Summary:

Astraweb has been around for a very long time. However, until a few years, it was known as a mediocre provider in terms of price and retention, even though you got a solid access to the largest data archive on the planet, the Usenet. Still, they stated to have tens of thousands of customers.

This changed drastically when they announced that they were raising their retention by over 4000%, which triggered a chain reaction among Usenet services to do the same. Now they claim to offer almost 3 years of retention while still providing you with high speeds and good completion.
Plus they offer refunds for 24 hours upon purchase.

So, let’s do a little checkup on the hard numbers, shall we?

Important: Although we still believe Astraweb is a good provider, we found a provider which offers you the same service for significantly less…If you use the “sneaky” discount link we found!

Plus, you get an exclusive newsreader for free, which we think is a great deal. Since we have no idea how long this hidden deal will be available, please check it out as quickly as possible:

Or want it even cheaper? Check out Newshosting.com – Same quality, under $10/month!

Retention: 1214 days (over 2 years)

Anonymity: Since SSL is included and logging has been deactivated on their servers, downloading is 100% secure.

Speed: We were able to max out a 50 MBit connection using only a few connections, and even a 100 MBit connection we tested with delivered really high speeds, so downloading a whole BlueRay or DVD is a question of just a few minutes, which is pretty much as good as you can get with regular Internet. Also they offer two different server farms for EU and US so that you should get fullspeed whether you live in either region.

(Speedtest on a 100 MBit connection using the EU server. Click to enlarge)

Pricing: Now, here is where it gets very interesting:
Normally, an unlimited account with which you can download as much as you want costs $15 a month, but using a special (or “secret” is you want) URL you can now get a huge discount:

– Unlimited: $11 using our special URL, or $96 for a year ($8 a month) (Offer expired!)
– Block account (a good choice for casual users): 25 GB for $10, 180 GB for $25

This “loophole” to secure this pricing may be removed at any time, so we cannot guarantee it will last for long. Notice that the cheapest of both deals was already taken down, so you should take action NOW. Just use the link at the top to lock in the discounted price for a lifetime.

Refund Policy: Hidden in the helpdesk faq they give 100% refunds but only within the first 24 hours.

Other Nice Features: Astraweb offers both servers for the USA as well for the EU, so you can get maximum speed no matter where you are located.
There are 20 connections available, though this is not necessary to get a decent speed.

Recommendation:

Astraweb is definitely one of the best providers out there. If you’re looking for top retention, incredibly high speeds and a very low price, Astraweb is definitely for you. Just click on the banner to signup.