I'm thinking of becoming a host, however, I am a little confused by the colocation plans. I understand what colocation is, whereby I send my server to the data provider and I pay for the bandwidth and service. What I dont understand is the connection stuff like 1mps. I know what 1mps stands for but isn't that a slow connection to have for a server? I mean thats less than my DSL speed. So I guess what I am trying to say is am I getting a 1mps connection speed if thats what the host says? Or is that somehow related to the monthly bandwidth. Please explain, thanks.

It is related to the monthly bandwidth and is equal to about 312GB of transfer.

So how do I know what my connection speed will be? Do you pay more for a faster speed or are all the colocation servers set at the same speed?

If you are in a decent colo facility, speed should not be an issue.

Ask for a test file on a server to test speeds with.

Ok,
So basically with colo all I am paying for is their connection, bandwidth, rack space, and service? And I would be getting the same connection speed with them if I were using one of their dedicated servers? The reason why I am so confused is because of something like this:

"Purchase our fully burstable bandwidth at:
$1.50/gig* or as low as $299.00/mbps*"

I understand the $1.50/gig part, they are basically saying if I use 100GB in a month then my bandwidth fee is $150, right? But what I dont understand is what do they mean by $299/mbps? Or when they say:

"1Mbps Multihomed Bandwidth (312.5GB Traffic/Month [3.2kbps = 1GB]) "

What is the 1mpbs referencing to? Connection speed?

Originally posted by flitcher
I understand the $1.50/gig part, they are basically saying if I use 100GB in a month then my bandwidth fee is $150, right? But what I dont understand is what do they mean by $299/mbps? Or when they say:

"1Mbps Multihomed Bandwidth (312.5GB Traffic/Month [3.2kbps = 1GB]) "

What is the 1mpbs referencing to? Connection speed?

1mpbs is a measure of transfer just as the gig is in this case.

According to the example you listed, if you contract for 200GB of transfer, that would be $300.00 using the GB method. You could also contract for 1M at $299 and get a whole meg (about 312GB) for the same price.

I always learned about bandwidth by thinking of water. When you are talking GB think of gallons of water and when you are talking about MPS, think about water pressure.

Originally posted by brently27
I always learned about bandwidth by thinking of water. When you are talking GB think of gallons of water and when you are talking about MPS, think about water pressure.

hmmm... Good analogy :)

Originally posted by brently27
I always learned about bandwidth by thinking of water. When you are talking GB think of gallons of water and when you are talking about MPS, think about water pressure.

Wouldn't it be more accurate to thing of Gig as gallons, mbps as opening size (plumbing pipe width), and ping time as water pressure?

Can't forget ping times :D. At least thats how i'd think of it, you can have a very fast water pressure like ping times, but only a trickle/thin stream of water coming out, whereas you can get a lot of water coming out, but at a lower flow rate. I guess this is not totally accurate since water pressure directly affects the speed of the water flowing out, but ping time does not affect download speed necessarily in the same manner.

lol thats about the best analogy ive seen :) must remember that.