Welp someone has done it. Started a host on a cogentco.com line. http://www.dollarpergig.com/ I am trully interested as to how well this will work being what we have heard of cogentco, only that they have like one peering point or something. Anyone have any input on this?

Hmm. I don't really have any experience with cogent. $1/GB is pretty darn cheap, though. Makes you wonder about the connectivity.

The site is sorely lacking in info. Plus, I'm not really a fan of the one-big-image website design.

Well from other posts on this board I think found out that cogentco may have a big network, yet only has one peering point in DC. And the cost of a line from them is not much 3000 for a 100Mbit if your an isp. So yes 1$ a gig is very possible at those prices.

Actually, I did a whole bunch of traces and it seems they do have a FEW peering points (not just one). I saw Sprint (one point), AboveNet (one point), and MAE-East. Still, 3 peering points for a national network is somewhat lacking.

I took a look at cogent's page. It seems their connection is actually basically a simple ethernet (CAT5) connection. I'm not a networking guru, but how would BGP/multihoming work with this? Their main page advertises 100mbps for $1000. That $10 per mbps (~300GB transfer). So charging $1 per GB for that traffic is actually a ripoff.

Wow,

That's actually cheap.

I can start an adult hosting business or free hosting business.

Wonder if there is any catch :D

From their FAQ:

What are Cogent Communications' products?
Cogent Communications offers 100 Mbps ($1,000/month flat rate pricing) and 1000 Mbps ($10,000/month flat rate pricing) retail Internet access and transport service products. Cogent also markets Internet access and transport services to wholesale customers. For more information on wholesale pricing, submit your information through: Contact Us Are web hosting providers considered retail customers or wholesale customers?

Asia,

There are plenty of *catches* if you read the TOS with them.

Best Regards,

come on ... $1/GB is great, but if they use cogentco, it's not really great at all... Cogentco charges around $1000-$3000 per 100 mbps, meaning, it costs them only around 3-10 cents per GB! Many hosts here are actually capable of offering around $1-$1.25/GB, and this ain't cogentco!

Anyway, just my two cents...

cheers,
:beer:

Originally posted by Rehan
Are web hosting providers considered retail customers or wholesale customers?

I remember reading this somewhere (can't find it anymore). Cogentco only deals with data centers/offices bigger than 250000 sq. ft ...

cheers,
:beer:

Originally posted by dektong
I remember reading this somewhere (can't find it anymore). Cogentco only deals with data centers/offices bigger than 250000 sq. ft ...

I found a few references to the minimum floor area for their target market:

http://www.maedulles.net/multibackbone/Cogent’s network will initially reach 13 of the largest metropolitan areas, providing 100mbps Internet access to buildings larger than 250,000 square feet in each of these markets.
http://www.redherring.com/index.asp?layout=story&doc_id=1240014324The low cost enables Cogent to drill down on its core business plan: offering 100 megabit-per-second (Mbps) dedicated Internet access to businesses in "class-A" office buildings (those with 500,000 square feet or more) for a flat rate of $1,000 per month.
http://philadelphia.bcentral.com/philadelphia/stories/2000/10/30/daily25.htmlCogent plans to target Philadelphia buildings with at least 100,000 square feet. It hopes to wire 50 to 60 buildings by next year, Van Vleck said.
http://www.bcr.com/bcrmag/2000/09/p08.aspCogent founder Dave Schaeffer offered a slightly different take on the market, maintaining that 750,000 U.S. office buildings have more than 100,000 square feet, and that 25 percent of the total square footage is served today by lit fiber facilities.


I guess my GDC (Garage Data Center) is out of the question! :D