View Poll Results: Do you pay voluntary set up fees

Voters
38. You may not vote on this poll
  • No

    14 36.84%
  • Yes, $150 or less

    9 23.68%
  • $151-300

    8 21.05%
  • More than $300

    7 18.42%
Results 1 to 11 of 11
  1. #1

    Do you pay voluntary set up fees?

    Many providers (such as servermatrix, liquidweb, allmanaged, etc.) offer a one time set up fee to lock in a lower monthly rate. Do you pay them?

  2. #2
    I have always done so. I got two machines with Servermatrix and did pay the $299 setup fees when they had that special a while back. If you are hosting for the long term, it is actually worth the while to do so.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    5,105
    I get the finances behind it but prefer to conserve cash flow and so I just won't pay setup fees.

    As we get into bigger boxes with plenty of headroom it may make sense to do so but I personally have no issue with doing a server upgrade every 12-18 months as if planned properly its not a big deal. But then thats what I have done for the past 12+ years inside large corporates so it doesn't faze me.

    With that background a big setup fee doesn't make sense as I am incetivized (sp?) to stay on the same hardware for 2+ years and technology changes too much in that timeframe.
    CloudNexus Technology Services
    Managed Services

  4. #4
    Well, it depends on the computation. With the $299/setup fees with Servermatrix, I ended up saving something like $40/mth on monthly fees so in about 8 months, I would begin saving.

    Of course, in my case I do not see myself moving to a new machine within the 12 months timeframe so if I stay with them for over 8 months I would see the savings. I may consider moving if I need to within the 15 to 18 months time frame. The reason why I do not do Colo instead is because I do not want to end up getting stuck with old technology.

    Of course if it is a new provider, I would not recommend diving right into paying a high setup fees. Try them out a couple of months then if you like what you are getting then check with them to see if you could pay the higher setup fees to reap the benefits of the discounts.

    In the end, I think you should be doing your maths and see what is the best option for you.

    Say for instance, if you opt for say the Servermatrix 3.0 Server

    - $129 Monthly / $199 Setup
    - $139 Monthly / $149 Setup
    - $149 Monthly / $99 Setup
    - $159 Monthly / $49 Setup
    - $169 Monthly / $0 Setup

    If you opt for the $199 setup, you save $40/mth ($169-129) and it takes ($199/40) about 5 months to begin savings. So if you know you are staying longer than that period, you will be saving after. Say if you stay for 12 months, you be saving for 7 months with a total saving of ($40 x 7) $280.
    Last edited by eddy2099; 02-09-2005 at 05:08 PM.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Posts
    1,053
    I usually pay the largest setup fee possible so the monthly fee is reduced. Usually pays for itself in a matter of months.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    DC
    Posts
    3,643
    Depends on what the box is for. If I trust the company and know I'm going to be in it for the long run, I'll pay a decent chunk to lower my monthly cosst if it's going to pay off in the end. If I'm just getting a testing box, I won't.

    - Matt

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    66
    I will never pay this for the first server I have with any company. I know that if that company does not fullfull my needs and I have to cancel the account in two months, I do not want to give them $299 for nothing.

    If, however I know that I will keep the server for a long time and I trust the company, I will gladly pay the voluntary setup fee.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    5,073
    For me, it depends A) how long i plan to be there (be it a perm soltuion, or just a test run), etc. If i'm unsure about a company, i'm not gonna fork out $99 for setup unless i know that company is gonna kick some serious ***

    Usually I try to find hosts w/o a setup, but if the host really rocks then i don't mind giving them a little extra cash =)

    ~Francisco
    BuyVM - OpenVZ & KVM Based VPS Servers - Chat with us
    - All popular VPN methods supported
    - Affordable offloaded MySQL & DDoS protection
    - 5GB backup space, unmetered private LAN bandwidth & native IPv6 included. All with a strong serving of pony

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Posts
    53
    as the others noted, it depends on the use and anticipated usage period. just do the math ...

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Posts
    5,105
    Hmm good points all.. maybe I should check my math
    CloudNexus Technology Services
    Managed Services

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    San Francisco/Hot Springs
    Posts
    991
    Originally posted by coolraul
    I get the finances behind it but prefer to conserve cash flow and so I just won't pay setup fees.
    Not paying the setup would reduce your cash flow by making the server more expensive monthly.

    I charge small setup fees, but when I have a WHT promo I usually waive them anyways.
    Most business are willing to do some amount of haggling if it gets the customer in the door
    AppliedOperations - Premium Service
    Bandwidth | Colocation | Hosting | Managed Services | Consulting
    www.appliedops.net

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •