So im looking into colocating a bunch of servers in Toronto (yes- Canada), I have contacted several of the biggest companies and their prices seem outrageous. Im talking so exhorbitant that it makes me sick.
Heres the kind of offers I am getting from Sprint Canada, Telus and Q9.net:
The minimum space all of them will rent me is half a cabinet, thats about 20 u's. This doesn't concern me although i could never fill it right away I would eventually. The price just for this rental is ranging from $700-1000 Canadian monthly, not including connection/bandwidth...not cheap, but this isn't what gets me.

On top of that they want another $1000-1400 for a 1 meg line (around 320 gb/month), which is tiny
....and for the real kick they want $1000 setup on top of that. Is it me or do these guys still think that it is 1999 and they can completly inflate their prices.

Hell, if I lived in NY I could get a 100mb cogent line for $1000 and get a hell of alot more! How can rackshack offer 400 gb/month and a server for only 99 when these guys want a shedload more for what I see as less. Now I really like the idea of owning my own equipment, which is why I dont like rackshack, but I dont want to front the coin for this ripoff. Is there something I am missing here? Why are these prices so high? Apparently Canada is the most connected nation in the world (per capita) so you think that the competition would be fierce and I could get a good deal like rackshack offers.

Can somebody please explain this to me...?

Hi Smacx,

Over here in Ireland we pay comparable prices, euro for dollar :)

Only lucky sods in the US get the really good deals!! :)

Stephen

Get a quote for a 1/4 rack from peer1.net. They are cheaper.
Cogent is US$3000 for ISPs

Originally posted by smacx
Is there something I am missing here? Why are these prices so high?The short answer is: they are not high. That's US prices which are low. Because of amount of VC capital available in US, Cogent and others were able to raise large sums of money before the capital investment market shrinked a year ago. They are not targeting to be profitable any time soon, but because of the amounts they raised, they can burn money for 5 more years. Without VC capital we would see US prices on the same level as everywhere else in the world.

smacx, i live in Hamilton, Ontario, about a hour from Toronto (where my poor car is stuck in the airport parking lot right as we speak lol). A lot of the data centers in downtown toronto are considered to be very good grade, and they can justify charging such exhorbitant (sp?) prices for their services for one main reason. Toronto has so many major banks in the downtown area, that they get a LOT of high priced customers. You're better off spending the $100 and shipping your server to a reasonable data center in the USA that will work with you, *OR* calling up some GTA based ISP's. Look Communications, Cogeco, Sympatico, etc. come to mind. I used to work in a small ISP in Hamilton (until they went under) but they did a fair amount of Colocation, usually mid/full towers, nothing big, but they did it well, and for a reasonable price, esp. considering the time it was done at. A lot of ISP's will be using like 90% incoming, 10% outgoing, so if you'll pay a fair buck to use some of their outgoing, they're more then happy to accomodate you, but if they don't commercially advertise colo servers, then don't except the same professional level that you'd get from a high priced Data Center downtown.

bandwidth is cheaper in the USA..

canada is a smaller market compared to USA, less competition means higher prices

Canada is also like 1/10 the population of the USA, it might not have that much less competition, per capita :).

..thanks for your help in your eariler post, I actually looked at look (no pun intended) and it's pretty much the same...a friend of mine has a server in datavaults.com they are pretty good, like $500 for a server or 1000 for a rack, not bad but you have to pay per gig after 30 or something...I planning on using alot so I need something a little bigger.

Have you seen the huge datacenter in hamilton that q9 bought from exodus, it's pretty sweet apparently, just wonderin if you have taken a tour.

Originally posted by smacx

More like 1/100th
only 30 million


.... Since when did the USA have 3 billion people in it, much less 1 billion? Correct me if i'm wrong, but does the USA not have a little closer to 300 million people then 3 billion? Making it more or less 10x

Originally posted by taz0
Get a quote for a 1/4 rack from peer1.net. They are cheaper.
Cogent is US$3000 for ISPs

I looked at peer1 but I have yet to call the sales rep to get info, since you metioned it im going to call them now.

Originally posted by porcupine



.... Since when did the USA have 3 billion people in it, much less 1 billion? Correct me if i'm wrong, but does the USA not have a little closer to 300 million people then 3 billion? Making it more or less 10x

My bad it is around 300...I forgot to carry the 1

Originally posted by smacx

More like 1/100th
only 30 million

..thanks for your help in your eariler post, I actually looked at look (no pun intended) and it's pretty much the same...a friend of mine has a server in datavaults.com they are pretty good, like $500 for a server or 1000 for a rack, not bad but you have to pay per gig after 30 or something...I planning on using alot so I need something a little bigger.

Have you seen the huge datacenter in hamilton that q9 bought from exodus, it's pretty sweet apparently, just wonderin if you have taken a tour.

Hamilton has *real* Data Centers?! wow, i totally missed that one. I would avoid doing anything in Hamilton, stick to Toronto as thats all of Hamilton's transit runs through, save yourself a hop, a little speed, and the drive down :). But on a serious note, find somewhere in the USA and they'll likely help you out, you dont need to be local to your DC, most will do repairs, upgrades, etc. for you for a reasonable fee (some are unreasonable, some aren't)

But why are DSL/cable prices so low in Canada?


Originally posted by porcupine
Canada is also like 1/10 the population of the USA, it might not have that much less competition, per capita :).

Originally posted by smacx


I looked at peer1 but I have yet to call the sales rep to get info, since you metioned it im going to call them now.

Peer1 is very competitive, they'll give you US pricing on Canadian bw. :)

Originally posted by taz0
But why are DSL/cable prices so low in Canada?




Fierce competition, to the point of slaughter, and the majority of the infrastructure is already in place, and was pre-planned. I know most of ontario has been laying fiber in residential areas (major residential areas at least) for years and years now. It might not be DWDM compatable, but it's a great example, theres fiber running no less then 500 feet from my house, more then likely unlit (they did it when they upgraded sewer system/lines in my area about 5+ years back). That and a lot of companies are still convinced that e-business is the best thing in the world and they can make money by dropping prices :)

Hmm, I thought telus charges like 30 cents per gig. Colo space is expensive.

Originally posted by ClusterMania
Hmm, I thought telus charges like 30 cents per gig.

I wish they did...:(

EDIT - MY 600TH POST!

You know a ballpark figure of how much they charge?

Originally posted by ClusterMania
You know a ballpark figure of how much they charge?

Telus? I just got off the phone with one of their reps, I can email you the prices, PM me.

Originally posted by porcupine


Fierce competition, to the point of slaughter, and the majority of the infrastructure is already in place, and was pre-planned. I know most of ontario has been laying fiber in residential areas (major residential areas at least) for years and years now. It might not be DWDM compatable, but it's a great example, theres fiber running no less then 500 feet from my house, more then likely unlit (they did it when they upgraded sewer system/lines in my area about 5+ years back). That and a lot of companies are still convinced that e-business is the best thing in the world and they can make money by dropping prices :)

Its true, just last year 360 networks put some serious fiber less than 100 feet from my place, along a rail line. One of the field enginers said it was something like the capacity of 2 oc-192's in dark fiber...huge. But 360 went belly up, are in chapter 11 now, restructuring.

Heh I should tap it and run a line to my house...hope they wouldn't notice.

Yep, or try to get cogent into canada, that would be some sweet action! :)

Hey
You will probably laugh t at this but we have servers in Whistler BC.
Sounds like an odd location but the connections are good and the speed is great (veryu few hops to anywhere).
Its not colo but the prices are US level.
It shows that by going out of the city you can get a better deal
as long as you don't need to pop down to change a hard drive....
(unless you ski of course)

Gordon

Originally posted by taz0
But why are DSL/cable prices so low in Canada?




because bell and rogers are fierce competitors :) which means good for us :)