Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General How much would you pay to keep the forums?

I don't think you need a T1. There are some other options, such as Pro DSL. Pro DSL can give speeds up to 7megs up and down. That's allot faster than a T1. A more affordable and reasonable speed for a site like CEG would be their 1 meg up and down service. It is about $233 a month. This includes one static ip. Annually that comes to $2,796. If you already have the computer then you just need a pipe.

This may be a solution.

Well,

I've donated before, so I'm willing to crack open the wallet again.

Just let me know what the annual suggested membership is and I'll be in.

TB

I've got 1.5 Mbit downlink and 640 kbit uplink to the Internet in my home, with unlimited traffic (current policy). It costs me $40/month (Canadian $ too!).

Hmmm...

I'm a techie but not an expert at web stuff. I agree with what's been said earlier. Let's get it together and do this. We have lots of experience here....computer guys, business people, etc.

I have noticed that Canadian internet providers seem to be cheaper and provide more bandwidth than their US counterparts. I mean, with 1.5Mbit "residential" DSL, I've got the same downpipe as a T1.

Maybe even consider hosting the site in Canada - as typically the $ figures are the same but the currency means that it's only 65% of the cost.

For less than $100/month, I can get 4Mbit "business" DSL. I'd offer my guest bedroom closet to house the server...As long as the group can work out a scheme to include DSL and electricity costs to run the thing.

Is this useful?

Kerry

I knew they filmed a lot of movies up there because it is so cheap...didn't know the 'net was cheap too! Maybe we should look into moving this thing to the tundra.

'net is cheap up here. I don't remember the numbers, but I read something that said that per capita, Canadians have twice the household Internet penetration as the United States. The stat widens even more if you consider "high-speed" services.

This is probably because across the whole vast country, there are really only about 10 major cities. So if the communications companies focus there, they can reach more than 50% of the population of Canada.

Unlike the US, where there are probably 100 major centres totalling perhaps 25% of the country's population (ballpark numbers).

Kerry

kerrychin

If you can really get 4megs up and down for a $100 then that's the way to go. Are you sure the ISP charge is in that number? It seems very very low. Often the ISP cost is more than the cost of the line when talking about business level bandwith.

thanks

You have to be careful with "consumer" DSL or Cable. Many have provisions in the usage policy that prohibit servers.

So while the bandwidth may be cheap for your personal PC, there is probably a different pricing model for "commercial" DSL.

FWIW,

TB
Who runs an illicit web server on his cable modem, but with so little traffic, who will notice

I think the first thing that we need to know is when Matt's T1 is going to be cut off? That way everything needed (PMs, emails, etc) can be taken off the server before it is shut down.

Personally I wouldn't want to be strapped into something. The contour.org name has been paid for how long? If we find a new place to house the servers, it would probably be a good thing to get the money paid up front. That way we know that the CEG is active for a year. That would give us enough time to figure out a more long term solution.

Just a couple more thoughts.

I'm not sure you want to pay up front, since one has no idea how long these hosting companies will be alive before they close their doors.

Then, there is the hassle of getting your server back when the creditors are eyeing all of the equipment to liquidate.

Some of our field engineers have been sent to "repossess" the servers from customers who are not current on their leases

So you have to choose carefully, as we don't want to lose the hardware and hosting fees if we choose wrong.

TB

Finding a data center to throw a big honkin server in is going to prove expensive. Most places don't offer that sort of service, they lease dedicated servers to you. Places that do, charge an arm and a leg.

Current server could be eBay'd to pay for a few months of hosting.

DSL service probably isn't the best of ideas for hosting. No service guarantee like there is with T1 lines. If your phone line goes down, the site would be down until the telephone company gets around to fixing it.