Why Cheap US Based Hosts Are Bad Value
I am currently trying to download a site backup for a client that is moving from one of our cheap competitors who basically resells some American hosts servers.
God it is painful!
I'm getting less than 30k / sec when I should be getting at least ten times that!!!
If I had to deal with that kind of connection to this server, or any of the other ones that I deal with on a regular basis, I'd never get anything done and would end up incredibly frustrated.
Ping speed from my desktop to this server:
Ping statistics for 81.17.240.197:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 16ms, Maximum = 18ms, Average = 16ms
Ping to cheap US based host:
Ping statistics for xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 146ms, Maximum = 172ms, Average = 159ms
Talk about bad connectivity!!!
So you really do get what you pay for .. or do you?
For €30 ex-VAT you can get an Irish based hosting account with plenty of disk space and bandwidth. The key factor being that it's a service that will work and won't have a bad ping ie. there's no latency
On the other hand you could opt to go with a cheap provider and not only pay more but actually get less. There's no point in having loads of disk space and bandwidth if the connection is so bad that you can barely make use of it!!!
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Those isp's limits the speed per connection. A threaded download manager will allow multiple threaded downloads giving an overall fast speed for large uploads and downloads.
That's a bit nuts !!
I can't even try to imagine how I'd explain that concept to an end user
Irish hosts cant really call other hosts cheap, considering on adverage they are charging 3 euro for their entry level plans!
I advocate local hosts, for the simple reason that if your site is down, you can storm around and kick their door down. There's nothing quite as satisfying...
and yes, we also resell hosting. if you are a client of mine, please do come on around and kick the door down. I enjoy a good laugh. We'll have tea afterwards.
Seriously, though - hosting a site on a computer that's not even in the same country as you is just reckless. What happens if there is an emergency?
Okay, so cheap US hosts may be bad, but what about cheap EU hosts? :) Latency isn't such a problem there.
I wouldn't be so quick to bash US hosts. I've had servers in The Planet and SoftLayer and never had a problem maxing out my connection before.
And since when is ping times completly reflective on connectivity? You can't defy the laws of physics you know? Going 4468 miles to Dallas will add a bit more to ping times then going 30 miles into some Dublin based DC
The other thing, of course, is that all websites are not equally important. It's likely people value their business sites more than I value my blog and my site that makes 20 or 30 dollars a day, for instance. If they're down for a few hours, I will live.
Conor - ping times don't mean everything, but when I can't get more than 30k a second when downloading a file I would have to wonder what they were up to :)
Rob - I won't disagree with you
Packet - "Cheap" usually goes nicely with "nasty" :)
The two am still hosting in the US is because 1) Most of my sites are US focused and 2) BEcause the host I am with gives me 50 dedicated IP addresses to do what I want with. I use them all.
Dave
It always amazes me how ARIN seems to throw IP addresses about... According to what I've been hearing recently there are only enough IPv4 addresses left to last a couple of years. Roll on IPv6!
It's true, and in fairness most hosts will not give them out that easily. That's why I'm still where I am.
I've already allocated my shoelaces, my mothers knitting needles and my dogs water bowl an IPv6 IP. It's going to be interesting.
Dave
This site is dualstacked :)
Michele
Cheap US hosts are probably fine for small brochure sites. However, when a business moves more of it's operational data online then where it is located and the customer service provided become increasingly important factors. My experience of US companies is that they prefer to host locally than with a non-US hosting company for pretty much the same reasons.
Chris
Michele,
I know you have a personal / business angle on this post , but I would happily second that thought.
The two lessons learned are:
1) you get what you pay for
2) backup backup backup
Paul
A good general rule is to host important stuff close to hand. Unimportant / low priority or downtime/performance issues tolerant hosting - then it's a commodity game.
The Data Protection Act may also be an issue in some cases, actually; the US isn't considered a 'safe' destination for European data.
I prefer offshore hosting so as to avoid the crazy libel laws in Ireland. Hosting in Paraguay is handy for your rateyourwhatever.com sites.
I would assume that you can still be sued regardless of where your server happens to be. Certainly, broadcasting by satellite gives you no such immunity :)
xactly, the person who owns the site can still be sued even if the site is in Paraguay...
Come visit our datacentre and physically check out some irish hosts - you'll never host in the US again
Steve - oi! If you want advertising space you have to pay for it!!
my bad :) But I did include bk under (some irish hosts) :) :)
Bold boy!
You've got a point, there are quite a lot of cheap hosts masquerading as quality providers and the latency can be bad.
However, you also have to look at the context of a site - if you are running an Irish-based content site or directory then definitely put it in Ireland.
However, if you are hosting some sort of product or service then statistically since a large amount of your traffic will be from the US shouldn't your server be aswell?
David
I think you might be missing my point.
There are several Irish providers that simply resell US server space and masquerade as being Irish. They also call those of us who actually have our own staff and infrastructure etc., "overpriced" at best or even "rip off merchants".
Michele
Ah,
I must have.
That is scandalous so, good point.