I knew Paul M the proxy savour would come along
Yes, 98% is made up, of course it is - I'm an end user not a techie, I just call it as I see it, just like you made up that Freeserve use Proxies (they did about 2 years ago, but don't now - I know I was with them when they quit using them)
AOL do, but as I've said on many occasions - they work fine for all sites I've come across (even rapidshare, but maybe thats luck)
Virgin is NTL I thought ?
If so then they hardly count do they ?
As for US ISP's, I'm in the UK, I don't care about ISP's I can't access, lets make a quick list shall we - to almost, but not quite, back up my 98% plucked from the air figure...
Tiscali,BT,Wanadoo/Freeserve,Demon,Claranet,Nildram,Bulldog,NDO,Pipex ,
UKONline,Easynet,Plusnet,OneTel and tons and tons more - oh and Telewest of course
So afaik, only AOL & NTL that use proxies out of hundreds of UK ISP's - looks like my 98% was roughly accurate to me...
In any case thats academic, I don't want to leave NTL, I'm happy with the service on all levels except the proxies - as I've said to Mick today - I know I'm going to have to lump it, and thats fine - but don't try and pretend that the proxies are a good thing, because they are not, without them web browsing would be far less hassle, but it would cost NTL more money presumably....
so I understand *why* they use them, but I don't have to like it
cheers
Ian