New ISP, COPOWI, offers net neutrality and an Ubuntu CD for every subscriber

[desmondo]

For those of us in the US tired of having to put up with the monopolistic tendencies of our ISPs, Ars has an article (http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/Meet-Copowi-the-worlds-first-ISP-to-guarantee-network-neutrality.ars) today about a compelling new ISP that seeks to provide net neutrality: COPOWI (http://www.copowi.com/).

Also interesting is that they're giving an Ubuntu CD to each subscriber.

I hope they succeed (I'm certainly willing to put my money where my mouth is and switch to them).

[maniacmusician]

sounds alright. I could certainly go for the 7Mbps connection. They don't offer it in my area, though, which is too bad. I'd like to at least try it and see how their service is, though I'd be one of those detestable p2p users that consume a lot of bandwith.

[mips]

sounds alright. I could certainly go for the 7Mbps connection. They don't offer it in my area, though, which is too bad. I'd like to at least try it and see how their service is, though I'd be one of those detestable p2p users that consume a lot of bandwith.

Where I live you got choice from 384Kb/s to 4Mb/s. I'm still on 384Kb's as it sure beats dial-up. It's fast enough for browsing so I'm fine. Downloading an ISO takes a while but it's ok. Only problem is we have a standard cap of 3GB/month. 4MB/s would just mean I use up my bandwidth faster and then I would have to top up my account. Currently using about 6GB a month.

[izanbardprince]

I would dump AT&T in a heartbeat, but my only other choice here is Comcast, and they're even worse. (GRRRR)

[desmondo]

I would dump AT&T in a heartbeat, but my only other choice here is Comcast, and they're even worse. (GRRRR)

Yes, Comcast is the one I'm hopefully leaving (here Qwest is the alternative).

Note that if you'd like to switch, you should still sign up (http://www.copowi.com/?q=dsl-register) on their site, because they claim they'll expand service to your area once they have 400-600 people registered in that area.

[samb0057]

Anyone have RCN? I have 10 megabits/second and i pay $40 a month (for the first year, but after that it's still only like $50 i think). Service has been very good too, no problems at all.

Plus RCN actually exceeded my expectations. Usually ISPs are much slower than they advertise, with RCN I've taken numerous online speed tests and I literally get 10mbps. I've gotten as low as around 6mbps (rarely), but on average i get between 8-9.

[Sunflower1970]

I went ahead and registered. Figure it couldn't hurt... :)

[phrostbyte]

Sounds cool. I wonder if they host their own Ubuntu repository. My university does and I am spoiled by 5-8 MB/sec package downloads. :)