XLned Review
Top10Usenet is a world expert in testing Usenet providers. Our picks have been featured on TechRadar, LifeHacker, How-To Geek, Tom’s Guide, and more.
Verdict: 4 out of 5
XLned is a European Usenet provider that’s been around since 2007 with servers located in the Netherlands. If you are a North American based user, you may want to subscribe to a European provider like XLNed because of better privacy protection laws in the EU.
New to Usenet? XLNed is a good choice because of price and service quality but it does not offer a newsreader with an index needed to access Usenet. If you already have a newsreader set-up, XLNed is a good primary or secondary newsgroup server. If not, we recommend Newshosting, Eweka, and Easynews for a more complete starter solution.
XLned Category Ratings
| Retention | 3/5 |
| Performance | 4/5 |
Privacy and Security
|
5/5 |
Pricing
|
3/5 |
| Getting Started | 3/5 |
Pros
- High reliability
- Well-crafted plans
- Good pricing
Cons
- Doesn’t come with a VPN
- Doesn’t have its own newsreader software
XLned Features
- Plenty of Connections – Get up to 12 connections with an XLned account, which is plenty for most casual Usenet users.
- Excellent Prices – XLned has some incredible pricing, starting as low as € 2.24/mo for 4,100 days of full binary and text retention.
- Speed capped subscription tiers – Perfect for users with limited Internet bandwidth and budget.
Rating
|
4 out of 5 |
| Retention | 4,100 Days in all binary and text newsgroups |
|
Security
|
SSL |
| Discount | 47% savings |
|
Price
|
$7.49/mo |
Usenet Search?
|
No |
Retention
| Retention Length | 4,100 Days |
Binary and Text Retention
|
Access to over 120,000 newsgroups. |
While still lower than a lot of top-tier providers, XLNed’s 4,100 days of retention is respectable, especially since it’s full binary and text retention. Moreover, it’s enough for many Usenet users and better than many providers who barely offer 1,000 days.
Performance
Depending on which plan you choose, the speed varies between 2.5 Mbit/sec up to 120 Mbit/sec. There are enough plan options to accommodate most users’ Usenet activity levels.
Other than speed capping, XLned provides their user base with unlimited, reliable downloads.
XLned’s plans vary between 2 to 12 connections. A good quantity of connections helps to maximize download speed. However, the 12 connections offered on the XL Gold plan are plenty for most Usenet users.
Privacy and Security
XLned has you covered with SSL encryption, the highest current encryption standard to keep your information safe. Even your Internet service provider will be unaware of the content of your downloads.
While your Usenet activity is protected, the rest of your Internet traffic is not. It’s a bit disappointing that VPN service is not included with any of these packages since it is becoming much more common for providers to bundle VPN with Usenet.
Pricing
XLned offers various price points with a range of features available at each. We would say that the progression of price-to-features is well-crafted, with each new tier being a good value for your Euro. The one that catches our eye is the XL Gold package which starts at €7.49 per month. It has all that a regular Usenet user needs, including access to all 120.000+ discussion groups, high speed, and 12 connections.
Signing up with XLned is straightforward. Head to their website and choose a suitable plan to start.
Bottom Line
XLNed is not one of our top recommended European providers. There are overall better providers if you are looking for a complete EU Usenet package. Service quality is good enough in our testing with only a small handful of incompletes. XLNed is a good budget Usenet provider with lots of plan options to customize the service to what your needs are. Good for people with slow internet speeds because you can pay for only the speed you need. XLNed would also make a good choice for experienced users who would like a redundant Usenet server in Europe for their set-up.
