is it viable ( just starting out ) before i put my colo facilities in? only talking a few customers and how much does it cost for DS1 line per month or year?
oh yeah.. almost forgot don't say colo for my servers i hate colo :) i like having my server sitting in front of me

If you're planning to run public shell services, you're either going to need a very, very good firewall solution, and/or a bigger line (assuming by shell services you mean IRC services). An unprotected T1 can be dropped pretty easily these days... even with a good firewall your pipe can be saturated to the point of major lag.

If it has nothing to do with IRC, nevermind. :)

don't say colo for my servers i hate coloYou could always build your own datacenter or run it on a couple DSL lines :) Seriously, if you are looking to provide a reliable service you should check out a colo or POP facility.

Why would you "hate colo'ing?" I don't get it... It's the most reliable thing to do with your servers. Hosting them yourself is possible, but it's not reliable at all. You should seriously consider looking at Colocation again...

well.. last time i had a colo it was semi-reliable and it cost an arm and a leg for software or hardware upgrades and i do know how to work a server i used to work as a sysadmin at my school and i don't think a couple of DSL lines will do it... and it will be public shells but once a get a few customers i'll have a DS3 i just don't want to have a bank loan or family loan of more than $5000

http://affordablecolo.com