet is. Those of us who were online before the world wide web swallowed everything remember it with fondness and a few may even still be using it. 

Here's the introduction to the Wikipedia article on Usenet.

Usenet (/ˈjuːznɛt/) is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was established in 1980.[1] Users read and post messages (called articles or posts, and collectively termed news) to one or more categories, known as newsgroups. Usenet resembles a bulletin board system (BBS) in many respects and is the precursor to Internet forums that became widely used. Discussions are threaded, as with web forums and BBSs, though posts are stored on the server sequentially.[2][3]

A major difference between a BBS or web forum and Usenet is the absence of a central server and dedicated administrator. Usenet is distributed among a large, constantly changing conglomeration of news servers that store and forward messages to one another via "news feeds". Individual users may read messages from and post messages to a local server, which may be operated by anyone.

Usenet is culturally and historically significant in the networked world, having given rise to, or popularized, many widely recognized concepts and terms such as "FAQ", "flame", sockpuppet, and "spam".[4] In the early 1990s, shortly before access to the Internet became commonly affordable, Usenet connections via Fidonet's dial-up BBS networks made long-distance or worldwide discussions and other communication widespread, not needing a server, just (local) telephone service.[5]

You can also still read Usenet for Technical Writers on my (very dated) website. 

I was a major user of Usenet in the 1990s and 2000s, but eventually moved away from it. I still have a comped account with a mid-tier provider and went back into it the other day just for old-time's sake. Mozilla Thunderbird has a good newsgroup client built into it if you want to play around.

You will need access to Usenet through a Usenet provider. Android Central recently published a review comparing 10 providers. 

Do you care about old archived conversations from years past, or are you mainly looking for a torrent alternative for recent content? Are you a Usenet rookie that wants an all-in-one package, or do you just want a solitary Usenet provider so you can choose a VPN or newsreader for yourself? This guide should help answer those questions.

If you are a university student you may be able to get access through your school's network.