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My ISP reserves the right to do this in their Terms Of Service. Needless to say, I am planning on switching ISPs.

https://www.uniserve.com/about/terms-of-service/ Section 28 v, though they have renumbered the sections without changing the "last updated" line at least once.

When I worked at the helpdesk of a small ISP, we were approached by this company to see if we were interested in letting them test their ad-inserting proxy server on our customers. I protested that it was scummy and might lead to legal trouble (I was guessing) over changing pages in-flight, but my bosses didn't listen. That was back in 2002 or 2003, and I left shortly after to take another job. No idea what's going on there now.

I'm moving to a new ISP since my current one has started blocking port 25 in and out. I run my own mail server, so I appreciate that Uniserve's TOS explicitly allow servers (clause #19). However, they also explicitly say that they insert ads:

65. UNISERVE shall have the right, without notice, to insert advertising data into the Internet browser used by a UNSERVE customer, and transferred to a UNISERVE customer over UNISERVE's network, so long as this does not involve UNISERVE establishing the identity of the customer to whom such data is sent.

Needless to say I'm not happy about that, but in Vancouver my choices are limited: Telus (who'll censor web pages if they belong to a union striking against them), Shaw, or a handful of small ADSL ISPs that all seem to be much the same. Uniserve seems the best of a bad bunch.

When I worked at the helpdesk of a small ISP, we were approached by this company to see if we were interested in letting them test their ad-inserting proxy server on our customers. I protested that it was scummy and might lead to legal trouble (I was guessing) over changing pages in-flight, but my bosses didn't listen. That was back in 2002 or 2003, and I left shortly after to take another job. No idea what's going on there now.

I'm moving to a new ISP since my current one has started blocking port 25 in and out. I run my own mail server, so I appreciate that Uniserve's TOS explicitly allow servers (clause #19). However, they also explicitly say that they insert ads:

65. UNISERVE shall have the right, without notice, to insert advertising data into the Internet browser used by a UNSERVE customer, and transferred to a UNISERVE customer over UNISERVE's network, so long as this does not involve UNISERVE establishing the identity of the customer to whom such data is sent.

Needless to say I'm not happy about that, but in Vancouver my choices are limited: Telus (who'll censor web pages if they belong to a union striking against them), Shaw, or a handful of small ADSL ISPs that all seem to be much the same. Uniserve seems the best of a bad bunch.

That's a good argument.

Furthermore, I already went to a DSL ISP that rents pair from the local telco monopoly rather than be subjected to the abuses of network neutrality that Telus has already perpetrated bly blocking Union websites.

When I called Telus to disconnect, the service rep tried to tell me that they were posting content unlawfully (like addresses of Telus execs, blabhlabh). I said "You guys don't bother blocking all the rest of the illegal stuff out there on the net, why the hell are you starting here?" In retrospect, I came up with all sorts of smartass responses about the fact that they fail to filter far nastier crap like my favorite kiddy porn sites (yes, as a joke, stupid). Or "That's great. When I want someone to protect me from the Internet, I'll call you."

Not much of that was necessary, of course. To his credit, the service rep got one whiff of my displeasure and went about our business.

I've been with Uniserve for years, and have had no such shenanigans. Competition works wonders.

I just switched from Shaw in BC, but not to Telus. I switched to a medium-sized DSL ISP called Uniserve, and have had few problems.

I had them before, for the calendar year 2003, and was favorably disposed toward them. Their business accounts are the same price as their residential, they offer static IPs, and don't really pay attention to usage (and don't relly need to). The residential service is fairly heavily port-blocked, but the business service, at the same price, takes care of that for those who opt in - not a bad policy.

Yes, Telus does provide the pair, but Uniserve provides the important part - the network. Once I got hooked up, Telus never bothered me again.

And you don't have to put up with Telus' crappy DHCP-assigned DNS servers, routers or their transparent HTTP proxy redirection (which gives me the willies).

I had to go with Shaw after I moved because I was waiting for a DSL port to open up. Shaw was better than Telus, for certain, but not Uniserve.

There are plenty of other Canadian ISPs out there, too. do your own research.

This just reinforces my opinion that only smaller ISP's can actually provide net access worth squat. Thank God for regulation. I can't wait to see broadband wireless blow some fat chunks out of telecom monopolies.

Puuull-eeze. Pray tell, what effect would that be? YOU cancelled your television service. The issue was the cable internet service, not TV.
As for breech of contract etc, waiting for hours is standard practice for @home tech support, and they can't wait to get your ass off the phone. I would not classify it as breach of contract, i would call it their standard service policy, along with every other ISP's (see below). Waiting is part and parcel of the game lady. If you want a tech at your beckon call, 24/7, be prepared to pony up the dosh to pay for it, cuz your paltry $40/month don't cut it.

And now for my OT tantrum about @home:
Those know-nothings at Shaw/Rogers make $17.00/hr to basically leave you on hold, and tell you to reboot your computer, or run winipcfg. GAWD! They have none of the shit-work of a normal ISP and yet my company (may they rot in hell) that pays me $9.50/hr just layed off our ENTIRE office.
Phew, I *really* needed to get that off my chest.

Except computers aren't TV's, despite how they've been marketed over the last five years. ISPs provide the same service anywhere you go , all for roughly the same price. What keeps the customers is how stable and well managed their network infrastructure is.

Now, the company I work for was recently swallowed up by a larger ISP and it keeps eating up the local mom and pop's to secure a deal with the local Telco.
Currently I deal with customers who up until a month ago were from 3 different ISPs. The difference in network reliablility between the 3 networks is like night and day. One network has nothing but trouble,(disconnects, mail is down, brownouts), another section surfs mindlessly without interuption.

None of the customers give a shit if it costs $29.95/month for unlimited 56K or $27.95/month, they just want to be able to get their precious email.

The dot-bomb is here, and tech industry consolidation is the only thing that keeps it from getting worse.
A lot of tech jobs that appeared secure two years ago are now fluff. The pay is shit too, with no capital flowing and a glut of out-of-work IT people.

As I mentioned before, this layout works fine in both NS4x and IE5, but not in NS6.

The URL is http://www.users.uniserve.com/~speed/html/home.htm l (no space in the .html, obviously... it's just getting formatted like that due to the line length)

Of course, there could be some blatantly obvious answer that I am missing...

I'm not just being hateful here. I really mean it, I can't take care of them. It's not that I don't like them or anything, it's that taking on a live animal is a responsibility I'm not up to. I never have enough time to play with it. And not enough regularity in my life to take proper care of it.

I can't even feed myself properly most of the time (Bothering to order a salad along with my pizza is a highlight in my weekly nourishment). Having a live animal would mean I couldn't just take off and drive south for a couple of weeks anymore. A live pet is a commitment for something like 15 years (okay, maybe half, as I'd definitely go to the asylum to get an older abandoned one rather than a puppy/kitten/whatever). I guess I'm just immature. It's fine when you have parents to do the work, and you just get the fun. There were always pets around when I was younger.

I tried Sea Monkeys, the ultimate instant carefree pet, and highly disposable too, but they're just too damn small. I can't relate much with little white dots.

Now I've seen this and it definitely looks promising. But I don't want to control it. What I'm really looking for is some random movement in the corner of my eye, that comes with an OFF button. I'd get an Aibo if they weren't so hard to come by. So I'm definitely keeping an eye out for someone to turn this into a product.

Flo out