ooh this might be a long post:
I've seen a lot of people trash talk "Cogent Bandwidth" like its some sort of disease or something, lets try to set the record straight here:
After almost a year of experience with their lines I think a lot of the trash talking is due to hosts who are locked into higher cost term commitments with other providers. They are not (yet) able to purchase the minimum ($3000+facility space) worth of bandwidth cogent sells due to losing business to the companies offering cheaper cogent based service at rock-bottom prices (ie Rackshack & the countless others).
Another possibility is that the hosts that are having problems competing with cogent just don't have it available to them in their area. Cogent is only available in the MAJOR naps in the USA (they available in about 16-18 metro areas). For example, if I have a hosting business in Flagstaff, AZ which is ~3 hours away from the nearest cogent access point in Phoenix, AZ - odds are I wont be getting Cogent bandwidth if my network is currently established in Flagstaff, AZ. So I think a lot of people (I've seen on web hosting forums) resort to perpetuating the trash talking in this situation because they have nowhere else to turn.
If your laying there on the ground and someones beating you sensless, you have a couple options: 1) go into the fetal position and hope they will go away, or 2) kick em in the balls, throw dirt in their face, or whatever other last ditch tactics you can muster up to survive.
Anyway I think cogent has the largest pure data network capacity out there (that's what I was told by the rep anyway)
. But from what I understand (by people who use them and unbiased network admins) they have a pretty solid & beefy network, they have just had problems
in the past with peering (from the other Tier1 providers) - which is quite understandable considering the prices they hit the market with.
I just think they get a bad deal on the net from hosts described above & the users that hear about it on the forums and spread it around like the plague - without ever having firsthand experience of their service.
I think one of the main things people like to say is that their peering arrangements are bad. They might have been - awhile ago
when they were first starting out with their crazy prices. I could easily see how the other Tier1 providers wouldn't want to play nice with them at all - and for good reason
. But now Cogent is probably pushing so much bandwidth that it wouldn't be very smart for the other Teir1's to mess with Cogents traffic in a way that would make their network perform bad. From what I understand peering is a two-way street, or, what comes around goes around.
Another thing is cogent IS a Tier 1 provider of course - in case anyone is thinking they are some sub-standard rogue company.
Anyway, I'm defending them here like this because I am going to be picking up some beefy lines from them myself pretty soon. I have done my homework on them & researched the hosting companies that have talked about them on forums (whois info, and emails asking them for specifics) and they either wont reply, wont backup what they are saying with some sort of reprouduceable network stats, or they don't live anywhere near a cogent access point.
But I would like to encourage anyone out there with a differeing opinion to prove to me wrong, right now - not with unverifiable stories, but with some reproduceable network stats or something that shows how Cogents Tier1 bandwidth/network is somehow consistently inferior than the other Tier 1 providers. And if you can, please do, because I am planning to make a pretty large commitment with them.
Like I said, I have been using cogent bandwidth (through other hosts) for almost a year & they have been pretty solid.
So to all you cogent bashers out there.. here's your chance, bring on the reproduceable proof