Oh boy...called local service provider ..what a waste of time.
They insist that if I can post out..the problem must be elsewhere and she
insists that Aliant doesn't support 'newsgroups'.
Up to you Dry... can you call & see if you have better luck.

Many ISPs don't consider access to a reliable news server as required terms
of their service agreement. In fact, it's damn near impossible to get a
customer service tech on the phone these days who even knows what Usenet is.
My ISP (Cox) does maintain their own news servers, but they are not much
more than an afterthought, and even then, are only accessible if you are
connected through one of their nodes. I finally broke down and subscribed
to one of the fee-based Usenet services. I used EasyNews, but GigaNews
would have been just as valid a choice. Life on Usenet is much better for
me now. $10 bucks a month, and no more hassles. I can connect using my
news reader from anywhere.