Usenet and the message boards being referred to are ‘proto-internet’ services. Think BBS, where your computer dialed into a service, and you could interact with that builiten board, the messages and users on it, as well as any files it had available for download.

Usenet had newsgroups that were very diverse and specific, and originally were just like message boards, but at some point, the major remaining Usenet servers started just sharing to each other, or maybe more appropriately, they would reference each other.

As someone mentioned before, it’s a protocol just like HTTP. There’s a bunch of servers all hosting webpages made in hypertext, and we just jump between them with links. Likewise, there’s a bunch of servers out there hosting newsgroups, but you have to find a gateway to get started. The reason there’s no ‘one’ company is akin to asking why all websites aren’t hosted/owned by one company.

If anything… It’s kinda like lemmy/fediverse stuff. You make an account with one instance, but since the protocols are the same, you can use your account on that one instance to talk to the whole fediverse network, multiple instances.

Why it costs is because at this point, it’s an archive. A huge archive, of not just text discussions, but also all the files that have been posted since a very long time ago. And just like the currently ‘free’ archive.org, it costs money to host all of that. Usenet is a bit less resource intensive than a modern website, so it can just basically sit… But they just ask that you pay to access it, pay to have an account. In this case, you’re paying to access a network that is separated from the rest of the internet at large.

Usenet is a decentralized network that works very much like the fediverse here. Anything uploaded to one server gets sent out to all the servers; that’s why you can log onto lemmy.world and see posts made on say lemm.ee. Likewise something posted to one usenet server gets sent out to all the others. And these servers are being operated by individual entities (again, much like lemmy). Whoever owns the server you’re downloading from is having to pay for everything it sends out. Which is why most of the free ones will let you access the text portions but not the file downloads.

A VPN isn’t necessary. But you do need a special program to connect to usenet. It’s built into a lot of older email clients (thunderbird is a good option).

There’s no one single usenet company for the same reason there’s no one single lemmy instance. (I’m sure someone has explained it better somewhere else in this post).

Usenet costs money the same way as your email (should) cost money. They’re hosting a large amount of content, they’re paying fees to their ISPs to let them send that content to you, and they’re fighting spam and other crap.

If you want to do nothing more than chat with folks on Usenet then you don’t need a VPN. Just like if your only download Ubuntu from torrents you don’t need vpn. Anything else and a vpn is a good idea. That said, I recommend you should always use VPN. Your isp is not your friend. They will steal your data. Heck, even your VPN isn’t your friend. Regularly read reviews of your VPN and ensure they’re privacy friendly and charge for their service.

Do not fall into the Onavo trap.