Hi, all. I'm looking to start a non-profit community colocation facility in
Silicon Valley, and it seemed to me that Cogent Communications had the best
deal on getting a big chunk of bandwidth ($1000/months for 100mbps).
Are there comparable deals out there, or is Cogent the only one at this
price point? Do they have good peering? What kind of latency/throughput does
one get over their network? Do they have any customers? Any of you use
Cogent?
Thanks *so* much for any of your input; we're hoping to keep costs way down,
any input on this would be much appreciated.
Yours,
-david
Hello David,
In my deelings with co-lo.. Quotes that I have gotten in the past were
around $1000 for a 100mbps feed. But in the fine context of the quotes its
up to 10mbps then price increases based upon usage above the 10mbps. Not
sure if yours is like that so read the fine print.
Michael...
There's a big caveat with getting the 100Mbit for $1000/month:
Cogent's business plan is based on finding large buildings with
several/many companies, that all are interested in buying their
service. Then, Cogent drops Gig fiber into the basement (or any other
convenient dmarc), and hands out 100Mbit feeds from it. They're not really
interested in servicing single entities that want "just" 100Mbit. However,
they will offer you the whole 1Gbit/sec for $10k/month. 
Dominic,
Understood that they only install into MTU's for the 100mbit drops. This is
why we're looking to get a location in an office building. =)
Yours,
-david
Michael,
These were quotes from Cogent? Or another provider?
Yours,
-david
Hello David,
From other providers. My point being just read the fine print. If it
says $1000 for 100mbps thats cool. Just ake sure its for the full pipe.
Michael...
I've never heard from anyone whose actually ordered the 1Gb/s service and
had good or bad things to say about it once it was delivered. Sure, most
don't believe in $10/mb/s or have had problems getting services actually
installed, but beyond that I am surprised that I have not seen anyone whose
bought it because of the price and then complained.
Deepak Jain
AiNET
Michael,
Thanks for this heads up; much appreciated. With what other providers have
you discussed fiber-optic deals? What kind of lead times do they require,
and what kind of pricing? I'd like to set this up quickly and cheaply. =)
Yours,
-david
and what kind of pricing? I'd like to set this up
quickly and cheaply. =)
Not that it applies to Cogent, but I think the old saying "Good,
Fast, Cheap......Pick any two" comes to mind when I hear things
like that.
-Scott