3 ms·

> Of course, NYC's overall infrastructure for tech companies is horrible compared to SF. What makes it horrible out of curiosity?

by comrh 12y ago

bigdubs 12y ago
Well, as an NYC based startup I can speak to a at least one thing; TWC Business/Commercial internet is garbage. Plain and simple. We're lucky enough to have FIOS in our building and that has been pretty decent, it still goes out quite a bit.
- Retric 12y ago
  As soon as you move past the low end of cable / FIOS Internet speeds NY has awesome commercial network bandwidth. Think OC 192 and beyond. You can often make a deal with another company in your building to add bandwidth or redundancy. Also, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multihoming http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multihoming FIOS and cable Internet or even just DSL is a good option if you need a little more stability or bandwidth.
  - JohnTHaller 12y ago
    FiOS isn't available in many areas of the city (I can't get it at home where I do most of my work). TWC is incredibly unreliable (daily outtages of a few minutes, monthly/bimonthly outtages of a full day or so). I have no other alternative other than slow/unreliable DSL or exceedingly overpriced (per GB) mobile hotspots.
    - potatolicious 12y ago
      FiOS is actually "available" in most parts of the city - i.e., there's a Verizon FiOS line running right in the street in front of your apartment. The main problem are buildings and landlords. Many landlords and supers receive kickbacks from TWC to prevent Verizon from accessing the building and delivering the last-100-feet service. The best way to improve the state of internet in NYC is for the city to start busting landlord heads.
      - JohnTHaller 12y ago
        It's not available where I am. Not on my block. Or the next one. Or the next one. Verizon has no ETA on when it will be and hasn't been installing any new fiber in my neighborhood in a long time. It has nothing to do with my building owner. The owner-occupied single and two family properties on my block (or the next one, or the next one, etc) can't get it either.
        Retric 12y ago
        Absolutely no offence indented, but this is the type of thing you work out before signing a long term lease. Not that that in any way helps you, but FIOS is available in much of NYC so if your looking to move to that area it's an option. In your case, bonding with wireless or DSL in case of outages is probably worth it. The difference between slow internet and no internet is huge. Other options include wireless internet cards for PC's / laptops, it can get vary expensive but for a small staff that occasionally does off site demo's it's also vary useful for that.
        JohnTHaller 12y ago
        Unfortunately, wireless is hugely expensive... as in $10 per GB expensive. As posted in another comment, I have a Verizon hotspot that I use as a backup for the unreliable Time Warner Cable connection. DSL isn't an option as, like most (possibly all) of NYC, I only have a Verizon or someone that resells it. I tried it once years ago and was out of service for 7 days of my 1 month trial because a Verizon tech randomly unplugged something at the local box. My only real choice is to move to another neighborhood. But I've begun looking into moving to San Francisco anyway, since it's a much better environment for tech companies (unless you're in finance technology, which I used to do).
JohnTHaller 12y ago
As bigdubs said, Time Warner Cable is pretty awful and is often the only option in many buildings. I run my business mostly from home. My only options are TWC and DSL. No other cable providers serve me. FiOS isn't available. I tried DSL once and it was out for 7 days of my 31 day trial because Verizon accidentally unplugged a connection in my neighborhood box. I have TWC at home but need to have a (very expensive per GB) Verizon hotspot as a backup. TWC goes down a few minutes every day (which will disrupt any long term stuff you need) and goes down for about a full day every month or two. Each time it goes down TWC will claim its something with your internal equipment. Even though the truck is down the street fixing the connection. Multiple TWC level 3 techs have confirmed that our neighborhood, like most, is oversold and they have fairly regular outages. On particularly bad days, TWC will go down and then Verizon's 4G network will go down right after, leaving me stuck at 3G speeds or without a connection and losing a few hours of work. It's been this bad for the 18 years I've lived here and is unlikely to change. Even large office buildings often have exclusive agreements with poor providers. Heck, when I worked in the WTC 15 years ago, you had to use Verizon exclusively and the network was overloaded and severely overpriced compared to any other building. Welcome to the network infrastructure of NYC.

> Of course, NYC's overall infrastructure for tech companies is horrible compared to SF. What makes it horrible out of curiosity?

by comrh 12y ago

> Of course, NYC's overall infrastructure for tech companies is horrible compared to SF. What makes it horrible out of curiosity?

bigdubs 12y ago

Well, as an NYC based startup I can speak to a at least one thing; TWC Business/Commercial internet is garbage. Plain and simple. We're lucky enough to have FIOS in our building and that has been pretty decent, it still goes out quite a bit.

Retric 12y ago
As soon as you move past the low end of cable / FIOS Internet speeds NY has awesome commercial network bandwidth. Think OC 192 and beyond. You can often make a deal with another company in your building to add bandwidth or redundancy. Also, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multihoming http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multihoming FIOS and cable Internet or even just DSL is a good option if you need a little more stability or bandwidth.
- JohnTHaller 12y ago
  FiOS isn't available in many areas of the city (I can't get it at home where I do most of my work). TWC is incredibly unreliable (daily outtages of a few minutes, monthly/bimonthly outtages of a full day or so). I have no other alternative other than slow/unreliable DSL or exceedingly overpriced (per GB) mobile hotspots.
  - potatolicious 12y ago
    FiOS is actually "available" in most parts of the city - i.e., there's a Verizon FiOS line running right in the street in front of your apartment. The main problem are buildings and landlords. Many landlords and supers receive kickbacks from TWC to prevent Verizon from accessing the building and delivering the last-100-feet service. The best way to improve the state of internet in NYC is for the city to start busting landlord heads.
    - JohnTHaller 12y ago
      It's not available where I am. Not on my block. Or the next one. Or the next one. Verizon has no ETA on when it will be and hasn't been installing any new fiber in my neighborhood in a long time. It has nothing to do with my building owner. The owner-occupied single and two family properties on my block (or the next one, or the next one, etc) can't get it either.
      - Retric 12y ago
        Absolutely no offence indented, but this is the type of thing you work out before signing a long term lease. Not that that in any way helps you, but FIOS is available in much of NYC so if your looking to move to that area it's an option. In your case, bonding with wireless or DSL in case of outages is probably worth it. The difference between slow internet and no internet is huge. Other options include wireless internet cards for PC's / laptops, it can get vary expensive but for a small staff that occasionally does off site demo's it's also vary useful for that.
        JohnTHaller 12y ago
        Unfortunately, wireless is hugely expensive... as in $10 per GB expensive. As posted in another comment, I have a Verizon hotspot that I use as a backup for the unreliable Time Warner Cable connection. DSL isn't an option as, like most (possibly all) of NYC, I only have a Verizon or someone that resells it. I tried it once years ago and was out of service for 7 days of my 1 month trial because a Verizon tech randomly unplugged something at the local box. My only real choice is to move to another neighborhood. But I've begun looking into moving to San Francisco anyway, since it's a much better environment for tech companies (unless you're in finance technology, which I used to do).

JohnTHaller 12y ago

As bigdubs said, Time Warner Cable is pretty awful and is often the only option in many buildings. I run my business mostly from home. My only options are TWC and DSL. No other cable providers serve me. FiOS isn't available. I tried DSL once and it was out for 7 days of my 31 day trial because Verizon accidentally unplugged a connection in my neighborhood box. I have TWC at home but need to have a (very expensive per GB) Verizon hotspot as a backup. TWC goes down a few minutes every day (which will disrupt any long term stuff you need) and goes down for about a full day every month or two. Each time it goes down TWC will claim its something with your internal equipment. Even though the truck is down the street fixing the connection. Multiple TWC level 3 techs have confirmed that our neighborhood, like most, is oversold and they have fairly regular outages. On particularly bad days, TWC will go down and then Verizon's 4G network will go down right after, leaving me stuck at 3G speeds or without a connection and losing a few hours of work. It's been this bad for the 18 years I've lived here and is unlikely to change. Even large office buildings often have exclusive agreements with poor providers. Heck, when I worked in the WTC 15 years ago, you had to use Verizon exclusively and the network was overloaded and severely overpriced compared to any other building. Welcome to the network infrastructure of NYC.