Local alternatives for ISP/wireless

[leafshimmer.livejournal.com]

Dear Square,

I just bit the bullet and got a MacBook, and want to set up wireless in my apt. I was going to get it via the same Evil Empire through whom I have my cell service, but my initial attempt to do so got snarled in bad phone menus and bureaucratic kabuki.

I'm wondering if there are any good local alternatives out there anyone would recommend?

Comments

Re: RCN works fine for me

[smammy]

they don't mess with your traffic

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.