(31/07/2012 03:30 PM)Slushba132 Wrote:  It basically states that ISPs are way overpriced, and in general they lie about just how much money it costs them to get you your internet so that they can charge you more.

And that surprises you?
MANY things are priced way above cost, especially in tech.
An i7 CPU costs about the same as an i5 to produce, yet they charge a fair premium on the former.
An iPhone 4S costs nowhere near the ~$700 price you pay (buying outright, not on some stupid US telco plan), more like $200 to make.  Similar stories for other phones, though the margin is usually a bit lower.

Branded clothing is another example.

And for monopolies, they pretty much always charge above the fair price.
This is just typical business.

I'm not sure about "lies" exactly.

(31/07/2012 03:30 PM)Slushba132 Wrote:  An top of these lies they often employ various schemes to control, monitor, and invade the privacy of your internet usage.(http://www.billshrink.com/blog/6276/9-wa...crew-you/)

I looked at that article - most of it isn't that bad as they seem to make it.
Hell, they even suggest ISPs protect users against spyware but not allow them to inspect your connection.  How the hell does that work?

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Anyway, over here, Telstra owns most of the cables.  Fortunately they resell the lines so wee actually have competition in most places.
I pay $80/mo for 30/1Mbps 200GB/mo fibre connection, which actually sometimes exceeds its rated speed (have downloaded at 3.9MB/s for extended periods of time).  It's faster than I need and has way more bandwidth than I use, so I'm quite happy.  A bit expensive, but I'm actually sharing with a housemate, so $40/mo isn't bad.