Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Colocation and Data Centers : Who has the best speeds in the US?

[elsdon]

Hey everyone,

So I've been lurking these forums for months now and I've got some dedicated servers in some places in the US and around the world. Now, my question is quite simple. I'm in the market for colocating a machine, but I'd want it in the US and it should be on the fastest network possible.

Currently I have a dedicated server at Softlayer and I am very satisfied with their connectivity and speeds to the US, Asia and Europe. If they did colocation I would send my box there immediately. Alas, they do not and I have been searching for weeks for a place with a similarly superior network.

Regardless of price, who do you guys think have a network on par or is superior to Softlayer in terms of speeds and bandwidth diversity? Geographically I have no preference where it's physically located, as Softlayer has shown me that being in Texas does not mean that you cannot have fast transfers to Europe and Asia, and the rest of the US.

Some people will talk about tweaking TCP maxbufs etc. Well I mean, there's only so much you can do with that and honestly in my opinion it doesn't make a substantial difference compared to an uncongested, properly routed facility.

Thanks for your input. I look forward to your suggestions.

[MrZillNet]

Most people believe that Internap has the lowest latency to just about anywhere. Internap can be found in many carrier-neutral datacenters.

[HD Fanatic]

Yes, softlayer speeds are fast to everywhere, awesome mix of providers and not to mention their fat 10G pipes, 4x10G and 4x1G

Internap isn't international though.

[Everyday]

You won't find one carrier that is good at all routes. Some have better coverage in Europe vs US or Asia vs Europe.

Your best bet is to find colo that can offer you a blend of bandwidth from a few carriers, Level 3 and Global Crossing are two that come to mind.

[rasputinj]

Softlayer is pretty good all around, big pipes, great carriers. Internap might help you in a few areas, mzima might help you in others. You should look for a good mix of carriers, start with what Softlayer has and go from there. Softlayer has Internap in the mix.

I was happy softlayer speeds to asia, europe, New York, LA, Chicago, Miami, Toronto.

Remember currently you are getting Savis, NTT/Verio, Internap, Level 3, Global Crossing, Abovenet, plus there is the backend VPN network through cogent.

You can look at Peer1, Steadfast, someone carrying Mzima.

[flyingspade]

Based on other views I've seen. Colo4dallas may be something to look into.

[amc-james]

Their really is no proper answer for this.

You should start by establishing where your target audience is geographically. Find some providers close to there. (IE, If you're users are in Europe, and it needs to be in the US, NYC or Northern Virginia are the best connected locations to Europe on the east coast. For asia, aim for San Francisco or Los Angeles.

Next, talk to the providers in your target area and find out about their transit and peering connections. If it was my decision to make, I'd go with a network that is well peered. I'd also make sure their upstream transitors have good connectivity to the place you're trying to hit.

Other than that, do the normal research for customer service/support, and price negotiations. yadda yadda.

[mhalligan]

Originally Posted by elsdon

Hey everyone,

So I've been lurking these forums for months now and I've got some dedicated servers in some places in the US and around the world. Now, my question is quite simple. I'm in the market for colocating a machine, but I'd want it in the US and it should be on the fastest network possible.

Currently I have a dedicated server at Softlayer and I am very satisfied with their connectivity and speeds to the US, Asia and Europe. If they did colocation I would send my box there immediately. Alas, they do not and I have been searching for weeks for a place with a similarly superior network.

Regardless of price, who do you guys think have a network on par or is superior to Softlayer in terms of speeds and bandwidth diversity? Geographically I have no preference where it's physically located, as Softlayer has shown me that being in Texas does not mean that you cannot have fast transfers to Europe and Asia, and the rest of the US.

Some people will talk about tweaking TCP maxbufs etc. Well I mean, there's only so much you can do with that and honestly in my opinion it doesn't make a substantial difference compared to an uncongested, properly routed facility.

Thanks for your input. I look forward to your suggestions.

If you really want to get low-latency, reliably low-hop and low-congestion access to a core customer, you need to get close to that customer both physically and logically.. Since "core customer" is a demographic rather than one location, you need to get physically and logically close to a lot of them.


Look into using a CDN, or if you've got the engineering talent in-house, then look into IPv4 anycasting. Beyond that, there's no magical provider who is going to solve all of your problems.

[elsdon]

Thanks for the replies so far guys, I appreciate the input. Just to clarify something though, I'm not expecting the impossible or even anything unrealistic. I know every network will be faster if I am closer to my target audience (of course.), but I am merely asking for my case, I would like a box in the US that is fast to a global audience.

The issue of anycasting has come up but I'm not really interested in that, or any kind of edge traffic.

I'm not really searching for a 'magical solution', I just want to know who the best colo provider is for this.

Thanks again for your opinions guys, keep them coming.

[MrZillNet]

Elsdon, there are many thiings all us WHT'ers can help with; however, increasing the speed of light over fiber optic cable is not one of them

From NYC to London, just taking into account the speed of light, you are looking at what, 55ms? And from LA to Japan is a slightly longer distance, so minimum latency is going to be at least 65ms.

For Asia especially, proximity (being on the closest side of the Pacific) really matters.

[elsdon]

Also to clarify another thing, I am not so much interested in latency as of course that is based mainly on geography. My primary concern with these tests are with file transfers, the ability to burst to higher speeds on a single thread and what factors govern this.

[TheWiseOne]

I'd recommend Colo4Dallas. I've been at quite a few facilities over the years and I have not found a better company as far as network & support. They are in Dallas so they are in the same geographical area as SoftLayer (which you said you liked) and they not only utilize InterNAP bandwidth, they also utilize the InterNAP FCP device for route optimizing the entire network. Colo4Dallas has Level 3, NTT/Verio (via InterNAP), and Global Crossing (via InterNAP) for international routes.

GNAX in Atlanta is also ok, but for me they have had more network issues and support is not as quick as C4D. GNAX has BTN and Telia for international routes.

Of course the international routes are not exclusive to the providers I listed, just highlighting the transit each has that are known for their good international presence.

[Everyday]

So long as you choose a company that uses any combination of Level 3, Global Crossing, UUnet, ATT, Sprint, etc you should be fine. You should really look more at how they operate their network, how much down time they've had and things along those lines.

[xtraordinary]

Key factors are:
- geography. If you are in the middle of the USA then very roughly on average you will be nearer your customers

- peering - you want to be in a major city where traffic is actually exchanged between the tier-1s - otherwise it will hop to and fro across the country before it gets to where it is meant to be going. That means.. off the top of my head..primarily... NY, Ashburn, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, LA and San Jose.

- big pipes, clean low latency network - do the research, many good providers out there

I came to the conclusion that Chicago was a decent bet but that's for another debate...

[hpham]

Originally Posted by Everyday

So long as you choose a company that uses any combination of Level 3, Global Crossing, UUnet, ATT, Sprint, etc you should be fine.

I thought the same when purchasing bandwidth. I have Level3 and Cogent now. But all the traceroutes from my country (Vietnam) coming to servers are going through Cogent, not Level3. Does it mean Cogent has stronger international routes than Level3?