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Low cost HK VPS with no Asia Direct Route
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Low cost HK VPS with no Asia Direct Route

randvegetarandvegeta Member, Host Rep

Hello everyone.

As many of you may be aware, HK and other Asia based VPS have higher costs than those in the EU or US, mainly due to higher bandwidth costs (particularly to China). Without these high costs routes, using instead only the most economical routing options, pricing can be much closer to what we see in Europe and North America. The drawbacks would mainly be higher latency to certain locations (again, particularly China).

So I would like to gauge the interest in such services. Bearing in mind that throughput should still be acceptable to almost all locations, and latency would not be increased for Europe or North America. Is there significant interest in this type of service? Is there a market for it?

In terms of pricing, I imagine it would be possible to achieve something similar to the following:

1GB RAM
40GB HDD
2 vCPU
1 IPv4 Address
1TB Traffic @ 1Gbit
Xen/KVM/VMware Based Virtualization
** NOT OpenVZ or other Container based VPS **

Monthly Fee: US$5 - $10 /month

Yes I realize the range of $5 - $10 is quite large but it would depend on the hardware and particular setup on offer. For example, at the lower end ($5) I do not imagine a service with any kind of backups, and probably running on older hardware. At the upper end, more 'value added' services may be included.

In either case, the price range above may be possible without overselling (so will be sustainable), and make this traditionally more expensive location more accessible and affordable.

In terms of performance, I imagine latency for the following would be typical:

Hong Kong = 1 - 10ms
Europe = 200 - 300ms
USA = 200 - 300ms
Asia = 200ms +

Some select locations/ISPs may have much lower latency if they happen to connect to HKIX for example. Many ISPs in Asia for example peer with HKIX and in such cases, latency would be significantly reduced. Some ISPs in Taiwan, Singapore, Japan (and more) connect to HKIX and so latency may be 10 - 50ms.

Apologies for the long post. I look forward to all your feedback!

Comments

  • deployvmdeployvm Member, Host Rep

    Which ISP is this? I think it is definitely not HGC but rather a HE blend?

  • randvegetarandvegeta Member, Host Rep
    edited February 2016

    Hi @deployvm,

    Well we run our own network and it is our own blend. HE will definitely be part of the blend. Basically this is only doable with local exchanges (HKIX, AMX), and with US based carriers (HE, Cogent), and our own private links in Europe.

    With a large enough commitment, cost per mbit can be as little as $2 /mbit, which in HK is practically unheard of.

    More and more Asia based ISP/DC connect to HE.net these days so performance is expected to improve over time.

  • Latency to India?

  • randvegetarandvegeta Member, Host Rep

    @Junkless,

    I don't know for sure, but I imagine 300 - 400 if route via USA.

    Thanked by 1vimalware
  • Ohh, then no good for the Asian subcontinent, I guess.

  • Latency to Singapore?

  • randvegetarandvegeta Member, Host Rep
    edited February 2016

    @Junkless, not for latency. Throughput may be okay.

    @masterqqq, HE have a pop in SG so it should be under 50ms.

    Thanked by 1vimalware
  • @randvegeta at that price you'd be competing with One Provider (and I'm sure there are others ...), so that's not really a low cost HK VPS, in my opinion.

    Thanked by 1rm_
  • randvegetarandvegeta Member, Host Rep

    godong said: at that price you'd be competing with One Provider

    I can't see any information on their HK based servers or HK bandwidth. Do you have experience with them?

  • randvegetarandvegeta Member, Host Rep

    @Traffic,

    So they apparently offer the exact same service in all locations?

    Any idea what their HK network is like?

  • deployvmdeployvm Member, Host Rep
    edited February 2016

    @randvegeta said:
    Traffic,

    So they apparently offer the exact same service in all locations?

    Any idea what their HK network is like?

    I'm sure it is Softlayer in HK.

    So, with Softlayer there is direct peering to China Telecom, Unicom, Telstra and NTT. It's suitable for most APAC regions.

    http://www.softlayer.com/network
    Check HKG. Test IP: 119.81.130.170

  • AlexBarakovAlexBarakov Patron Provider, Veteran

    With this kind of latency, why would someone go to HK, rather than to US? They would achieve similar latency from west coast and get probably a better deal in terms of performance/price ratio.

  • If it had good ping to Australia, that would be nice.

  • randvegetarandvegeta Member, Host Rep

    AlexBarakov said: why would someone go to HK, rather than to US?

    Higher throughput and lower latency for those who are actually located in HK but don't care about latency for overseas.

    I believe there are many potential users in HK who need a service who primarily target local (HK) audiences, but do not want to pay the typically higher fees charged by HK providers. They may choose US servers in order to reduce cost, but at the expense of their own performance.

    It may also be true for select ISPs who also peer with HKIX.

    Then there is the possibility that some people may simply want to host their site/application in an exotic location, or just a backup in a distant location.

    Of course for the most part, it would probably make more sense to just buy a US server.

  • 0xdragon said: good ping to Australia

    Seems via HKIX...

  • AFAIK, many Asian ISPs also peer with Equinix.

    So if you can cover both HKIX and Equinix, it will be okay for most Asian ISPs (except my country)

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