If you go back seven or eight years and asked me to recommend a LEB provider, I would have asked you some basics and then might very well have recommended RamNode.
Back in the day, RamNode had a nice tiered offering system, offering KVMs with either average performance or premium performance, and also large storage nodes. Their nodes were not actually pure-RAM nodes (in the sense that storage was memory) but it was a nice brand name. They had a nice, distinctive site and in all my experience with them (yes, I was a customer), the performance was superb.
They’re still around, but back in March 2021, founder @Nick_A sold them to InMotion Hosting.
And since then, well…here are some comments:
- “Spam invested network owned by incompetent amateurs”
- “After it was purchased by the new company, the performance declined substantially”
And then today they sent a note to subscribers:
Starting October 1, 2022, the pricing for DDoS Protected IP addresses will be increased 66% from $3/mo to $5/mo.
Ouch! Charging a little for IPs is becoming the norm, but $5 per IP?!?
Tragic. RamNode was truly a community favorite, but this is what happens when new ownership takes a different tack. Certainly, no blame on @Nick_A. He spent many, many nights and weekends working 18 hours days building his company, developing his panel, dealing with complaints and attacks, etc. He sold it and we wish him well.
But there are two kinds of company sales in business. One is what I call the Dairy Queen sale. Dairy Queen is a chain of ice cream shops in the USA that was founded in the 1930s by a father and son team. They became very successful, but by the late 90s the family was ready to cash out. They could have simply gone to Wall Street and asked a banker to find them the highest price, but the founders wanted the company culture to continue. So they shopped around and found a buyer (Warren Buffett) who loved the brand and wanted the company to keep operating the way it had been. Visiting a Dairy Queen in 2022 is virtually the same as it was if you visited one in 1998.
The other kind of sale is the kind RamNode did: take the highest bid. Nothing wrong with that, but as a customer the experience can be quite different.
As we now see.
Special Note: On September 2nd, RamNode channel manager, Vanessa, advised that the price increase to $5/mo pertains to their DDoS protected IP addresses only and that standard, non-DDoS protected IPs are not subject to this price increase and remain $3/mo:
“The rate increase only applies to ddos-filtered ips, which are routed through a separate provider that Ramnode pays service fees for. Ramnode did not increase the price of non-filtered ips.”
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I also enjoy using LEBs! I have an empire of little guys for VPNs, larger guys for apps, and big guys for databases and storage. When I'm not in front a screen I'm into German Shepherd dogs, quality knives, target shooting, theology, tabletop roleplaying games, and forest hiking.
I enjoy writing technical articles here on LowEndBox to help people get more out of their systems. You can find me on LowEndTalk @raindog308
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If you consider a $1/mo raise “obscene”, I’d hate to hear your take on US inflation.
$5/month per IPv4 address is far above typical market rates.
The rate increase only applies to ddos-filtered ips, which are routed through a separate provider that Ramnode pays service fees for. Ramnode did not increase the price of non-filtered ips.
Thank you for the clarification, we will update our article.
I will regularly visit the blog to support you.
Good to know here at lowendbox I found another supplier as good as ramnode but I will not say it so that the demand does not end up destroying the supplier, 3 years and excellent result. 0 drops and fast