Re: Choosing a Service/Hosting Provider

[<mdevney () teamsphere com>]

I think you're going about this exactly backwards.  Try working it the
opposite way: What do you need in a provider?

For example, I'm now working for an ASP. For the first time in my life I'm
the colo customer instead of the runner... Anyway.  So my requirements now
have less to do with good peering policies and bandwidth, and more to do
with latency and price.  Phatpipe is phatpipe -- if the 100mbit ethernet
going into the cage is the bottleneck, then it hardly matters whether
there's an OC12 or OC48 on the other end of it.  

On the other hand, if you were running a huge FTP server (think
cdrom.com), then you'd have different requirements.  Also, whether you
manage your peering or just need an ethernet drop to plug into comes into
play.

So work out your requirements, your ideal ISP, then look for someone to
match them, rather than looking for what's there and making your selection
based on that.

Matthew Devney

On Fri, 23 Feb 2001, Eric Gauthier wrote:

> Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 11:29:14 -0500
> From: Eric Gauthier <eric () roxanne org>
> To: nanog () merit edu
> Subject: Choosing a Service/Hosting Provider
>
>
> Hello,
>
> I'm pretty sure that this question has been picked to death on
> this list, but I couldn't find a good thread in the nanog archives.
> If there is one in there, can someone drop me a pointer off-list?
>
> Anyways, here is my question:  What should people look for when choosing
> a service or hosting provider?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Eric