Two, all web traffic goes through a transparent proxy. The proxy detects Firefox quick search requests (the kind you get when you type some terms into the address bar) and redirects them to another ad-laden search page. There does not appear to be a way to opt out of this, but you can modify the URL that Firefox uses to avoid it.
These are both pretty standard (if shitty) practices for consumer ISPs, and I still prefer RCN to Comcast on the traffic tampering front.
Re: RCN works fine for me
At least on the non-static-IP service, I have experienced two kinds of traffic tampering:
One, their DNS servers return an ad-laden search results page for domains that don't exist, rather than returning NXDOMAIN as they should. If you "opt-out", you don't really -- they just switch to faking your browser's "server not found" page. See also: An outrage - RCN now senses your User Agent and fakes a 404 page that looks like your native browser one (even when opted out) [Pics Inside].
Two, all web traffic goes through a transparent proxy. The proxy detects Firefox quick search requests (the kind you get when you type some terms into the address bar) and redirects them to another ad-laden search page. There does not appear to be a way to opt out of this, but you can modify the URL that Firefox uses to avoid it.
These are both pretty standard (if shitty) practices for consumer ISPs, and I still prefer RCN to Comcast on the traffic tampering front.