The once glorious Tianya community has recently become the focus of public attention again. However, this time it is not because of its hot topics or wonderful discussions, but because of its new bankruptcy review case. It is really embarrassing that this community, which once gathered hundreds of millions of netizens and witnessed countless online events and topics, is now in such a predicament.
The bankruptcy review of Tianya Community has undoubtedly exacerbated its already precarious situation. What is shocking is that the trigger for this crisis turned out to be the high cost of network bandwidth
According to reports, the Tianya community owed Hainan Telecom tens of millions of server fees, resulting in the disconnection of the forum. In May 2023, Tianya Community announced that due to difficulties in capital liquidity, the accumulated arrears of telecom IDC fees in recent years have reached a state where it is finally impossible to coordinate and negotiate. This is undoubtedly a fatal blow for a community that relies on the web for its survival.
Network bandwidth fees are a heavy burden for Internet companies. Especially in the current environment of increasingly fierce Internet competition, in order to provide faster and more stable services, enterprises need to invest a lot of money in the construction and maintenance of network infrastructure. However, high network fees are often the last straw that crushes these businesses.
The plight of the Tianya community is not unique. In fact, with the rapid development of the Internet industry, more and more enterprises are beginning to feel the pressure of network fees. In particular, some small and medium-sized enterprises often find it difficult to afford high network costs due to the lack of sufficient financial and technical support. This not only limits their development space, but even threatens their survival.
So why is enterprise broadband so expensive? There are several reasons for this:
First, Service Level Agreements: Commercial broadband typically provides a written commitment through a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that guarantees a higher standard of service, including higher than a certain level of speed, fewer outages or downtime, and faults to be fixed within a set timeframe. In case of non-compliance with the Agreement, the User is generally entitled to compensation. This high level of service assurance is not available in civilian broadband.
Second, static IP addresses: Commercial broadband usually provides static IP addresses, which is very important for enterprise users, because static IP addresses can ensure that the network connection of the enterprise remains stable, which is convenient for remote access, running**, hosting servers, etc. Civilian broadband, on the other hand, usually uses dynamic IP addresses and does not require additional charges for static IP addresses.
Third, network equipment and quality of service: Commercial broadband requires the use of higher-level network equipment and services to ensure network stability and security, and these equipment and services are usually more expensive than civilian broadband. In addition, commercial broadband also needs to provide more bandwidth and higher speeds to meet the needs of business users, which also increases its costs.
Fourth, maintenance and support: Commercial broadband providers often need to provide more maintenance and support services to ensure that business users' network connectivity is always optimal. These services include regular network checks, troubleshooting, security updates, and more, requiring more human and material resources.