hi guys!
@vishal: there are free servers which you can access with a software like grabit, like you suggested, but most of them are useless, with hardly any action happening (most of it is happening in the better servers, and they aren't free!), and also very unreliable, as they are just put up as test servers for a temporary period. also, if anyone's interested, check this link for a good how-to about accessing usenet (and it does mention that you need an nntp server, which in most cases, atleast in the countries they are posting from, are provided by their ISPs) Anyway, here's the link, and if you guys figure anything out, please pass on the knowledge:
Newsgroups guide for GrabIt - FileSharing Talk
@pita: i think you just might be right there...all the good, usable (as you so rightly put it) servers aren't free anymore. the ones that are (atleast the ones i've come across till now) are pretty useless.
by the way, i forgot to mention the speeds!
yes, usenet makes you almost max out your bandwith (something that is very rare even with well-seeded torrents). i tried out the free trial version of usenext, and got upto 240-245 kbps speeds (and mind you, i'm on a 256 connection!).
so there you go....one more point to back usenet.