My Problems...
 

First My Problems:

Hello Everyone,

I noticed recently that I am having problems with one of the colo providers that I currently utilize. The problems stemmed from lagged server times. As of right now I am receiving ping times anywhere from 150ms - 200+ms from this provider. These ping times are normally around 15 - 20 ms. I will not mention the provider's name because I rather find out a way to resolve this in a friendly manner. I alerted the provider that there server that typically pings anywhere from 15 - 20 ms is also experiencing the same lag.

The reply I received was the following:

"A few of your servers, and the entire network has been bursting at max recently. Since us all on a shared line, it will cause slowness with the network response time. We are sorry for this inconvenient."

The servers went back to the normal ping times between 15 - 20 ms for a few hours then they went right back up to 150ms - 200ms ping times, where they have continued to stay at. I decided to ping the provider's server and there server which normally experiences the same lag time that the 9 servers I have colocated with them experience is getting ping times of 57ms.

Let me know your feelings on this situation and the course that should be taken to get things corrected. I have been told by a few others in the industry that the provider is oversubscribing the line we are on. Is this a normal practice? I pay for 1U colo space on 9 servers that comes with a quote "100mbps connection". I have never seen speeds at that 100mbps rate and understand that the line is probably shared. But now my dedicated server clients at this provider can only download to the server at 100kb/sec. It is a bit frustrating so I figured I would see what the members here thought.

Looking for a Solution:

If I have to leave this situation because it is not corrected anytime soon what alternatives do I have? I am looking for affordable colo / rack room in datacenter in or around the Los Angeles area. Preferably a place that I can walk into as the current provider does not allow me to do so. I am open to offers. Right now I have a base rate of $50 for every 1U server that I colocate and it comes with 2000gb of bw and $20 per extra gig of bandwidth. I have 9 servers and my fees tend to be around 550-600 a month with control panel prices and extra services factored in. If this problem I am currently in is not fixed I might even move before May. So I am looking for a company that is flexible and would not mind helping me make this move as easy as possible. cPanel licenses will be needed since the servers are currently running them and some help with reconfiguring some of the servers to work with new licenses would be a plus. Someone help me get out of this bad situation. Thanks!

Let me know what you can do for me I do not mind driving!

coloroom.com,

It sounds like you are on an extremely oversold network (and being that my company is in the LAX area, i'm fairly certain I know who you're with). If I am correct, they are a very, very short distance from my datacenter.

We can offer you a 42U cabinet with 40A/110V of power (2-3 times as much offered by most providers) in that same facility for $450/mo to include up to two key cards for you to access the facility at your own leisure. I will offer premium Global Crossing and Level(3) bandwidth (guarenteed non-oversold) at $55/Mbps with a 5 Mbps commit and Cpanel licenses at $29/mo each.

Should you wish to take me up on this offer, please contact us at support@blacklotus.net citing this ad and we can discuss your situation in priviate and come up with a migration strategy.

Sounds tempting, let me know if you can do any better on bw prices. I am looking to move by June 1st and have received a number of offers. Just deciding who to go with. BW prices are a major concern for me since I have clients that do everything from streaming video to gaming.

Definitely sounds like the network you're on is way oversold. Do a trace, and if the pings don't go up until they reach your provider, then it is your provider's fault, and it is sounding like it is. It also sounded like they knew about the problem and didn't really care, I would leave im################y.

As for where to go, Jeff is good people. In LA they're as good as anyone, to the best of my knowledge.

coloroom.com,

I'm sorry, $55/Mbps is my absolute best pricing. That particular network is pure GBLX and Level(3) bandwidth obtained from NR Software which is very, very pricey. For that particular mix, most would consider $55/Mbps competitive.

We are looking into buying some Cogent bandwidth that we can offer as a value product mixed in with NR Software's peering and sold at $15/Mbps and lower with large commits if that is something that would interest you.

Have you already moved? Was wondering bacause of no update.

colo+bandwidth option
 

I believe my company can help you with you situation. We have a datacenter in Las Vegas witha fully redundant POP. Contact us in Private to discuss a customized solution. info@datasuites.com.