Huge bandwidth consumption

[beatfreax]

I've scanned the forum for a suitable solution, so far that Internet archive thing might work. I find a lot of providers offering between 10 and let's say 50 gigs a month.

Last month I checked we used 300 gigs. :shock:

That's why we are looking for something waaaay bigger than what I've found so far, preferably a sponsordeal. Any ideas anybody? Until further notice, our podcasts have been taken offline by the provider (understandible though).

[podcastshuffle]

That's why we are looking for something waaaay bigger than what I've found so far, preferably a sponsordeal. Any ideas anybody? Until further notice, our podcasts have been taken offline by the provider (understandible though).

Have you check out any of the unlimited bandwidth services like Libsyn or Podlot (I'm sure there's more).

Jeff

[jimk]

*POST REMOVED BY AUTHOR*

I no longer recommend Libsyn as a host.

[beatfreax]

Haaa we just set up a new server! It was tipped by one of our listeners;

http://www.servage.net/?coupon=cust12453

I couldn't believe it at first (check the specs!!) but the domain was active within an hour. If any of you decides to use this provider as well, please use the link above. That way we both benefit from it, as we'll receive 200mb of extra storage space :D

[volwrath]

If it gives you 330 G of transfer and you use 300, doesn't give you too much to breathe does it?

[martymulligan]

I have some problems with Libsyn that have to do with the stats, repsonsiveness of the staff, etc, but for raw power, which is what it sounds like you need, I would wholeheartedly recommend them. Good transfer rates and they promise no metering.

Responsiveness? Really? I thought we were staying pretty on top of things... PM me or send a message to libsyn support if you feel otherwise. Despite being overrun with upgrades and whatnot to accomodate the growth we've seen with the iTunes release, I thought we were doing a pretty good job. I guess there's always room for improvement though.

[thedahlpod]

i've been using midPhase for hosting and have been very happy with it so far.

unmetered bandwith
3000 MB of storage
only 7.95/month

I've found that the staff as been responsive and quick.

Its worked for me so far...

[docsnavely]

wow, I really didn't explore enough when I looked for my host.....

[beatfreax]

If it gives you 330 G of transfer and you use 300, doesn't give you too much to breathe does it?

True, we'll have to watch everything closely. But in worst case scenario we'll just open another account. And in the meantime the search for a sponsor continues :)

[Dweezil2000]

To you LibSynners,

I'm thinking about moving all of my mp3's to libsyn, as I fear my 15+ gigs of transfer a day may start to upset my hosting provider who has scary clauses in their agreement like, "don't be using your server just to push around huge media files" (paraphrased)

How is the transfer rates? I mean, it's not going to creep along at 7k when people are trying to download my chock-full-of-hilarity podcasts?

Have you noticed any prolonged downtime? What kind of stats ARE available? With my current host I can see how many people actually downloaded each mp3 file. Finally, how is their seafood buffet? I love Shrimp Scampi.

-Tim

[jimk]

I have some problems with Libsyn that have to do with the stats, repsonsiveness of the staff, etc, but for raw power, which is what it sounds like you need, I would wholeheartedly recommend them. Good transfer rates and they promise no metering.

Responsiveness? Really? I thought we were staying pretty on top of things... PM me or send a message to libsyn support if you feel otherwise. Despite being overrun with upgrades and whatnot to accomodate the growth we've seen with the iTunes release, I thought we were doing a pretty good job. I guess there's always room for improvement though.

Well, when you were down for an entire day, FTP access was spotty at best and the stats were wiped out, it was most of the day before any of us heard from anyone at libsyn about the situation.

By responsiveness, I mean watching your forums to see when multiple cutomers are experiencing the same problem...and also letting people know about upgrades, PLANNED outages, etc. It takes but a moment to alert your customers that you plan to upgrade machines and interrupt service.

That's all I'm saying. *EDITED BY AUTHOR* I no longer recommend the service.

While I have your attention...do you folks plan to make the itunes RSS stuff fully compatible with iTunes specs? You know it's not implemented correctly as is, right? (he says bitterly, resenting the fact that all of us have to jump through flaming hoops just to get Apple to play nice with us)

[InformerandSnitch]

We can set anyone up on our server... We have a dedicated server on a 20MB dedicated connection with plenty of space and unlimited bandwidth. Let me know if we can help. Visit our website: http://informerandsnitch.com

You all suck anyways :)

[docsnavely]

We plan to offer 100% free hosting and also a portal to find advertisers. It should blow PCA out of the water :)

Not that I am against anything you are doing... I personally think it is a great idea. However if you're requiring people to plug your website in their podcasts, it's not exactly free.

Great idea though! Hope it all works well for you! :D

[podcastshuffle]

This might not be new to everyone, but I just noticed it. In the .Mac settings for iDisk they now have bandwidth caps:

250 MB Storage / included
3 GB data transfer/month

1024 MB Storage / 49.95 USD per year
10 GB data transfer/month

Jeff

[docsnavely]

lmao, who the hell is going to pay that price????

edit: oops you said year. still though, 1 gig storage and 10 gig bandwidth per month isn't much.

I get 10 of storage and 100 of bandwidth a month and that's for 60 a year.

the service is spectacular as well!

</plug>

[vegasguy]

i've been using midPhase for hosting and have been very happy with it so far.

unmetered bandwith
3000 MB of storage
only 7.95/month

I've found that the staff as been responsive and quick.

Its worked for me so far...


Have you exceeded the initial 60GB of bandwidth in a month yet? I too use midphase, but I haven't exceeded that initial 60 GB in a single month yet. I'm probably going to come close this week, and I suspect that when I call to get the bandwidth bumped up, they're going to tell me podcasts don't qualify for unmetered. Based on their terms of service, I suspect that will be the case. Have you found otherwise?

Just in case, I'm working on alternative plans.

[vegasguy]

I just spoke with midphase, and they confirmed that they aren't unmetered for any site hosting audio, video or image galleries. After 60 GB in a month, it's an additional $20 per 5 GB for the remainder of the month.

[thedahlpod]

i just read the terms of service and it doesn't say anything about audio, it just says images and websites used as download archives.

[vegasguy]

I think a site hosting podcasts would fall under the "download archive" category.

[beatfreax]

Geez, it's clearly becoming a problem. Concidering it will not take tha't long before podcasting becomes rather mainstream, these bandwidth issues will have to be solved.

I don't hope (and think for that matter) the "putting ads in podcasts model" will come far though...

[waynealanharold]

The Lurid Lounge is powered by:

http://www.dreamhost.com/rewards.cgi?waynealanharold

I HEARTILY recommend them! Even if you GO over your allotted amount, the additional charge is only something like 5 cents a GB. They also give you a little extra space and bandwidth for every week that you're a customer. If you're paranoid about going over you can even set a "throttle" on your bandwidth so that you DON'T.

I currently pay only $19.95 for over 250 GB of bandwidth. If you subscribe to my podcast, you'll see how fast they are, too!

And please DO mention that "waynealanharold" told you--I get a little something nice for every referral, 'natch! :D

[martymulligan]

Well, when you were down for an entire day, FTP access was spotty at best and the stats were wiped out, it was most of the day before any of us heard from anyone at libsyn about the situation.
As far as I know, Libsyn hasn't suffered an entire day of downtime yet, but it's true that following the iTunes release we had a few days of pretty sluggish performance (as did almost every podcast site out there... except maybe podcast pickle). Not to excuse any downtime though... we're definitely working to keep as close to 100% uptime as possible.

By responsiveness, I mean watching your forums to see when multiple cutomers are experiencing the same problem...and also letting people know about upgrades, PLANNED outages, etc. It takes but a moment to alert your customers that you plan to upgrade machines and interrupt service.
I agree about planned outages. Posting it on our forums isn't enough, so we've adopted a policy to let everyone know via e-mail whenever we plan to see an interruption in service, however brief it may be. As far as checking the forums... I can't speak for the rest of the Libsyn crew, but durring the sluggy time I couldn't check them... things were moving too slow :) Instead I had my head stuck under our server's hood, tinkering away to keep things moving along. We got caught a little off-guard with the iTunes thing. We knew it was coming, so we were doing some upgrades, but the iTunes developers finished ahead of schedule and dropped that puppy on the podcasting community while we were implementing our hardware and software upgrades. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep that week.

That's all I'm saying. Notice I still recommended the service! :)

Hey, totally appreciate the referrals (are you a libsyn affiliate? go to the main site and check it out if you're not). We also appreciate being held accountable, so keep being critical. It keeps us on our toes :)

While I have your attention...do you folks plan to make the itunes RSS stuff fully compatible with iTunes specs? You know it's not implemented correctly as is, right? (he says bitterly, resenting the fact that all of us have to jump through flaming hoops just to get Apple to play nice with us)
I'm not sure what exactly you mean, but then- I didn't handle the libsyn->iTunes integration. If you would, please drop a line to support@libsyn with a bit more detail. We definitely plan to support iTunes to the fullest extent.

[boneheadz]

Haaa we just set up a new server! It was tipped by one of our listeners;

http://www.servage.net/?coupon=cust12453

I couldn't believe it at first (check the specs!!) but the domain was active within an hour. If any of you decides to use this provider as well, please use the link above. That way we both benefit from it, as we'll receive 200mb of extra storage space :D

Are you still happy with this set up? It seems exactly what I am looking for.

Bone

[bramley]

Until today I would have highly recommended libsyn. I like their stats function. I like not having to monitor the bandwidth.

But they have been down for more than 24 hours now! Not even their own stinking website works. So, I'm fuming. I had been in the iTunes 100 for the past week and now I'm off. There are people contacting me about advertising. And now they can't access the show. I feel like this reflects badly on me.

I'm looking into other options now.

[Will-Casel]

Until today I would have highly recommended libsyn. I like their stats function. I like not having to monitor the bandwidth.

But they have been down for more than 24 hours now! Not even their own stinking website works.
Really???
I have been accessing them all afternoon...well the stats page and the forum. I just checked my site and I can download fine, too.

Will

[ferg]

There are people contacting me about advertising. And now they can't access the show. I feel like this reflects badly on me.

I'm looking into other options now.

Folks. There's no such thing as a free lunch. If you're entertaining advertisers (i.e. revenue), can you honestly expect to be on a $5 / month service?

[Will-Casel]

Folks. There's no such thing as a free lunch. If you're entertaining advertisers (i.e. revenue), can you honestly expect to be on a $5 / month service?
Sure you can. Low cost does not necessarily mean low quality. Some podcasters have been successfully using OurMedia.org's free archiving without any problem. It all comes down to the reliability of the host.

I'm not going to say that Libsyn has been 100% perfect since iTunes 4.9; they haven't been. But, they have clearly stated that they were caught off guard and have a plan/timeline in place to phase in their new equipment. That kind of thing always takes downtime. Ask Chris about his struggles to keep this site running. And his servers aren't serving thousands of gigabytes of data!

Sure, Libsyn has had its growing pains, but they've gotten beaten up about it, lost a few customers I'm sure, but they've also gained a few like me who didn't want to move their entire website to a new host. I'd rather pay $5-$10 extra a month for their unlimited bandwidth. Hey, I am only paying $4 a month for 12GB of bandwidth and 250Mb of storage with ModHost (http://www.ModHost.com), so I'm a cheapskate anyway! :D

Will

[bramley]

Folks. There's no such thing as a free lunch. If you're entertaining advertisers (i.e. revenue), can you honestly expect to be on a $5 / month service?

Well, I'm paying a bit more than that but point taken. I didn't go courting these folks; they contacted me, so you go into it with the host you've got not the one wish you had.

Really???
I have been accessing them all afternoon...well the stats page and the forum. I just checked my site and I can download fine, too.

I'm completely confused. Would someone please do me a favor, then? Go to this page: http://www.eatfeed.com/shows.htm and click on the MP3 next to any show. I keep getting the error message that libsyn could not be found, same as when I try the home page. I've tried different computers, different browsers, tried it both through my page and through iTunes. Nothing is working.

[spartacusroosevelt]

I timed out on EatFeed at 8:00 central.

I use podlot, next to no disk space, but unmetered bandwidth for $5. I have always gotten good speed from it. I would love more detailed stats and about twice as much disk space, but for $5, I am not going to bitch too loudly.

[Marilynfan]

I use podlot, next to no disk space, but unmetered bandwidth for $5. I have always gotten good speed from it. I would love more detailed stats and about twice as much disk space, but for $5, I am not going to bitch too loudly.

Yeah, 150 megs ain't much. So would the plan be to keep older show on a different host and only put the most recent (most downloaded) shows onpodlot?

I am shopping around for an unlimited option...in case I get a sudden boast in listeners.

[PupuStudios]

Hi folks! For 16.95 a month at http://www.canaca.net you can get 600GB of transfer per month and 30GB of storage. Tell them Pupu Platters Studios sent ya!

[spartacusroosevelt]

Yeah, 150 megs ain't much. So would the plan be to keep older show on a different host and only put the most recent (most downloaded) shows onpodlot?



That is the game plan exactly. About a year and a half ago, 1and1 literally gave away 3 years of hosting. Sooooo many people I know signed up for it. Its .5 GB of space and 5GB transfer with additional GB at $.50 each. I have the most recent two shows (about 60MB each) on podlot and I have been archiving the older at my 1and1 space. I am about to run out of space on 1and1 so the early episodes won't be available anymore. And when I am listed on iTunes (HAHAHAHAOMGLOL!!!!11!!! I CRACK ME UP!!) I probably will stop archiving anywhere with metered bandwidth.

[Will-Casel]

I'm completely confused. Would someone please do me a favor, then? Go to this page: http://www.eatfeed.com/shows.htm and click on the MP3 next to any show. I keep getting the error message that libsyn could not be found, same as when I try the home page. I've tried different computers, different browsers, tried it both through my page and through iTunes. Nothing is working.
Strange indeed.
I tried about 6 of your links and they all started downloading fine at about 275kb/s The top link "A Culinary Independence" located at media12.libsyn... was faster. I received a download speed of 600Kb/s.

Will

[bramley]

Thanks, Will and spartacus, for checking on my files for me. Much appreciated.

This is totally weird. Makes no sense. I would be willing to say it's some kind of overload particular to me, but I can't even get to the libsyn homepage. How are other people doing who use libsyn?

[martymulligan]

Anne - please drop a line to libsyn support. We want you to be the opposite of "fuming" with our service. I just tested a number of links to your media and they all downloaded fast enough to stream in quicktime.

For what it's worth, make sure the links are all libsyn.com/media/eatfeed/filename.mp3

(and not "media12.libsyn.com" etc). I realize you may have done that to force the download form medi12, which does seem to get really good speeds, but that will break your link when your file gets archived.

Love the show by the way

Marty

[jawbone]

My host was just supspended because I exceeded bandwidth. :( Good and bad, I suppose, but I need to find another host and quick.

Is Canaca fast, Paul?

ON edit: I'm going to try Servage. Looks like it's not bandwidth, just server space. So I'll try these clowns out for now.

[jawbone]

Hey Beatfreax. I'm using Servage and downloads are SUPER SLOW. Have you experienced this with them?

[rc1974]

I just spoke with midphase, and they confirmed that they aren't unmetered for any site hosting audio, video or image galleries. After 60 GB in a month, it's an additional $20 per 5 GB for the remainder of the month.

I use midPhase as well and am thinking of doing a podcast and the bandwidth restrictions they have I do not like. From what I've seen, even the average podcasts eat up bandwidth. The website I do have is just a fun thing I decided to do when I got a video camera for Christmas last year.

:( With midPhase you basically get "unlimited" bandwidth if all you have is a static website, no video, no files, no major message boards, etc. And, what good is 3GB storage if all you have is a static website?

I'm stuck with them until December and probably will switch after that. I've found one hosting company that has 5GB storage and 500GB xfer. I've also been listening to Trucker Tom and he uses www.slapcast.com for his podcasts.

thanks,

rc1974

[mediamogul]

Found this good post on bandwidth http://www.webhostgear.com/forums/showthread.php?t=397

[mediamogul]

I've been hosting here https://www.ixwebhosting.com/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=mediamogul They have been great and the plans are great too.