Our servers are based in a data center in Falkenstein, Germany, and as a European host, we’ve been asked this question many times. Consequently, I felt it would be a good thing to explain some of the key benefits of European VPS hosting.
European connectivity is ahead of the rest
Firstly, you’ll be hosted in the continent with the most connectivity in the world. In Europe, there are a myriad of bandwidth providers spread across the continent, with Tier I carriers (that is, the most connected) such as Level3, Cogent (controversial!), TInet and TeliaSonera offering on-net connections in most cities. Furthermore, most large cities feature internet exchanges: Lipex, Lonap & Linx (London), DE-CIX (Frankfurt) and Amsix (Amsterdam) to name a few. This diversity of connectivity means that many networks can easily failover to different transit routes in the event of an outage, giving you more reliable connections with better pings.
Secondly, throughout most of Europe, crime levels are low, and there is generally a low risk of natural disaster. This means that your data is likely to be safe, and is only furthered by most data center operators complying with top security standards to ensure the safeguarding of customer data and equipment.
Thirdly, its cost-effective. The price of skilled labour across Europe is competitive, the average per megabit rate from bandwidth carriers is low due to high competition, and energy prices are, generally speaking, reasonable. That means that on the continent, you will tend to see some of the best pricing for services globally: our own pricing being a perfect example. We wouldn’t be able to deliver the pricing we have today in Asia, where bandwidth is for the most part costlier, or in many American POPs; if we did, it’d likely be with a reduction of service quality, something that we’re keen to avoid.
Fourthly and finally, and this is for European website owners, it’s in your own backyard! Many customers from western EU countries depend on American hosting solutions, resulting in increased latency between them and their servers, and a reduction in SEO. Dependency can generally be put down to the biggest names being based there, with expensive PPC (pay per click) campaigns being run by competitive businesses focusing on the bottom line, thus the attraction of consumers to low quality services. European Virtual Private Server providers can provide better service, lower latency and a competitive offering, so consider them before the US!
Too long has Europe been overlooked with regards to matters of hosting, and we’re keen to change that. So next time a friend or colleague considers another continent, why not gently remind them of European VPS hosting services instead?
