Correct. It's an ISP that offers an option for censorware as a service to its customers. When you first sign up, or when the ISP first rolls out censorware in your area, it captive-portals all packets until the householder completes the setup of the connection. In this case, completing the setup includes deciding to turn censorware on or off. Some parents will want it; other subscribers won't. Public Wi-Fi hotspots do something similar to ensure that each user has seen the acceptable use policy.

I'm a bit more "stateless" (in the computing sense) than some other Slashdot users. This means I'm not disposed toward ad hominem attacks; I instead take each post on Slashdot as I see it. And you've shown yourself to be reasonable, even if you're a little verbose, and even if at times you've appeared to claim that the hosts file is a panacea.

This was the standard price for caller ID on a POTS line from Frontier Communications, the ILEC around here, if not bundled with any other "calling features".

So where should someone who's underemployed come up with the money to pay for all these recurring expenses to keep up with the Joneses? One has to buy a cell phone and cell phone service because voice mail users are annoying, one has to buy a car, insurance, maintenance, and fuel because cyclists are annoying, etc.

The only reason they throw up this page is because in their mind, you haven't finished ASKING FOR service. Until they know what specific kind of service you prefer, namely a filtered service or an unfiltered service, they don't provide any service.

In a lot of areas, it's either the monopoly cable ISP or expensive satellite Internet with a far smaller monthly data quota.

The server knows which subscribers have expressed a filtering preference. It also knows which modems' MAC numbers are associated with each subscriber's account. So packets coming from a modem on a "don't know whether to filter" account don't go to the Internet at all. There's no "client-side scripting" about it; the closest thing is how the server intercepts requests on port 80 to all addresses, so that when you open your browser to the start page for the first time on this connection, you get an HTTP response whose Location: header points to the filtering preference page.

Depends on where you live, what taxes and unfunded mandate compliance costs they tack on, how much your long distance carrier charges, etc. Plus the cost of a phone.

True of smartphone service. Dumbphone service can be far cheaper, depending on how long you spend on the phone every month.

I think that's the third time you've made that excuse. You really need to get that fixed. Perhaps after I finish explaining everything again, we can schedule a date to go into the cell phone shop.

Which carrier in which country is getting your $300 per year?

That might be the case for someone who drives. But I spend at least an hour a day if not more riding public transit to work and back, and the buses here lack Wi-Fi.

For an extra $500 per year on top of what you already pay for Internet at home. And no, you can't cancel your Internet at home and just use the 4G if you use any sort of video on demand (Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, or even just ads on web pages nowadays) because of the single digit GB/mo cap.

Good luck sending e-mail when all the hotspots around you have locks on them and none are willing to give the password to a non-employee.

Since when, and in what country? My U.S. carrier quoted me $35 per month for a smartphone or $5 per month for a dumbphone.

I can. For example, see this comment from someone complaining that he can't provide a environment in which his children can learn to program because all he has are tablets.

I think the idea is that you "buy a smell phone and pay for a plan" and then cancel your land line because a cell phone has become cheaper.

Because calling a land line doesn't always leave a "missed call" entry. Caller ID costs $100 per year extra on my home town's ILEC.

My point is that others did not, and they still expect to be able to contact you at the number you publish. You can't text at all from a land line, and doing so from a flip phone is a pain.