said by Gamer :

How is that 'helpful'? That's not a redirection to the correct TLD of .com, that's creating a fake TLD and using it for revenue with completely unrelated results.

If Cox is going to begin practices like that, I'd expect rates to start dropping significantly.

said by BillRoland :

I'm not even sure how anyone can claim that that page is more helpful than the standard DNS error page: neither of them suggest ways to get to where you're going, and both say the same thing: that site doesn't exist.

said by state :

I'm gonna have to agree with you there. Since .con isn't even a valid TLD I'd say that the new system is flawed.

I would expect something like this to either suggest a proper top-level domain, or automatically redirect to the top-level domain in question. Hell, strip off the domain suffix and redirect the query to Google and you've got a system that's 1000% better than what you're working on.

said by justin :

They are following in the foot steps of many ISPs. Verisign failed, but the companies that offer this service, and revenue split with the ISPs, are introducing it from the bottom up by stealth.

Unfortunately regular users, who are in the vast majority, do not realize that if they click on one of the links presented as an alternative to their mis-spelling, it usually not the best choice, and is making both Cox and the substitute DNS provider, a few bucks. If they did this a number of times per month then they are potentially worth to Cox twice what their base subscription fee is. I don't think the regular customer realizes this. I think Cox counts on their ignorance.

So in the example above, the mis-typing of dslreports.com is directing regular users to "top-rated-spyware-removers", who are paying to be on that page. They would be better served by Cox if they were redirected to a google search for the domain -- at least the main, non sponsored, page stands a chance of giving them the best possible result instead of whomever pays this DNS redirector the most money to be there!

Its pretty sad really, ISPs just can't get their minds around being a utility and charging directly for pure service. They just have to get greedy, and jump into the conversation somehow. Today, this site and many others now has to pay money to someone in order to continue to reach these customers, tomorrow, we'll have to pay money in order to reach them at maximum possible speed. The day after tomorrow, we'll probably have to pay to reach them at all.

said by dvd536 :

Ultimately what its going to come down to is 'pay per click' it all comes down to money.

said by robertfl :

I also wonder if this is an example of net neutrality?

Rob

said by state :

... check out the page source in your browser....you'll see that the redirects all go through overture.com ...