Why rent from Jest when there's so many other providers out there, offering the same crap? Well, recently I rented 3 different game servers from 3 different GSP's, Jest was one of them. The other two providers were SimplisticServers and SleekServers. Both of which I found via reputable sites such as srcds.com and gsprating.com.
This review is based on SRCDS (Half-Life 2: Orange Box) hosting, I cannot vouch for VoIP or other games, but I assume the quality is the same across the board. All servers 66Tick & 250 - 512FPS @ a Los Angeles DatacenterPricing:JestServers - 1.00 USD / Slot
SimplisticServers - 1.00 USD / Slot
SleekServers - 1.00 USD / Slot
So everyone's about the same price here, SleekServers offers better pricing for higher slot servers, but this always scares me, it just screams overselling. Whatever the case may be, like I said, at face value all three of these GSP's are exactly the same.
Bandwidth & Routing:JestServers - Level(3) Los Angeles
SimplisticServers - Level(3) / InterNAP Los Angeles
SleekServers - InterNAP Los Angeles
Again, about the same here at face value. All three hosts claim to offer premium bandwidth via InterNAP or Level(3), though I'm always partial to Level(3) both providers are excellent.
So how can you tell the difference? Routing. Even if you have the best bandwidth in the world, if your routing blows, your bandwidth will blow. To check your routing, simply open up a CMD prompt, and type "tracert 0.0.0.0" (without quotes) where 0.0.0.0 is your servers IP. Check how many hops there are between your ISP and your server, the fewer the better. Here's an example of good routing via JestServers.com
So then, lets check the routing with our 3 new game servers.
JestServers - My ISP > Level(3) LAX > Colocation (My Server)
SimplisticServers - My ISP > TenGigabit > BBNet Toronto > Netfirms > Timeout (fucking rubbish)
SleekServers - My ISP > Unknown IP > Unknown IP > Network Layer > Softlayer (My Server)
If you want an example from me on how to do perfect routing, I'll forward you to JestServers. I have never seen, in my 10 years of administrating servers, and HLDS/SRCDS servers for people, routing that good. SleekServers offers standard bandwidth routing, most GSP's look something like that, and there's nothing wrong with it, it will do just fine. However SimplisticServers is absolute trash in that department, and will have horrible bandwidth, constant timeouts and ping spikes.
Service:JestServers - Near instant response from 11AM CST to 2AM CST, Quick Setup, Knowledgeable Staff
SimplisticServers - No response from service for 72 hours, server not set up 72 hours after ordering, worthless
SleekServers - 24 hour response time minimum, Quick Setup, Server has been down for 70 out of the 72 hours I've owned it
Maybe you're like me, and you look at the unmanaged server providers so you can get a break on the price because you have Server / Database Administration experience. Even with this knowledge, there's absolutely no reason to not have good service available to you when and if needed. Things come up, lag happens, don't you want your GSP to be on the spot about fixing issues? I sure do, and that's why I recommend Jest. I've been with ArtofWar, HD, C-S.com, NFO, etc... over the years, and Jest has had the best customer service I've ever experienced.
I only hope with quality this good, at prices this reasonable that Jest doesn't turn into another shady GSP.
Topic: Why buy JestServers? (Read 458 times)