haha.
a $500 server is hardly "top of the line". That will buy us a.. Motherboard? If we're lucky.
Figure at least $1500 on a decent server than can push around 15mbit with ease, definitely more if you're looking at any sort of RAID option (which you should be).
Anyone that hosts off of a single T1 is someone to stay away from. That link gets dug up by mr. backhoe operator, or whatever, and you're SoL. Co-location at telco grade datacenters is becoming cheaper and cheaper, if you can't afford a full rack yourself do some research and find a company @ level3 or somewhere that will sell you a few U of rackspace.
Expect to pay at least $25/U of space, and if you're paying lMbit you're probably not with the besess than $250/t shop in terms of if anything breaks their ability to fix it expedietly. (although, things are getting cheaper, and some reputable shops may be selling a bit lower than that now.. But I'd seriously research them).
It's not cheap to do right. But, it's not overly expensive either. The T1 option would actually initially set you back a hell of a lot more in most areas, than co-location, even though co-location is by *FAR* the better option. Most freehosts pull far, far, far, more than 1.5mbit, and you need the burst capacity to make things seem quick to surfers. Also you'd have to purchase a router, CSU/DSU for at least your end, and also pay the local loop fee. It will probably run you around $900/mo at the VERY minimum (uunet charges like $1100 for just data access), and then a nice $1,500+ for the networking equipment.
Anyways, just my input.
-Phil
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