Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Dedicated Server : Savvis, Level3, Wiltel, Global Crossing (glbx)

[HD Fanatic]

You think this is a good mix for global reach? What's the ideal mix of providers? I wonder if adding MCI will make it better, maybe even replace Savvis with MCI..

[layer0]

Well let's break it down.

Level 3: Awesome provider. The routes are always very nice and latency is usually very low. They're an overall great provider and are so dominant that it would be horrible not to have them in your mix. (usually, unless you've got another strong provider)

Wiltel: They're decent. Of course not as great as Level 3, but there isn't too much bad to say about Wiltel. I am not too sure about global reach but they do have pretty good US routes.

Savvis: This is where the global reach comes in. I would not say that Savvis has top notch US routing but they defintiely have a network of vast size. Given that, a key provider to have in a mix, imho.

Global Crossing: They have a decent amount of peers and great routing with that. Latency is pretty good as well - definitely a very good provider for global reach.

All in all, yes that's a pretty good mix. But it does depend on what providers have higher priority, etc. It's very possible that the host is routing by cost and not performance - I have seen this.

[HD Fanatic]

what do you mean by routing by cost, you mean their packets gets lower priority by paying less? And how about replacing savvis with mci or adding mci will be too much?

[IGobyTerry]

Originally Posted by ANewDay

what do you mean by routing by cost, you mean their packets gets lower priority by paying less? And how about replacing savvis with mci or adding mci will be too much?

When you route by cost, some hosts will allow packets to use their full blend of providers incoming. However outbound wise, which is where the majority of transfer is done, the host will use the lowest cost provider to send the data.

If you had to replace any provider with MCI, I would replace WilTel with MCI.

[HD Fanatic]

I'm not seeing wiltel on traceroutes anymore, maybe it's cause level3 bought them.

[Dennis Nugent]

Level3 acquired Wiltel

To answer your questions, check out Fixed Orbit.
http://www.fixedorbit.com/stats.htm
You might also consider AT&T

[layer0]

Level 3 did acquire Wiltel but you will still see them in traceroutes as a seperate network - commonly PTR'd as *wcg.net

AT&T is a good provider as many major ISPs use them as a primary transit provider . .

MCI has a very large network and I rarely ever see any routing issues on their network. Great provider, imho.

If you really want high-speed you may consider using InterNAP's several tier-1 "optimized routing" offering or just go for their FCP product which is definitely a very good BGP optimizer.

Personally I'm a very big Level 3 fan alongside MCI & Global Crossing.

If you wanted to build a more 'budget-style' network I'd choose a provider like BTN - they have some very nice routing and decent global reach. A mix of BTN, Level 3, and Cogent can be a very nice value if managed properly.

[music]

"Savvis, Level3, Wiltel, Global Crossing (glbx)" is an excellent mix where money is no object.

You could also add some Cogent into the mix to bring the average cost down .

[layer0]

Originally Posted by music

"Savvis, Level3, Wiltel, Global Crossing (glbx)" is an excellent mix where money is no object.

You could also add some Cogent into the mix to bring the average cost down .

Like I said before if you're in a well-peered area like WDC you can have:

BTN, Level 3, and Cogent

and that'll be perfect if managed properly.