Every time there's a thread about American ISPs it's like a self-help group meeting in the comments. I imagine a group of citizens of some kind of Orwellian state would sound roughly the same - abundant horror stories and what seems like a complete lack of a reasonable alternative or escape. Occasionally a lucky guy jumps in and tells everyone how he had avoided the giant cogs of the system and actually gets a decent service for his money.

It would be quite funny if it wasn't also in equal measure disheartening.