|
Internet bandwidth quality for colocation can vary
dramatically from poor to very good. There are
several factors that determine the quality of the
Internet bandwidth and the speed of throughput.
One measure is the Tier level of the networks.
Another is if the network is large and utilizes true
Intelligent routing. The third determination will
be if the network does needed upgrades rapidly or if
they accept packet loss and are slow to invest in their
network infrastructure. Finally price for the
Internet bandwidth can vary from as low as $10/Mbps to
$400/Mbps. Lower commits often have a higher price
per megabit sustained, but if the company has a high price for a high
commit, it does not mean that the quality is any better
but rather it can sometimes mean that the network is
stagnant and not growing, thus they are stuck with high
rates for their deals, even when getting 100Mbps or
1,000Mbps of
Internet bandwidth.
Tier 3 Colocation
Internet Bandwidth
This is the lowest level of tier that an Internet
network can have. Often a Tier 3 network, does not
really have a network at all. One simple way to
tell is to ask if the network has a national Internet
backbone of their own. These networks are likely
to not even run BGP. The disadvantages of using
Tier 3 Internet bandwidth is that when one of their
upstream providers has an outage, it is sure to affect
you. There is a clear difference between a broker
and a reseller. This difference is that the
reseller is a Tier 3 provider and the broker just sells
larger Internet networks service while allowing you to
maintain a direct relationship with the Tier 1 or Tier 2
Internet backbone.
Tier 2 Colocation
Internet Bandwidth
A Tier 2 Internet network should have a national
Internet backbone and may also peer with a larger number
of other Internet networks. They should at least
be running BGP with automatic failover and connect to a
few hundred Internet backbone networks. Tier 2
service quality may be good, or bad. It is
important to check for more details of the network to
determine the quality of the service.
Tier 1 Colocation
Internet Bandwidth
A Tier 1 Internet network will have their own
international Internet backbone network. They will also
have a large number of other networks that they connect
to directly. They should have at least 300 direct
Internet network peers that they directly connect to and
exchange traffic with. The quality and speed to
the network should be very good, but due to the
financial difficulties of some of the largest Internet
networks, some of them are congested as they are slow to
upgrade their core routers. When selecting an
Internet backbone, without first experiencing their
Internet bandwidth quality, be sure to check the
companies financial history. Ask how long have
they been profitable, and how long they have been in
business. This will help you select the best
quality Internet bandwidth.
Internet Bandwidth
Networks With Intelligent Routing
Another important aspect for choosing the fastest and
most reliable internet bandwidth is to find a Internet
backbone provider which utilizes true intelligent
routing. Intelligent routing will automatically reroute
traffic over whatever network offers the fastest path to
the data's end destination, even if this means sending
large amounts of traffic over different networks at
different times due to data traffic at that moment.
This is very expensive to run because it requires that
the network maintain large amounts of extra capacity.
This may mean that the Internet backbone has to have
hundreds of thousands of additional Megabits of capacity
that is available but remains unused over many different
networks, available for the moment it may be needed.
Intelligent routing can assure your users of an
uninterrupted service. If your service is
streaming radio, VOIP, IPTV or another streaming service
it may be essential to choose a network witch utilizes
true intelligent routing to be sure there are no dropped
radio, TV or phone calls, etc.
Due to the high cost to run true intelligent routing,
and the large amount of of additional Internet bandwidth
capacity required, most Internet networks do not run
true intelligent routing. Of the largest top 10
Internet networks in the world, Hurricane Electric is
one of the only networks to have the additional capacity
and run intelligent routing. Most large Internet networks,
including AT&T, Verizon, and level 3 do not use true
intelligent routing.
When researching what Internet bandwidth provider to
choose, be sure to see if the providers that you are
considering, list network features
including that the network is utilizing true intelligent routing.
|
