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  1. #1
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    low-cost, low-spec colo providers

    I know, I know, if I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times: you get what you pay for. That said, I'm curious what experiences people have had with low-spec colocation in the $30/month range. Two I noticed in this price range (both in Canada) are istop and tera-byte, who offer colo for up to a 4U, and 5GB of transfer, for $30-$35 USD, with extra transfer in the $2-3 USD range. I've heard some good things about tera-byte, and been pleased with their responses to my questions, but not a thing about istop. Anyone know of any other providers who offer similar specs at similar prices?

    Seems like a really uncompetetive market sector, since you can generally do better with a low-end dedicated, a VPS, or even shared hosting for the same price. I can see where it has it's attractions, but... I wonder what colo rates are like in, say, eastern europe. I also wonder if anyone would willingly colo in, say, Prague, or Kiev, if they had the choice... though Prague apparently has a big Level3 presence now. Hmmn...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2002
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    Sunny California
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    5GB of transfer is an absolute joke.

    <Our site> (the website, not the hosting company) transferred 8GB of data in July. This is just for a SINGLE website at 100-150 visitors a day.

    You'd do better to host your server off your residential broadband line (it's illegal according to most providers' terms of service, but if you're just doing personal stuff, no one's really going to care.) Heck, even hosting a server on a 56K modem with dynamic DNS would allow you to transfer more than 5GB of data a month.

    These providers make their money on the overage. It's as simple as that. No one really realizes how little 5GB is until they put a server on a 100Mbit line and start downloading stuff from it.
    Last edited by SoftWareRevue; 08-26-2003 at 08:47 AM.
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  3. #3
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    5GB is low, but at least their cost per GB is reasonable.

    I guess what I'm curious about is this: If you look at it as colocation, these low-end places aren't necessarily great value-for-money, versus the resources of a dedicated or virtual private server. But, if one's willing to overlook the cost, say, of an used server, or spread the cost over, say, a year, $35 per month for 15GB transfer (istop) and whatever disk space you stick in the machine might not be such a bad deal, just considered as hosting for a site, if the network, support, etc are very good. Goddess knows there are enough companies charging twice that and not fully delivering...

    I know it's a wierd approach... it was just something I was thinking about. *If* the uptime were great, and the transfer speed consistent and fast, and the support knowledgable and responsive, $35 a month for 15GB of bandwith on a fairly static site isn't that bad a deal at all.

    Just something to think about.

  4. #4
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    Dec 2001
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    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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    Re: low-cost, low-spec colo providers

    Originally posted by Ankheg
    I know, I know, if I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times: you get what you pay for. That said, I'm curious what experiences people have had with low-spec colocation in the $30/month range. Two I noticed in this price range (both in Canada) are istop and tera-byte, who offer colo for up to a 4U, and 5GB of transfer, for $30-$35 USD, with extra transfer in the $2-3 USD range. I've heard some good things about tera-byte, and been pleased with their responses to my questions, but not a thing about istop. Anyone know of any other providers who offer similar specs at similar prices?

    Seems like a really uncompetetive market sector, since you can generally do better with a low-end dedicated, a VPS, or even shared hosting for the same price. I can see where it has it's attractions, but... I wonder what colo rates are like in, say, eastern europe. I also wonder if anyone would willingly colo in, say, Prague, or Kiev, if they had the choice... though Prague apparently has a big Level3 presence now. Hmmn...
    We utilize Istop for an uplink. I'm not sure where you found $30/month range, but i'm betting its in their Ottawa POP. Needless to say, take a peek at the network status page for the Ottawa POP, as it's less then dazzling (unfortunatly).
    Myles Loosley-Millman - admin@prioritycolo.com
    Priority Colo Inc. - Affordable Colocation & Dedicated Servers.
    Two Canadian facilities serving Toronto & Markham, Ontario
    http://www.prioritycolo.com

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Montreal, Canada
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    222
    30$/month.... thats just nuts.
    Power cost are around 250$ for a 15amp circuit....
    So, if a customer brings in a 4U box with 6 drives ect...
    That box is gonna chew up at least 2-3 amps, therefore costing you anywhere between 35$ to 50$ CAN....
    And some want to host those servers for 30$? US or not...
    Thats just crazy.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
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    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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    5gb/mo isn't much, but if you have a website with special needs, or one that just absolutly needs to stay up, it's well worth it. Go look at what you pay for with a premium provider, and you might find $6gb isn't too far off.
    Myles Loosley-Millman - admin@prioritycolo.com
    Priority Colo Inc. - Affordable Colocation & Dedicated Servers.
    Two Canadian facilities serving Toronto & Markham, Ontario
    http://www.prioritycolo.com

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
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    USA
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    If you are looking for a very cheap price, I think $30/month is a very good price. Depending on what you need, they may suite you just fine. I know some people who can tolerate certain things to get the lowest price possible.

    If later you find out that you need a better one, you can always switch or upgrade later on. But I would recommend to do some trial first for at least a month or two, just in case.
    Reyner Natahamidjaja
    :: Global IP Networks - Tier 3 Data Center and Managed IT Solutions
    :: SSAE 16 SOC-2, PCI and HIPAA Compliant
    :: https://gipnetworks.com

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
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    USA
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    If you are looking for a very cheap price, I think $30/month is a very good price. Depending on what you need, they may suite you just fine.

    If later you find out that you need a better one, you can always switch or upgrade later on. But I would recommend to do some trial first for at least a month or two, just in case.
    Reyner Natahamidjaja
    :: Global IP Networks - Tier 3 Data Center and Managed IT Solutions
    :: SSAE 16 SOC-2, PCI and HIPAA Compliant
    :: https://gipnetworks.com

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    USA
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    If you are looking for a very cheap price, I think $30/month is a very good price. Depending on what you need, they may suite you just fine.

    If later you find out that you need a better one, you can always switch or upgrade later on. But I would recommend to do some trial first for at least a month or two, just in case.
    Reyner Natahamidjaja
    :: Global IP Networks - Tier 3 Data Center and Managed IT Solutions
    :: SSAE 16 SOC-2, PCI and HIPAA Compliant
    :: https://gipnetworks.com

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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    Three times just so he wouldn't miss it?
    Myles Loosley-Millman - admin@prioritycolo.com
    Priority Colo Inc. - Affordable Colocation & Dedicated Servers.
    Two Canadian facilities serving Toronto & Markham, Ontario
    http://www.prioritycolo.com

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    USA
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    I am very sorry for the duplicates. Moderator, could you please delete the duplicate posts (thank you).

    What happened was, I hit the submit and then somehow WHT gave me the 'Page not found'. So, after three times I gave up. I didn't know that it was submitted successfully.
    Reyner Natahamidjaja
    :: Global IP Networks - Tier 3 Data Center and Managed IT Solutions
    :: SSAE 16 SOC-2, PCI and HIPAA Compliant
    :: https://gipnetworks.com

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Saint Paul, MN
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    LOL, yeah, a website with "special needs" indeed. Doesn't that describe most websites, though?

    Istop's Ottawa POP does seem to have it's share of problems, if their status page is any indicator. I'm pleased to see, though, that it looks like they resolve most problems within half an hour, which is certainly encouraging. Lately it seems to be network problems, and not server problems, that keep my sites unreachable, regardless of where they're hosted.

    Um, so now that we've polarised ourselves into the "$30 colocation is absurd" and "$30 colocation might be kinda sorta OK for some things" camps, anyone know any other providers in this price range, or have experience with one of the two already mentioned? Anyone want to touch upon the tangent of eastern european hosting?

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Alberta, Canada
    Posts
    348
    We use Tera-byte for our primary colocation facility, have for 2 months now. Not a single problem, and their plan is 15gb for $30 USD per month. Once you move to higher bandwidth levels, it gets pricier, but it still fairly reasonable. And that is only if the server is less then 4u. If its over, they also tack on a rack fee every month instead of just the $30 bandwidth fee.

    We haven't had a problem with connectivity from them either, they do have connections from both Telus and Shaw Bigpipe into their Edmonton facility. And the 3 or 4 times that our nagios monitoring box (Located in our office outside Calgary) has reported a problem with the connection, its usually only few seconds before its restored again.
    AC Host Canada – Affordable Canadian Web Hosting Solutions
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