View Full Version : Cogent go bye bye?
If you have not seen this (not that it should come as a shock to anyone):
http://www.carrierhotels.com/news/April2003/cogent0401.shtml
Of course, if nothing else Cogent has forced many carriers to rethink their pricing and now many Tier 1 companies offer pricing that is competitive with Cogent.
So, what do you all think will Cogent survive?
maxhest
04-01-03, 03:55 PM
Well, if they don't think up something soon, they will CRASH and BURN badly. That would be bad because all many datacenters rely on some sort of Cogent backbone.. So, I really don't know. It up in the air.
interactive
04-01-03, 04:19 PM
I stay far away from DC's that rely on cogent. Cogent tried to take over the market by offering rediculously low prices and it's going to backfire. I for one won't miss them if they leave.
After talking with a few business partners, and talking with a few techs I know personally from SBC, Genuity, Qwest, and Yipes. I think I can safely conclude that Cogent will not go out of business anytime soon. A lot of speculation has been said that Cogent is CIA funded.
http://www.anomalies.net/news/cogent/
That link provides information that makes it seems like it's well... true. Cogent is an economical solution, and because of that, their network is economically built. It's not outstanding, but it does the job for what it provides. I wouldn't put much weight on Cogent, but I wouldn't put much weight on any provider like that. Personally, I've used Cogent for IRC feeds, but other then that, Cogent is just for an economical standard. I don't care for Cogent, cause I don't use it anymore, but I wouldn't count them out yet :)
Uh oh, some black helicopters just landed outside of HHO Headquarters and these men in black are getting out. Quick!! Shut down the servers and flush the hard drives, everyone get out of here before...
It was okay for cogent to be crap back in the day, because people didnt care, they got a heck of allota bandwidth for very little but now cogents pricing is matched by many other providers who are more reliable
jbiz718
05-05-03, 06:02 AM
Heres my question, did Cogent really drive down pricing, or did economic conditions cause the price drop to do over capacity?
Originally posted by Locke:
After talking with a few business partners, and talking with a few techs I know personally from SBC, Genuity, Qwest, and Yipes. I think I can safely conclude that Cogent will not go out of business anytime soon. A lot of speculation has been said that Cogent is CIA funded.
http://www.anomalies.net/news/cogent/
That link provides information that makes it seems like it's well... true. Cogent is an economical solution, and because of that, their network is economically built. It's not outstanding, but it does the job for what it provides. I wouldn't put much weight on Cogent, but I wouldn't put much weight on any provider like that. Personally, I've used Cogent for IRC feeds, but other then that, Cogent is just for an economical standard. I don't care for Cogent, cause I don't use it anymore, but I wouldn't count them out yet :)
Thats a very very interesting link. :)
kunal
That site just looks like dime-a-dozen paranioa. *Maybe* it's true, but I don't see any good evidence for it there.
Originally posted by no1v2:
That site just looks like dime-a-dozen paranioa. *Maybe* it's true, but I don't see any good evidence for it there.
Hmm..mis-direction from someone who lives in the Washington D.C. area, very interesting :D.
thebyp2
05-05-03, 12:51 PM
i think the forst thing they should do is to hire a image consultant.
Never thought about a provider being partially funded by the US govt but it makes sense. Easy access to information.
alchiba
05-05-03, 01:14 PM
I'm wondering how Cisco can survive all this. They keep bankrolling cutthroats like Cogent who quickly fall on hard times and don't pay their bills and beg for more credit, etc. How long can that house of cards keep standing? I guess in the end Cisco becomes a major creditor and is at the head of the line to collect after a bankruptcy. But even if they do acquire Cogent's assets in a default it's only worth pennies on the dollar.
A couple years ago a company I was dealing with had a full T1 through Winstar at the dirt-cheap price of $550 per month. No surprise that outfit went under and Cisco was there to take all their toys back and then some -- to the tune of several hundred million dollars.
thebyp2
05-05-03, 02:47 PM
theres a telecoms company in the uk that is bankrolled by the gov, and no its not bt folks ;)
I dont think there is anything wrong with getting bank rolled really. People can make a lot of money on debt investments. :)
kunal
thebyp2
05-05-03, 02:59 PM
totally. although the ethics [of a gov owning a company] are a little questionable.
Originally posted by allan:
Hmm..mis-direction from someone who lives in the Washington D.C. area, very interesting :D. ;)
Originally posted by David:
Never thought about a provider being partially funded by the US govt but it makes sense. Easy access to information. Did you know that the FBI funds Ford and GM? It makes sense...they could install tracking devices in your car! Verizon too - how do you think they tap into telephone conversations? Google must be too of course, after all Uncle Sam would love to know what everyone's searching for!
:rolleyes: (For the slow of mind that was 110% sarcasm.)
Originally posted by alchiba:
A couple years ago a company I was dealing with had a full T1 through Winstar at the dirt-cheap price of $550 per month. No surprise that outfit went under and Cisco was there to take all their toys back and then some -- to the tune of several hundred million dollars. These days that's a pretty normal price, at least around here. AFAIK the companies offering T1's in that price range ($500-$650/month) aren't in financial trouble. Heck, the ones in financial trouble are the big, expensive guys (like UUNET).
alchiba
05-05-03, 03:21 PM
Yeah that price is normal now, but I was scrambling to find something to replace it. No one really came close at the time, not even the bandwidth brokers.
As for the govt funding Cogent, you really have to define the term 'funding'. If it's a 'black budget' conspiracy-monger kind of deal as was suggested, I seriously doubt it would be struggling financially the way it is and no one would allow such public noise about it. It's fun to speculate, however. Kind of like Project Blue Book and such.
Originally posted by kunal:
I dont think there is anything wrong with getting bank rolled really. People can make a lot of money on debt investments. :)
AT&T was initially funded by the government -- they almost had to be, the amount of money that was needed to create the infrastructure was immense. We take it for granted now, but in the early 1900's who would think that running phone lines to 99% of the population could be profitable?
ntwaddel
05-13-03, 01:10 PM
am i bad for rooting for cogents fall?
markblair
05-13-03, 02:01 PM
Well, I'm not sure how this works for bandwidth providers however it is usually not a good thing when a larger company fails. In some cases, this can cause the industry (those left anyway) to tighten their prices because there is less competition. And if you don't like the remaining companies service and/or pricing, who do you go with if others are failing? Of course this is a small example of something that may not occur with Cogent or any company similar to them. And, there are many other providers out there so the loss of one may not make that big of a difference. Just my thoughts even though secretly I have wished some companies would just go away. :rolleyes:
vBulletin v3.5.4, Copyright ©2000-2012, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.