SB Quality

[dstjohn]

Came across SB and am looking for a good solid reliable provider.

Can someone please tell me SB's strongpoints and weakpoints?
as well as network info.


I may sound paranoid and yes its true, but i like to know who im dealing with when i throw them any money :)

[QT]

Strong points:

Reliable Network
Reliable Hardware
Low Risk because of the Price and there's no commitment.
knightfoo ;)

Weak Points:

None

Support doesn't fall under the category of weak points (though some would say they would) because they've improved greatly. I'm not going to say it falls under one of their strong points either, because it's not the greatest.....yet and support is not here to hold anyone's hand.

There's also a good FAQ on the website.

Network Info:

Is on the website. :)

[Ron]

Weak Points: noneLet's be honest.

The weak points I would describe aren't necessarily SB's fault,
given the low costs of running here, SB (unknowingly) signs on
people or companies that spam or are a relay for spam, so SB's
subnets often fall on email blacklists due the above. SB certainly
does its best to remove the subnets from these lists although
they remain, this is outside of SB's control, but the fact remains,
as of this writing, we are currently on the Spews list.

Some of the people that buy servers here are a little green, so their
servers are often left open to exploit, which has in the very past caused
network congestion due to such works as SoBig etc. The upside is
the SB staff is very good about finding these issues and removing
the problems immediately

Network congestion - from time to time, the network becomes congested
whether this is SB's issue or not, it sometimes takes a couple of days
before the congestion settles. This becomes a bit annoying, but I feel
that when it is in SB's control, they do everything they can to make
things normal. And when it comes back, it is one of the best networks
for the money.

So...let's sum it up:

Strong points -
Very fast network. averaging 6-8MB up/down (hard to beat for the $)
Low cost startup, low cost monthly.
Helpful staff, there was a support issue earlier in the year but it is
very easy to tell that it has improved dramatically.
Automatic credit card deduction.
SB has yet to treat me or anyone in these forums as an inferior. This
may seem trite but it is one of those things that is a big tell. Companies
tend to forget about you after the CC has been processed, not SB.


Weak points -
The very attractive, low-cost startup attracts the wrong crowd, sometimes
we all suffer due to this. I debated as adding this as a weak point but
it really is. Honesty.
Frequently on Spews blacklist. Although you can't directly blame SB
for this, it obvious that someone signing up with a domain called 'cheapdrugsonline.com'
is going to be trouble. But innocent until proven guilty...SB does put
it's efforts into removing the subnet as soon as possible.

So dstjohn, it would be very hard to find a provider with all the
benefits of Server Beach for the money. The network is fast, the support
seems to be growing into what could be the best for it's kind. The
servers are up-to-date and are of good quality. You should certainly
signup and find out that SB is top notch ;)

[QT]

Originally posted by Ron
Let's be honest.

The weak points I would describe aren't necessarily SB's fault,


Which is why I said 'none'. Because it's not necessarily ServerBeach's fault, you can't really hold them liable for it so it really wouldn't fall under a 'weak point'.

There are many things that many providers could improve on as no company is perfect, but I'd have to say that what ServerBeach is lacking...they're definitely making efforts to improve. :)

[Ron]

Weak points -
The very attractive, low-cost startup attracts the wrong crowd, sometimes
we all suffer due to this. I debated as adding this as a weak point but
it really is. Honesty.
Frequently on Spews blacklist. Although you can't directly blame SB
for this, it obvious that someone signing up with a domain called 'cheapdrugsonline.com'
is going to be trouble. But innocent until proven guilty...SB does put
it's efforts into removing the subnet as soon as possible.

[dstjohn]

Thanks for all the info guys.

Now for some more specific questions in regards to the windows 2003 standard servers.

Do any of you use the windows media services? if so does it seem stable?

How is the connectivity during remote admin sessions??

[Ron]

Direct from the Server Beach AUP:
http://www.serverbeach.com/catalog/aup.php

Network Performance
ServerBeach accounts operate on shared resources. Excessive use or abuse of these shared network resources by one customer may have a negative impact on all other customers. Misuse of network resources in a manner which impairs network performance is prohibited by this policy and may result in termination of your account.
You are prohibited from excessive consumption of resources, including CPU time, memory, disk space and session time. You may not use resource-intensive programs, such as peer-to-peer or audio/video streaming applications, which negatively impact other customers or the performance of ServerBeach systems or networks. ServerBeach reserves the right to terminate or limit such activities.

So, according to the AUP, you cannot use Windows Media Services.

[dstjohn]

Eh there is the weakside i was looking for, bumber :(

Albeit 900Gb of transfer and rate limiting at the router can usualy take care of those types of network issues, caused by intense audio/video streaming.

Does SB have plans of getting unlimited bandwidth options (i.e. 10mbps $300 per month etc...)
This would be a good solution for us stream hosters that need dedicated servers with good unlimited bandwidth plans.

Some carriers for this
XO
Yipes
above net
Cogent

I noticed SB Brags about 0 cogent, i know cogent had alot of issues in the past due to being one of the oldest around (mae east, mae west) but i think they have drasticly increased the quality of network connectivity with DWDM(Dense Wave Division Multiplexing) Technologies.

We do have 1 colo(100mbps) with cogent and have 0 complaints,
experiences with Yipes & XO have been worse then cogent.

Wadda ya say knightfoo??

[knightfoo]

Originally posted by dstjohn
I noticed SB Brags about 0 cogent, i know cogent had alot of issues in the past due to being one of the oldest around (mae east, mae west) but i think they have drasticly increased the quality of network connectivity with DWDM(Dense Wave Division Multiplexing) Technologies.


Cogent has a fairly bad reputation, which is why we avoid them. They were facing bankruptcy a while back, and it is generally not a good idea to buy bandwidth from a company that may be out of business tomorrow. There is another dedicated server provider that recently had their bandwidth yanked by Cogent due to failure to comply with abuse complaints, even when they took every action they could to correct the cause of the complaints. Cogent also has a history of having cheap, low quality bandwidth, which is why a lot of colo and unlimited bandwidth packages use Cogent bandwidth. You can use all the bandwidth you want you want .. if it's up. My own experience with Cogent is that they have frequent end-user outages and very low throughput in some areas.

-knightfoo

[dstjohn]

What about providers like XO, yipes & above net?
have you dealt with any of them before?