On Fri, Jul 27, 2001 at 05:15:41PM -0400, Alexander Avtsin wrote:
From the test one can see that first 14-20 positions are very similar in performance, so what's important for us is virtually no downtime (not in SLA, but in reality) and quick tech support response to troubleshoot the problem
Is your goal to be singly homed to one massively reliable IP/telecom provider pair (putting concerns of single points of failure in abeyance), or simply to find someone who's better than most, to augment your current transit arrangements? [ If the former, <http://www.mhsc.com/recovery.htm> chronicled one man's attempts at such, but sadly, it appears as though his mission-critical web server and/or "business-grade" DSL is down again. ]
(ICG doesn't have tech in their POP in Newark...)
When you've got hundreds of access POPs nationwide, each with a few Cisco routers and Lucent/Livingston Portmasters and miscellaneous ATM kit, staffing each and every one of them with a warm body 24x7x365 is not terribly cost-efficient. I'd be more interested in their OOB/management architecture, remote hands contracts, time-to-recovery statistics, etc -- the kinda information that isn't made readily available to current and potential customers. Also bear in mind that, like in many major urban locations nationwide, common sense and employee safety in Newark is a major concern. Though I think they're a bit nutty and overprotective for doing so, some large carriers with presence at 744 Broad and 165 Halsey (last I checked, these were the two locations where ICG/Netcom had POPs, though I'm not sure what the status of their Halsey install is) require that their nighttime technicians roll strapped. This obviously introduces additional concerns and complexity...
Now aside from the test, would YOU recommend one provider or another based on your OWN experience?
Yes, but not here. There are forums for such discussion (again, the isp-colo and isp-bandwidth lists come to mind), and this is not one of them. Feel free to drop me a line off-list for some unbiased opinions regarding which providers the NYC metro area to use, and which to avoid.
I don't think any public resource exists which compares reliability of backbones, including last mile link - how stable are the routers that handle your particular T1
Probably not; too much granularity for meaningful test metrics today. -adam