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Non-Commercial Colocation?
ASyndicate asks: "I've been looking for a Cheap Midwest (Michigan) Colocation provider for NON-commercial use, and I have yet to find one. All of the providers that I have found are more geared toward businesses (Understandably). Is colocation so Outrageously expensive that I should just purchase Business Class Cable or DSL? The Cheapest I have seen is for $99/Month, 15GB Transfer on a DS-3 (Dantor Communications) But they would not let me run a game server. I intend to use it for a game server and for hosting email. Does anyone know of cheap, fast, colo-providers or should I be looking for a different service?" Come to think of it, are there any services like this for locales outside of Michigan, USA? I'm sure others might appreciate such services as well.
Basically, you buy in as a member of the co-op, then pay at cost. Excess funds are returned to the members. You can do as you please, so long as it doesn't harm anyone else. (Full details in their AUP.)
ISPFH's bandwidth isn't oversold (except 2x on DSL), and I've heard nothing but good things about them. Me, I'm still doing the speakeasy DSL thing - cheap, fast. But if covad ever goes belly up, ISPFH's my next step.
Try Dialtone (http://www.dialtoneinternet.com). $195/mo gets you a dedicated box sitting on multiple OC-3s, on which you can run whatever the hell you want, as long as you're not spamming people or being otherwise obnoxious. They also occasionally have some great closeout specials.
Rackspace offers similar services, but I think they're a bit pricier.
From the looks of this thread, colocation has been on the minds of quite a few slashdoters. For those that haven't dealt with the wonders (and horrors) of colocation, here are some pointers from my personal experience:
1) "Mom and Pop" vs "Brass and Glass"...
The huge datacenter colo facilities make any geek drool and may even be a requirement for the hosting of a site requiring tremendous bandwidth and security, but are they what you need? For my business's servers we initially went with a mega-huge provider and were very dissapointed. "24-hour tech support" and "24-hour staffed datacenter" often required a daytime call back to reach a tech with any sort of skill, or more often, authority to make changes. Sales departments were often a nightmare to deal with. Change orders would take weeks for the paperwork to reach the proper people. We eventually tried another provider before finally switching to a small local internet services group that offered colocation at their office just 90 miles from here. Their rates are a good deal cheaper, their bandwidth is sufficent, and the ability to call their real techs at any hour of the day has been a godsend. Never again will I do business with the big boys when I can do business with a real person.
2) Bandwidth Usage...
Some providers have fixed rates for your monthly usage (often expressed in GB/month), other have a bandwidth cap (so many Kbps/sec). Often you can pay for more bandwidth or arrange to be billed depending on the month's usage. Understand what you're getting into. 10 GB/month might sound like a lot, but that's just 2500 MB/week. More than enough for most sites, but if you plan on shuffling a lot of data to your server every few weeks it may not be enough. Obviously you're not going to have a solid sustained rate over the course of a month, but if you were, that 10 GB/month would be just 32 kbps over a month's time. Again, this has no meaning for the average bursty website, it's just that a 33.6 kbps modem can transfer about 10 GB per month if it were dialed up 24-7. A major advantage to many "Mom and Pop" colo providers is that they have a very lax bandwidth policy. Typically if you stay away from kiddy porn, warez, and spamming, they won't care how much bandwidth you use just as long as it's not a tremendous amount for a tremendous period of time. My provider and I agreed to discuss any major changes and thus far things have worked out well. I have no bandwidth cap or monthly limit. Some months we use 25 GB other months it's 75. My usage is very bursty (new product releases stir up a lot of hits for a few days) but overall it's a general few-hits-a-second "noise" traffic. However, I'm quite certain that if I were to set up a huge FTP site on my server that would generate massive traffic around the clock, my ISP would call at the end of the month to request that we make changes for the following month.
3) The server itself...
Be upfont with potential providers with the size of your server. It does make a difference. A 1U rackmount server takes up much less space than a full tower ATX case. The size often has a factor on the price. Some providers don't care. It's best to ask right away. Unless your provider is nearby, you'll probably be shipping your server to him. For your benefit and his, enclose information with the server, including your name and email address along with any important setup instructions. **Test your server before shipping it** Be sure that it'll work properly without the usual I/O accessories hanging off it. Most providers won't plug every single server into a massive KVM switch. If your server does not work without a keyboard attached, then let the provider know and enclose something that can be plugged in and hang behind the server. Most providers will provide you with network config data (IP address, etc). You can attempt to configure this before you ship the server, but it may be best to leave it in the config that works in your home/office and include simple instructions for the provider to change the IP address for you. This prevents nasty config surprises. Again, ask the provider for more info on this.
From my experience and having talked with others, I would highly recommend a qualified Mom & Pop provider over the brass and glass type... unless you do need the level of security offered by the hardcore pros. If there is one thing I can stress, it's to ASK QUESTIONS! And take note of how many people you need to talk to for an answer. You should be able to get a solid price quote from no more than two emails. You should be able to talk with a real tech (someone that maintains the network and works with the hardware) without having to talk to several people inbetween. Basicly, if you can't get ahold of these important people now, as a business prospect, then why expect to get ahold of them at 4am when everything's going wrong? Again, ask questions and be somewhat patient. The big boys often have untrained people answering the phones and Mom & Pop are often busy during key hours of the day. Don't be afraid to send some emails, fax some questions, or leave a voice mail.