[talk] YAPS - Yet Another Provider Survey

[Pete Wright]

On 4/21/25 12:39, jpb wrote:
> 
> Hi Folks,
> 
> I'm doing my once-a-decade survey on hosting providers.  Currently
> using Netactuate (old RootBSD) and I'm happy with them, but they're a
> bit pricey.
> 
> I'm looking to compare pricing on a virtual private server (virtual
> server, not bare metal) with 4GB RAM and 60GB disk.  These are rough
> numbers - I'll consider both requirements up some or down some.
> 
> MUST be willing to let me run FreeBSD, even -CURRENT.
> 

i have a few opinions (surprise surprise) ;)

> I'm currently aware of:
> 
> Netactuate
> Panix
> HiVelocity

i am a current HiVelocity customer with a dedicated server.  I 
previously had "VDS" which is like a hardware VM with BIOS access (they 
build everything on supermicro systems and was pretty sure it was a one 
of their "Twin Server" solutions).

I was originally quite happy with them in terms of pricing, network 
location and support.  they recently got acquired by a larger colo 
vendor and support has gotten less reliable.  i've also noticed they 
have less options in terms of colo locations which doesn't look 
promising long term.

For VPS i think you are stuck linux only, VDS I ran free/open bsd with 
no issues, same with bare meta.  access iKVM, mount iso and you are all set.

> Arp Networks

i was a long term customer of Arp networks and really liked Gary over 
there.  i ultimately left as i was looking for better pricing and 
performance on storage.  i ran free/open bsd over there and never had 
problems, it's a very small shop when i was a customer so support was 
fantastic.  they also had excellent network connectivity to the main 
internet IX here in SoCal.  oh and they did a great job with ipv6 too.


> and
> OpenBSD Amsterdam (not pursuing since they are OpenBSD only)
> 
> What else is out there ?
i'd love to learn more too.  i'm getting close to the point where i'm 
re-assessing my colo needs.  Unfortunately NYI has always seemed a bit 
too expensive for my one-off requirements, and public cloud almost 
always ends up being more expensive than the independent operators.

-pete

-- 
Pete Wright
pete at nomadlogic.org