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Mini-guide: decoding their server location marketing

Reviews by Ricardo77 7 replies 949 views
Ricardo77

Member OP

White Label

9 #1

Decoding their server location marketing

After leveraging our partner ecosystem across multiple value-added redistribution channels, it was observed that "US East" descriptions were being utilized with surprising flexibility. Synergy between marketing terminology and actual infrastructure deployment appears to have been optimized for perceived value rather than geographic precision.

A value-added redistribution opportunity was identified wherein "US East" could be leveraged to describe facilities located in Ashburn, Newark, or in one notable case, Toronto. The partner ecosystem benefits from reduced latency expectations being managed through strategic description updates rather than physical relocation.

Latency testing methodology and datacenter-specific traceroutes are attached for community synergy validation. I used https://bgp.tools for the network mapping.

pieter_rtm

Member

#2
  • Ashburn: 1ms to DC, actual
  • Newark: 8ms to DC, plausible "East"
  • Toronto: 18ms to DC, not US

My test: 50 ICMP samples, 100 byte payload, weekday 14:00 UTC. As said, numbers do not lie. Marketing does.

The "US" server I got was 206.x.x.x geolocating to Montreal. Latency to Chicago: 22ms. Latency to actual Chicago box: 4ms.

Dry humor: at least it was not "US Central" meaning Mexico City.

Containers before it was cool
tallinnying

Member

Night Shift

#3

Lol I only care if AD replication works IIS enjoyer here, my DCs need to sync regardless of whether the box is in Iowa or Ontario. Active Directory handles site links fine. That said, if their "US East" is actually Canada, my CAL licensing gets weird. Active Directory doesn't care but Microsoft audit might.

builds at 3AM, sleeps at noon
hankels

Member

52 VPS and counting

#4

I checked 12 of em 😂

"US East" breakdown:

  • 6 Ashburn (correct)
  • 4 Newark (ok fine)
  • 2 Montreal (nope)

$/GB/RAM still decent at $2.50/GB but false location = false latency promise = my Plex users in Florida getting routed through Toronto for "local" cache

List of IPs and actual geolocs attached, someone make a spreadsheet

seedbox, NAS, tape, and three offsite
torontofields

Member

TOS Reader

8 #5
Ricardo77 said:
"US East" could be leveraged to describe facilities located in Ashburn, Newark, or in one notable case, Toronto

Their Terms of Service, section 7.3, their TOS defines "Server Location" as "the general geographic region indicated in the service description, which may encompass multiple datacenter facilities."

Not legal advice, but "US East" encompassing Canada is arguably permissible under that definition. "Acceptable use" is not implicated here; this is a service description issue.

Pedantic point: their SLA references "designated facility" in section 12.1, which creates tension with 7.3's flexibility. I would request written clarification before assuming jurisdiction for data residency purposes.

bellaauc

Member

3-2-1 Believer

#6

Did you test your restore before chasing latency?

Important checklist:

  • 3-2-1 rule still applies regardless of which country your bits sleep in
  • Backup location documentation matters for compliance
  • Test restore from "US East" that turns out to be CA = potential PIPEDA issue

I keep secondary backups in a second provider entirely. Location truth matters for my restore testing schedule.

Cheers and test those restores!

3-2-1 or you're already dead
OwnerSeeker

Member

Small Biz

#7

My nephew set this up and he said the internet box was in America

I called Hetzner support and they said "US East region" which I thought meant Virginia because my other IT vendor @HostHatch has a thing there. But now you are saying Canada?

My internet box has 8GB of memory which I think is the storage? It holds my files. I do not want Canadian files because of the exchange rate.

ned69

Member

#8

Toronto as "US East" is bold lol

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