With this new provider I learned a lot from them - things I should have known from the onset of my streaming music in SL. I pay 1500L/month for 50 slots and the server has yet to go down once. The one thing that stands this provider apart from others is that he listens, and explains things in a way I can understand. Yes, I'm happy with the service so far.
So what did I learn? Here are the top ten things that I learned. Hope someone can benefit from my learning’s when searching for shoutcast servers in SL.
1. If the SL price is cheap, you will get cheap service. One can say that 2k for 100 slots is still cheap, and I agree. But anything lower than 2k for 100 listener or 1500 for 50 probably is "too good to be true". Certainly I would question 100 slots at 128k (or higher bit rate for 1k/month). I priced dedicated servers online, and unless the provider has an old dedicated server, or rents a boatload of shoutcast servers at that price, they won't even come close to breaking even. More than 2k is probably good service, unless they are just blatant rip-offs. But why pay more for good service (if you find it)?
2. When renting a server, ask about location, datacenters, uptime, etc. You can end up having a lot of streaming troubles if you have to cross any of the big ponds (i.e. if you are in California using a German Server and vice versa). Get informed about the service you may be buying! If the provider has trouble answering your question about datacenter's or location, then you'd probably do well going elsewhere. Try a demo server, when able for 24 hours if possible. While I might only use the server for 3-4 hours/day, it's good to know that you have a reliable service behind you. Remember, higher priced servers don't always mean better - then again, very cheap servers (i.e. 128k 100 slots for 1k/month) should bring up a red flag.
3. Streaming in SL at over 128k (i.e. 160k, 192k, etc) is great quality but in reality is a waste. Does SL even playback anything higher than 128k? Most people listen to these streams through cheap speakers anyway, so the additional quality really isn't much of a marked difference - and the lower bit rate saves you bandwidth with your ISP. I'd also be leery of those that have servers at over 192k or higher available, and are cheaper than most 128k servers. Those providers are probably over-selling their server big time (which I have since found out was the problem with my original provider). Higher bit rate usage does not necessarily mean better servers.
4. Uptime is important. Anything 99.8 or higher is good. Any claims of 100% for a long extended period of time concerns me. Does that mean they have never had maintenance, or never restarted their server? I mean, have you ever tried to work on a computer that hasn't been restarted for 6 - 10 months? Talk about a lagging system. Downtime on a reboot is usually < 3 minutes, but it IS time that the server was "down". The provider I am with now shows 100% uptime on a couple of his servers, but the provider explained that the monitor is slightly inaccurate because he has had maintenance and restarts that have lasted a minimal amount of time - while his monitor checks the server every 5 minutes. So if the work is done within that 5-minute time period, the monitor doesn't catch it. I appreciate his honesty.
5. Customer service. Wow this is a biggie. I've found that going to the provider that has those rental boxes is, in most instances, better than those that offer the automated vendors. Why? It tells me that the provider is actually in-world more times than not. I cannot tell you how many times I had tried to contact my old provider only to get nothing in return, or an answer 3 days later. By then the problem was resolved (sometimes after a 3-4 hour downtime). My new provider is available in-world most evenings, and if not, they are good about replying via email - usually in a timely fashion.
6. It's good to understand that the internet is not perfect and "things happen". Servers do go down - it's a fact of life on the internet. Patience is a good thing to have here.
7. I get a kick out of "try our servers and hear how good they sound" comments. A shoutcast server doesn't sound like anything! It is merely a relay that takes the information YOU send it, then distributes it to the listeners. The produced sound is actually telling us how good (or bad) YOUR sound card/system is.
8. I would be leery of providers that give you two servers for the price of one for backup purposes. Sorry, that screams problems for me and tells me that the servers they have must go down a lot if they are giving out backups on the initial rental. And if the main one goes down often, I can only imagine of much the backup goes down.
9. Be willing to know and accept that the problem ISN'T always the server. I had a problem in which we found that a simple reset of my router and modem solved the problem. Sometimes it's just the ISP having troubles. So when your provider tells you it's not the server, they may be right. Listen to them... work with them to get the problem fixed. And if they recommend rebooting your router, modem and/or PC... don't fuss about it, just do it. It just might work!
10. Before going off on a provider because the server went down, take a look at RL pricing for a shoutcast server. Be thankful you aren't paying those prices on a monthly basis. Put things in perspective. Yes, I know that YOUR gig is in jeopardy because the server went down - but funny, when it went down last month when you WEREN'T streaming, YOU didn't seem to complain at all. Be patient, the provider, if they are monitoring their servers, will get it fixed. Remember, things happen that are beyond all our control - heck SL has downtimes, and we're all still here, right?
Anyway, I thought I would share my "lessons learned" here for those who may be looking for shoutcast servers. These "lessons" are solely my experiences and are not etched in stone anywhere. You can take it with a grain of salt, or you can see if my idea's/suggestions work for you. Luckily I've been able to find a handful of providers in SL that I would recommend in a heartbeat. For now I'm sticking with the one I'm using!
Cheers,
Cal
edit: corrected the amount from 1500K to 1500L
