Late last month Cablevision took the wraps off of a new 101Mbps downstream and 15Mbps upstream DOCSIS 3.0 tier called Ultra. Users in our Cablevision forum are running the new tier through its paces. While the $99.95 per month price tag is tasty, some users have been surprised to note that there's a $300 "activation fee" for the new tier in addition to an installation fee of up to $34.95. The original press release made no mention of the $300 fee, which effectively raises the monthly price to $125 per month for the first twelve months, and is certainly one way of managing the added bandwidth demand of such a service. Still, the price remains less than Verizon charges for 50Mbps FiOS in many markets.

Earlier this week, Cablevision unveiled a new DOCSIS 3.0 service tier that delivers 101Mbps downstream and 15Mbps upstream for $99 with no caps, a good deal no matter what kind of technology you favor. The next day, Verizon was quick to call Cablevision's offer a "parlor trick," and a Verizon representative on Twitter has spent much of the week taking shots at Cablevision's offer.

It's getting pretty hard to find an ISP not using DNS redirection -- the practice of sending users who enter non-existent URLs to a special ad-laden ISP portal. It's a good way of creating a revenue stream out of typing errors, though serious users hate the practice because it breaks some functionality (testing tools, VPNs).

PC Magazine is offering up their annual survey of the best and worst tech support across industries. In addition to computer and media hardware support, they also key in on the best tech support among both ISPs and VoIP providers.

Cablevision lets us know that the company is launching a new caller ID service on the TV this week, that should be showing up for all users by tomorrow. The new functionality is only available to customers who bundle both iO TV digital cable and Optimum Voice phone service.