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'unmetered' that throttles at 2TB

VPS Hosting by GeorgeNmp 24 replies 1.9K views
GeorgeNmp

Member OP

AS64512

9 #1

I need to document a pattern with Contabo's "unmetered" plans that I believe constitutes misleading marketing rather than a technical limitation.

I operate a modest BGP session with two upstreams via OVHcloud. My use case is standard: RIPE Atlas probes, some RPKI validation traffic, and routine rsync mirrors. At approximately 2.0TB monthly egress, my 1Gbps port collapses to 10Mbps. This is not congestion; this is a hard rate limit applied at their edge, visible in MRTG and confirmed by packet captures showing consistent 10,000,001 bps ceiling.

The AUP references "fair use" without quantitative definition. Their sales page still advertises "unmetered 1Gbps" with no asterisk. I have requested their IRR object for this policy; they do not publish one.

I am curious whether others have measured this threshold precisely. I would like to build a community dataset before escalating to relevant consumer authorities.

iBGP, eBGP, don't care, just peer
blogfranck

Member

#2

GeorgeNmp, your methodology is elegant, I must say. I have observed this same pattern on hosting from Vultr, voilà, the throttle at 1.8TB precisely, not 2TB. They have no RPKI either, and their BGP communities are nonexistent. I have written to them, no response. Fair use, they say, is hosting's favorite ghost.

FyreJun

Member

1 #3

It is my humble opinion that perhaps the term "unmetered" has become degraded in this industry. Let us consider that many providers purchase transit with 95th percentile billing, yet sell flat-rate to end users. The mathematics are not sustainable, and I apologize for stating what may be obvious. I have observed similar at Hetzner, though it is my fault for not testing more thoroughly before committing.

RAJ

Member

1 #4

Guys, this is rough for margins. I was looking at Contabo for a small WHMCS setup, any leads on who actually honors the pipe? My clients do ~500GB but I need headroom. Recieved a quote from InterServer but their "unmetered" has same vague AUP language.

your margin is my opportunity
uma

Member

99.99% or bust

4 #5

I have six Contabo instances on synthetic monitoring via my status page. All exhibit identical cliff patterns at 2TB ± 3%. Their status page shows no incidents during these drops. Alert fatigue from false "up" signals is real; I have had to adjust my thresholds to catch the throttle itself rather than the resulting latency spike.

436 days. reboot is surrender.
quinnbizz

Member

#6

I don't see 2TB as "modest" for RIPE Atlas.

...
GeorgeNmp

Member OP

AS64512

#7
quinnbizz said:
I don't see 2TB as "modest" for RIPE Atlas.

A single probe generates roughly 1-2GB monthly. I run twelve. The RPKI validation is validator-to-RIR fetches, not redistribution. The rsync mirrors are two small projects, not Debian. The total is predictable and, by any backbone standard, modest. The issue is the disconnect between "unmetered 1Gbps" and a hard cap that makes the port speed irrelevant.

iBGP, eBGP, don't care, just peer
uma

Member

99.99% or bust

#8
GeorgeNmp said:
Makes the port speed irrelevant

This. My synthetic monitors use iperf3 to a Hetzner node in Falkenstein. The cliff is visible in the CSV as a flat line at 9.8 Mbps after 2TB. Before that, 940 Mbps symmetric. I have six months of data now. The precision suggests automation, not manual review.

436 days. reboot is surrender.
nedjoe

Member

bash wizard

#9

I run my entire life on a Contabo VPS that costs less than a coffee. 2TB would be a dream. I hit their "fair use" at 800GB once and they just null-routed me for six hours. No ticket, no explanation. I thought I was special. Apparently not.

blogfranck

Member

#10
GeorgeNmp said:
Modest

In France we have the DGCCRF for this, but I do not know if they care about German servers sold to Americans. Contabo's Nuremberg datacenter is real, I have pinged it, but their legal entity is German and thus the UCPD applies at least in principle. "Unmetered" with a hidden cap is not unmetered.

I have been with Contabo for a while and I worry about the consolidation in this industry. You see brands get absorbed, prices jump after a sale, and the service you signed up for is not what you end up with. It is a pattern that keeps me from getting too comfortable with any one host.

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