IPv4 Pricing

Between 2017-2019, the available pool of IPv4 addresses was completely exhuasted.   Since  then all Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) such as ARIN and RIPE have stopped assigning new addresses.   H4Y and iWF, as well as all other hosting and internet providers world-wide, have been forced to resort to a private/secondary IPv4 market to trade/lease/purchase new address space.   Though there has been a continual upward trend, the pricing for IPv4 ranges has spiked in recent months.  

This IPv4 space is necessary just for us to continue business, but some of our clients also specifically utilize additional IPv4 space for purposes such as VPN hosting, proxies, SEO, or a myriad of other specific uses.   

H4Y and iWF has resisted passing our increased pricing to our clients, accepting the losses thus far.    However, the spike in IPv4 pricing has become so dramatic that it is necessary for us to finally take a corrective action.   Our costs for IPv4 have increased over 150% in the past 4 years.  

While other providers have sharply increased the pricing, we believe that we've come up with a specific and fair way to address this situation without the necessity for a unpopular customer-wide increase in prices.   Please read below for details.

What will change?

1) New orders of IP addresses - there are now no extra discounts for blocks of 8 or 64 IPv4 addresses.   New rental of individual IP addresses will be $1 / mo flat per single IP.   We will continue to negotiate price breaks for ranges of /24 and higher on a case-by-case basis.  

2) Existing services with additional IP addresses beyond the included default.   We will not increase the price of the product itself but only the calculated additional IP addresses.   The fee for the IPs only will be increased by 25%

What will not change?

1) Pricing of shared and reseller hosting accounts will NOT CHANGE

2) Pricing of VPS, Dedicated Server, and Colocation services with default included IPs (5x IPv4 or less) will NOT CHANGE

3) Custom deals negotiated within the past 3 months, including those with additional IPs will NOT CHANGE

Examples:

Shared "Premium" account: no change

Reseller account: no change

VPS with default 2x IPv4:  no change

Dedicated server with default 5x IPv4:   no change

VPS with 64x IPv4 added on:   price increase  (IPs only)

Dedicated server with 2x additional IPv4 added on:  price increase (IPs only)

Colocation service with /24:  price increase (IPs only)

Let's imagine that you have a $100 / mo dedicated server with a $5 / mo IP addon.  The total current price is $105 / mo.   The IPs addon will increase by 25%.   The new price will be $106.25 / mo 

When will it start?

The new pricing will become effective once updated on our website for new orders and by the next billing renewal for existing clients.    

Is this permanent?   

Since 2001, never have we increased recurring billing for any reason.   In this case, it is a distasteful but unavoidable situation.    There is a good chance that pricing will moderate with the uptake of IPv6, which has been quite slow in its acceptance.   It is our promise to you that we will follow any substantial decrease in IPv4 market pricing with a decrease of our own.   

Can I appeal this?

The decision to necessitate increased pricing is final.   We have delayed the inevitable as long as possible and this change is necessary to keep us financially healthy.   However, we realize that many of you have custom deals with us and may need to alter or cancel IPv4 usage as a result of this increase.    We value your business and wish to communicate and receive any and all feedback on this matter.   Please do not hesitate to contact us by filing a ticket with Sales or Billing departments.   Please know that we very much appreciate your patronage and continued business!