>Realize that linode is probably paying less than $4/megabit @ 95th percentile - but the vast majority of that is likely downloaded, so they have an asymmetric allocation that they are trying to utilize with this "unlimited inbound" offer.
At the he.net fremont 1 location, at least, you can buy a full 1000Mbps pipe and run it flat out for $700/month, if you get in on the special. (The old standard price was $1000 for the same thing.) At least at that location, you are paying a lot less than $4 per megabit. (from what I've seen, paying on the 95th percentile usually doesn't make sense, as you get radically lower prices if you buy by the gigabit.)
From what I've seen of other locations around silicon valley, $0.70 per megabit is a pretty low price, but $4 per megabit? if you are buying more than a gigabit, that's a relatively high price. (I mean, you can reasonably pay that much, but you are approaching 'premium' pricing, something that a large IT shop is much more likely to do than a VPS provider.)
so I'm getting quotes for bandwidth right now, and I have a correction: he.net and Cogent are the only two major players I was able to get in that range. There are smaller players in that range, too, but only two major players, so it's probably wrong to call that 'premium' pricing. None the less, he.net is under $1 per megabit, so someone in a he.net data center, very likely, is paying very little indeed for bandwidth.
At the he.net fremont 1 location, at least, you can buy a full 1000Mbps pipe and run it flat out for $700/month, if you get in on the special. (The old standard price was $1000 for the same thing.) At least at that location, you are paying a lot less than $4 per megabit. (from what I've seen, paying on the 95th percentile usually doesn't make sense, as you get radically lower prices if you buy by the gigabit.)
From what I've seen of other locations around silicon valley, $0.70 per megabit is a pretty low price, but $4 per megabit? if you are buying more than a gigabit, that's a relatively high price. (I mean, you can reasonably pay that much, but you are approaching 'premium' pricing, something that a large IT shop is much more likely to do than a VPS provider.)