ISP vs "newsgroup server provider": [was: Re: Question for Agent (and other news reader) users]

On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 16:44:45 GMT, the Omrud
<usenet.omrud@xxxxxxxxx> said:

> Bob Cunningham <exw6sxq@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> spake thusly:

[...]

> > "Attendant costs"? I pay a flat monthly fee for my Internet
> > Service Provider. Are there people who pay according to how
> > much they download?

> Not the ISP, but the newsgroup server provider

Please give examples showing the distinction between an
Internet service provider and a newsgroup server provider. I
have an ISP (Earthlink) who provide me with newsgroups,
e-mail service, and World Wide Web access. If I have a
"newsgroup server provider" separate from my ISP, how would
I go about identifying it?

Webopedia has the following definition of "ISP":

Short for Internet Service Provider, a company
that provides access to the Internet. For a
monthly fee, the service provider gives you a
software package, username, password and access
phone number. Equipped with a modem, you can
then log on to the Internet and browse the
World Wide Web and USENET, and send and receive
e-mail.

(That definition should be modernized to recognize the
existence of cable modem and DSL, and I doubt that many
users use software that has been provided to them by the
ISP, but by and large it's good.)
.

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