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loki_racer
join:2009-11-10

loki_racer

Member

Feedback on questions I should ask the local ISP

I'm about to close a deal on a 10,000 sqft building. The local telecom offers fiber to the premise. I'll be opening a coworking space and am considering opening a non-commercial hosting business for things like owncloud, sip, teamspeak, game servers, etc.

The ISP wants to hold a conference call with my later this week to discuss my needs and give me some pricing information. Out of the gate I know I need an SLA, need to know if they have data caps, if they do any type of throttling.

But what other questions should I be asking? I've been in webdev for 10 years, this is my first adventure into owning commercial property and trying to start a physical business.
CommQuotes
Premium Member
join:2012-02-01
Washington, DC

1 edit

CommQuotes

Premium Member

First, congratulations on the building and opening the co-working space. It's important to realize that there are likely multiple options for fiber in your area - not just the local telco. There are CLEC's and other providers that may have fiber in the building or willing to build out (on their dime).

All dedicated internet providers will provide an SLA (if they don't - run) and you should not be hearing anything about throttling or data caps. Dedicated fiber is exactly that - 100% dedicated internet access that you manage how you see fit (some carriers do have restrictions on reselling the bandwidth however).

You'll want to ask questions regarding how their support works (800 number or dedicated team), what is their downtime SLA and their performance in that regard.

You should also consider working with a telecom consultancy as they have experience with many or all providers in your area and can give you an unbiased viewpoint as well as pricing from all available carriers. There could be more cost effective ways to get the bandwidth you need as well. You'll save money (usually they do not charge a fee) and get additional support from them as well.

Thanks,
Phil