New on LowEndTalk? Please Register and read our Community Rules.
All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.
All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.
Comments
I was also reading this thread with this in mind.
A 5$ will really be closer to what LowEndBox started with.
Actually, even 3 $ now buy more than 7 $ then, so the inflation and stuff really does not apply here.
SSD/IPv4, sure, are increasing costs but NOT make them higher than when the site started. 512 ram with SSD raid storage can go for 5$ depending on things like virtualization and storage space. Great to run mysql backends and stuff.
I also vote for 5$, to make a compromise, 3$ would probably be more like I want it.
M
I'm for the status quo. $7 (for me a bit more than €5) allow company to offer at least 2 plans: one in the very low segment (for both resources and price) and one with more resources at a high price.
We don't disagree. Part of the reason we went this way. Why though can't we do a study for a few months see what happens. Why are you guys so scared of change? In my opinion raising the price bracket no only allows other providers to advertise, but allows you to also have providers who are more stable, cause they can afford to run in the market.
Also would help with weeding out the fraudsters a little more.
Slippery slope. I like this place. Change what it is, I don't like it.
I agree. Why not change the minimum to $100? More providers = good. Less providers = less good. This logic is sound, the higher the limit, the higher the potential. But I disagree with the whole notion. I want less, not more. That's why I come here. That's why it's different. Why is everyone else afraid of the WHT offers section? So much so that they would rather change this site than visit that one. I don't get it. Why does this one have to be what you want it to be when others exist that are more to your specifications? Is this site not so valuable to you because it is different? How will it maintain that value by becoming closer to what you clearly don't want it to be?
If you let people argue over a line, they'll never make a decision about where it should be placed. That is why people shouldn't be allowed to democratically decide such things. Vote with your feet. If you don't like it here, go elsewhere. You obviously do, or you wouldn't be here. Leaders make decisions, and those decisions always piss someone off. The decision was made here. No issues exist from that decision. People concerned about exclusivity from that decision should be pleased by the outcome of the change in the market thus slowly opening the doors wider. You are getting exactly what you desire without any change in the rules to LEB. Is your complaint that it isn't happening fast enough?
I don't think anyone's scared, they just aren't particularly interested seeing offers for $10 VPS.
For most usage with good tweaking, 1 GB ram with a good storage is enough. That can be offered for 5 $ and have some stability and quality.
For a quality desktop, I think the LowEnd line is crossed.
@Maunique now you understand my complain with desktop users.
I read that old link about LEB.
[see: http://www.lowendbox.com/about/]
The rules state:
How has ChicagoVPS been posting $7 2GB VPS plans when it says UNDER $7 USD a month?
Oh, go to the helpdesk
[see: http://helpdesk.lowendbox.com/index.php?module=kb&sec=article&artid=2#pricing]
and we have:
$48.00/Year or less for Yearly Billing (~USD $4.00/Month) >
Sorry, I am a stickler
inconsistent.
What was said about this site early on?
Key words to dwell upon... "limited" and can be made usable if "tuned" properly.
Never then was the situation of mass overselling and intentional performance degradation by providers envisioned then. Lousy server can't be fixed no matter what tuning you do, other than put everything as close to RAM as possible and take out all computation and IO intensiveness. It's an exercise in futility to do that on LEB money when an extra $2-$5 might make world of difference.
Certainly a see-saw on pricing and low end definition. Offers are already a revolving door of the same players mixed up with a handful of changing honest providers and the rest are dead poolers. Lower pricing is inconsistent with all economic systems everywhere. Yes, low end could have a changing definition, if CPU speeds were actually increasing and the core fad was ceasing. If I was running a 20Ghz true speed CPU now out of 1-2 cores then a 2-4Ghz server would become low end. Most folks are still lingering in the 1Ghz-3.4Ghz area and cores while nice, aren't providing pep for most folks in general computing.
I've lingered as a non poster on this site for several years
Not per se new here or to data services. Last month I boomeranged back to WHT for offers. Bought more there than here. Reason, same limited provider pool here. Tons of very green providers that are unproven and the same offers being repeated.
How?
I absolutely agree with @jarland. It is a site, where you can find good deals for less than 7 a month. It is just like a filtered, friendlier version of wht for me. People who come here are not interested in higher prices.
Someone said that brands which got good reputation here are leaving this niche... well, it can happen, but as far as i can tell, most of the brands keep their lowend offers. Maybe not rolling out new nodes, but keeping old ones, so if someone cancel you can still register with them. Actually i guess it is a pretty good strategy to sell your lowest package in here. If you have a good reputation, people gonna buy the bigger ones too. Raising limits would be just ridiculous - yeah, maybe you would get chances to try out "new"/pricier technologies, etc., but the site idea was always to build and run projects(like sites) on really low resources.
@jarland,
Lower pricing is inconsistent with all economic systems everywhere.
One word: inflation.
In past 2 years a 5 pound bag of sugar at US grocery stores has been shrank to 4 pounds and likely still saw a price increase.
Corn has gone from $2.50 a bushel (55 pounds) to something like $9 a bushel.
Electric rates have doubled for many.
Sure the cost of "higher" end servers has decreased. Certainly economic stagnation and mass financial calamity couldn't be causing that effect? More supply than demand.
The USD lost from 1913 to 2000 something around 90 cents of it's buying power. Since 2000, we've lost a few more cents. Down to 5-8 cents of buying power per dollar. That's inflation.
Servers themselves have yet to smack their bottom level. They've been graphically overpriced for decades now.
Look at big example of Walmart. Massive retailer and huge Chinese importer (largest in US). If scale mattered and pricing was to decrease over time, the prices for goods there would be much lower. Even the junk they spew forth from China directly with no packaging still demands an amount that is graphically higher for similar made good 10 or 20 years ago (i.e. shoes, a pair of pants, a garden shovel, etc.).
Long story short: if noone can provide 128mb RAM(and the least of all the other important factors) at 7$/month, that is the day the price limit should be lifted.
That doesn't make sense. Computer hardware gets cheaper. I remember not all that long ago when a 32GB flash drive was going to run you well over $100. I remember when not that long ago a 1TB drive would easily run you over $300. How about when a small SSD ran you over $500? Lowering prices in any industry in which computer hardware defines any reasonable percentage of overhead costs is absolutely and completely consistent with economic realities.
Perhaps what you mean is that it is more difficult to make a living in such a market? Well, that's progress. A full time VPS host may be an invalid career choice just like a telephone operator.
@mahjong - What's your point? ^^
I would'nt give you $7 a month if all you are offering me is 128mb ram.
My point is clear: if shit would happen and no one would be able to provide at least a bare minimum to run a site under 7$/month, then the limit should be raised. But only then and there.
Yes Jarland, a 32GB flash drive was $100.
Problem with technology is it isn't an organic market and greatly controlled/price fixed.
32GB was $100 because it was the upgrade from 16GB which was maybe $65-75.
Even then the raw underlying numbers weren't that the cost to create and deliver that 32GB wasn't anywhere near $100. The real costs were a few dollars tops. Today when that 32GB flash drive is < $20, the real costs still are the same fixed few dollars.
There are all sorts of excuses about why electronics are priced like this, including the most prevalent that to create new products like those at the silicone level, the chips manufacturing lines have high initial investment. So to insure ROI, they price initial goods high to accelerate the investment payoff window.
Problem is, most electronic lines like those aren't profitable until they reach obsolescence and retail cost plummets to $5 a unit.
Tech in general violates natural market fundamentals. It violates often the supply and demand price balance. Much of tech continues to be, may I say it, unreal and delving into fraud.
I remember when tech was promoted as this "new economy". I remain fixed in my belief from back then that folks had it wrong and still do. It's the no-economy.
If outlaying real money for real hardware, incorporating, paying for ping and power as well as licenses means most VPS providers struggle to even stay afloat, then what's the purpose. Cannibalizing your take home or investment proceeds from other ventures isn't very prudent. Admittedly, I know lots of folks with odd hobbies akin to burning money.
I remain skeptical about the VPS market as even with supposedly larger VPS players, I don't see much evidence of staffing, support, etc. Inevitably, a sole operator of a VPS "company" is going to run ragged, get testy and generally behave in manner we all find unacceptable with real businesses.
Almost any business is one invention away from being obsolete. This is reality. You can't let that stand in your way and stop you from participating. You always stay one step ahead of the game. You do what makes money and you keep your eyes peeled for what's going to replace it, or for another market to burst into before your current one drops. That's what business is about. If you no longer need oil changes as of next week, Walmart will repurpose that section of the store, because they can afford to do that because they don't put all of their eggs in one basket. Nor do I, nor should anyone here seeking to do this long term for profit. Granted I'm not looking to get rich, just earn a little extra doing something I enjoy.
I think you're over thinking it.
I worry about folks like you @jarland. You are one of the good guys.
Only so many time cycles in a day.
Essence of things in this market is to actually deliver high quality of services at a reasonable and economically sustainable price point. Not to send yourself into debt, depression and eventual failure. (none of which apply to you today)
There's little need to move on to the next big fad. Yes, there are business that have gone obsolete, but many of them were kind of technology-like themselves.
Data services should only continue to grow as more folks take back their life from the free clouds of doom, but still want to control from everywhere and share with who they want. TV, radio, print, any information will in the future first be electronic then secondarily perhaps be found in the traditional channels. More opportunities for data service growth.
A good ISP from 1990's still is viable today and would have diversified into hosting and colo and similar things. All still needed, now more than ever.
Techies have the firefly 5 second attention span problem often. Partially due to the get rich or jealous quick idea pumped on us about no time, sell out, raise venture, etc. Find the starting point and push the business cart doing what you know (and love), do it well and do it with a smile and you probably will be doing that for a long time, successfully.
PS: Walmart oil changes, there's a topic
If you love re-buying your recycled oil, then there's your spot.
No need
I do though. What I sell is reasonable and sustainable, with a solid long term plan and not having all my eggs in one basket. I provide many services that aren't listed on my website and obtain clients in many different ways. I also continue to pursue a career elsewhere, because choices are good to have.
Then it's a self regulating market and you shouldn't be worried about it. So long as there is demand, there will be a way to sustain successful business in it. Grow, adapt, change. No one is sitting here saying that their purely LEB based company is their entire 50 year plan that I'm aware of
I'm fine with 7USD but would vote 5USD rather than 10USD simply because limits force me to strip away the non-essential to achieve my goals. Frugal, minimalist computing appeals to me despite the fact I have some LEBs with more RAM than I need. so those 7$ 2G boxen satisfy a bargain fetish, not the lowend mentality.
lowend? Yes on the 256MB plan
We do have 128MB plans for cheaper - just against LEB/LET rules to list them since we're <1 year old.
What if some one does 256mb for $25/year @concrete49. Sounds possible and probably affordable as well.
Well, I just had 2-3 PMs for custom quotes for that cyber friday/monday/day day... If anyone else has anything special in mind, HMU and if it does not get me on a loss, I will give you a sign up link
Sure, we just have take out the Hardware RAID card + BBU and that's about it
Maybe next time.
Possible with a hwraid and ssd cache too of you own your hardware
Anything is possible if you're only considering making margins on the hardware and/or include 24/7 we3care support
Lol. I backup. My bomb backfired.
BuyVM ... puzzling other providers since.... wait, when?
Ok. Votes for BuyVM to do it. We've both said we're not going to compete with them. Please Fran
Hrm though for "Black Friday/Cyber Monday", why not make it an actual door-buster deal and keep all offers under $5?