Hi Steve,

Makes sense.  However, the problem with Bellsouth (and most other
ISP-run) newsgroups is that they are often restricted to working only
within that ISP's subnets.  In other words, the newsgroup servers are
configured so that even if you have the correct username and password,
they will not talk to you if you are accessing them from outside of a
Bellsouth-run network.

The reason for this is most likely that Bellsouth wants to limit its
expense for peering data across networks, and if you happen to accessing
binary newsgroups (which most usenet users are these days), than that
peering can get costly if the traffic is allowed to cross backbones.

And while yes, BellSouth has an almost-but-not-quite equal interest in
Cingular, the chances are good that Cingular is using SBC/AT&T
infrastructure for its data network, which prevents you from gaining access.

As I travel often too and like to keep access to usenet while I'm out an
about, I've found that the only real alternative is to subscribe
separately to a third party usenet server.  They charge their own
monthly fee of course, but they  allow access regardless of what network
you're on, and their entire focus is serving usenet subscribers, so
their reliability and article retention tends to be a lot better anyway.

There are companies like SuperNews and GigaNews that most hard core
usenet people swear by, but I use Forte's Agent Premium Newsgroups, at
http://www.forteinc.com/apn/index.php .

If you're just interested in the discussion groups like this one, Forte
offers a 5GB monthly transfer plan for a mere $2.95 a month.  That
should more than satisfy your fix for text based usenet discussion
groups.  And if you want binaries, they have an unlimited plan for
$14.95 a month.  In either case, binary newsgroup retention is 14 days,
and text groups (like alt.cellular.cingular) have a 300-day article
retention.