Hello all,

I am currently seriously considering colocation with AffordableColo.com (anyone have any opinions on them?). They bill their bandwidth based upon the averaging technique, whereas every five minutes they take how much bandwidth you are pulling. At the end of the month they average these numbers and use a conversion ratio of 1mbps = 320 GB, then they charge you $2/GB in addition to the rack space charge.

I understand how the bandwidth is calculated using the averaging system, but can someone elaborate on its implications? Can you give me a scenario in which averaging would differ from actual?

Thanks,
Adam Smith

I ran a couple of scenarios in Excel and came up with the following:

Scenario #1: Taking samples only once every day (simplification) for a 30 day month, whereas the bandwidth being pulled alternated between 10 mbps and 30 mbps (works on any scale though). Average bandwidth used was 20 mbps, and total from samples was 600mbps. Under averaging system one would be billed for 6400 GBs of transfer (20 * 320). Under an actual structure one would be billed for 6480 GBs (600 * 86400 (seconds in a day; 60 * 60 * 24) / 8 (bits/byte) / 1000 (convert from MB to GB)). Here the averaging system is cheaper for the consumer! Woohoo!

Scenario #2: Same setup as above, but with the daily bandwidth rotating between 10, 25, and 30 (still goes in evenly though, 30 mod 3 = 0). Results in averaging system billing for 6933.333 GBs and actual billing for 7020 GBs. Consumer wins again!

I didn't do anymore, I was satisfied to see that they're close enough.

Any thoughts/comments/observations/corrections?

Adam Smith