3 ms·

GCP is pretty good though. Cold-potato, very fat backbone, and very good presence at a ton of PoPs. When using GCP you basically have the same global, high-band

by q3k 7y ago

GCP is pretty good though. Cold-potato, very fat backbone, and very good presence at a ton of PoPs. When using GCP you basically have the same global, high-bandwidth direct connectivity presence that Google uses for its products, and that is very difficult to match by traditional T1 ISPs.

heleninboodler 7y ago
Ok, help me out: "cold-potato"? :D
- techsupporter 7y ago
  It is the inverse of “hot potato” routing where the network tries to get rid of a packet as soon as possible (that is, drop a hot potato). Cold potato means the network keeps the packet on-network as long as it can.
- lokar 7y ago
  Vs "hot potato" Hold onto the packet for as long as you can vs hand it off to your peer as quickly as possible. Most networks do "hot", Google does "cold" since their network is almost always better than that of the peer.
  - Havoc 7y ago
    Weird terminology. Thanks for explaining though
  - Jarwain 7y ago
    The origin of which, for those who aren't familiar, is a game called "hot potato" where you try to pass a ball around as quickly as possible as if it was a hot potato
tyingq 7y ago
It does have advantages, but it's not always worth the difference of "several cents per GB" versus "fractions of a cent per GB".
- ikiris 7y ago
  Walmart is generally cheaper than a steak restaurant. YMMV, and they both have their uses. Its worth going to both.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - tyingq 7y ago
    That's a very odd analogy, and overstating the difference.
codexon 7y ago
Cold potato is not necessarily better, actually its often times worse than hot potato and usually used to lower costs so you don't have to pay other people for transit. For example, a cold potato network may have a link from Dallas to Chicago to New York, while a hot potato network could have a direct link from Dallas to New York. Cogent uses cold potato and is frequently worse than other transit providers.
- gcommer 7y ago
  Google's cold potato is very good though. (Also, they offer the option to use hot potato and pay them less: https://cloud.google.com/network-tiers/docs/overview https://cloud.google.com/network-tiers/docs/overview )
  - achiang 7y ago
    Thanks, you made my day. I'm a Google network SRE, but perhaps I'll get new business cards saying "cold potato engineer".
  - Dylan16807 7y ago
    So it's hard to value the premium for google cold potato specifically, if it outclasses everything else. But their hot potato still costs $65+ per TB at medium volumes and $45+ per TB at high volumes. That is still extremely high compared to normal peering costs.

by q3k 7y ago

heleninboodler 7y ago

Ok, help me out: "cold-potato"? :D

techsupporter 7y ago
It is the inverse of “hot potato” routing where the network tries to get rid of a packet as soon as possible (that is, drop a hot potato). Cold potato means the network keeps the packet on-network as long as it can.
lokar 7y ago
Vs "hot potato" Hold onto the packet for as long as you can vs hand it off to your peer as quickly as possible. Most networks do "hot", Google does "cold" since their network is almost always better than that of the peer.
- Havoc 7y ago
  Weird terminology. Thanks for explaining though
- Jarwain 7y ago
  The origin of which, for those who aren't familiar, is a game called "hot potato" where you try to pass a ball around as quickly as possible as if it was a hot potato

tyingq 7y ago

It does have advantages, but it's not always worth the difference of "several cents per GB" versus "fractions of a cent per GB".

ikiris 7y ago
Walmart is generally cheaper than a steak restaurant. YMMV, and they both have their uses. Its worth going to both.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- tyingq 7y ago
  That's a very odd analogy, and overstating the difference.

codexon 7y ago

Cold potato is not necessarily better, actually its often times worse than hot potato and usually used to lower costs so you don't have to pay other people for transit. For example, a cold potato network may have a link from Dallas to Chicago to New York, while a hot potato network could have a direct link from Dallas to New York. Cogent uses cold potato and is frequently worse than other transit providers.

gcommer 7y ago
Google's cold potato is very good though. (Also, they offer the option to use hot potato and pay them less: https://cloud.google.com/network-tiers/docs/overview https://cloud.google.com/network-tiers/docs/overview )
- achiang 7y ago
  Thanks, you made my day. I'm a Google network SRE, but perhaps I'll get new business cards saying "cold potato engineer".
- Dylan16807 7y ago
  So it's hard to value the premium for google cold potato specifically, if it outclasses everything else. But their hot potato still costs $65+ per TB at medium volumes and $45+ per TB at high volumes. That is still extremely high compared to normal peering costs.