Washington DC ISP-IP versus a datacenter VPS

Blossom has two VPS lines because a single network design cannot optimize for every job. The Washington, DC line provides a dedicated Verizon Business ISP address. The NYC/NJ line provides more conventional datacenter connectivity with a shared 10 Gbps node uplink. Both are real servers with dedicated IPv4 addresses and administrative access, but the tradeoffs are deliberately different.

This is not a ranking of “better” and “worse.” It is a comparison of what each line is built to provide.

The short comparison

The table is intentionally plain. An ISP address is the central reason to choose Washington. If that requirement is absent, the datacenter line usually offers the stronger price-to-compute ratio.

Washington, DC: network identity first

Every Washington ISP box receives its own Verizon FiOS Business IPv4 address. This matters for workloads where the network announcing the address is part of the environment you need. It is not a rotating address and it is not a NAT exit shared by multiple customers.

The location is Washington, DC, not Washington state. That distinction affects both latency expectations and how a destination may interpret location. Nearby East Coast destinations should generally be a more natural fit than West Coast destinations, although the only responsible way to judge a particular route is to test it.

The line is described as gigabit because that matches the deliverable. The recorded host test reached roughly 940 Mbps down and up, with latency below four milliseconds to Ashburn. The physical setup uses bonded links, but bonding does not let one connection exceed the speed of a single link. We therefore do not advertise 2 Gbps.

Storage is split between a smaller NVMe system disk and a larger HDD data disk. That gives the operating system fast local storage while keeping useful capacity available without pretending every gigabyte is NVMe.

NYC/NJ: compute and shared network capacity

The datacenter VPS line uses a shared 10 Gbps node uplink. “Shared” is important: it is the node’s connection, not a dedicated 10 Gbps reservation for every virtual machine. A quiet node may allow a single tenant to use several gigabits, while simultaneous heavy users divide the available capacity.

That design makes sense for application hosting, build systems, general remote desktops, development machines, and other work that benefits from inexpensive compute and fast datacenter connectivity. The entry plan is Linux-only. Higher tiers add more vCPU, memory, and NVMe storage and can run the supported desktop and Windows images when their resource requirements are met.

The datacenter address is still dedicated to the server. “Datacenter” does not mean the box is hidden behind NAT or that customers share one public address. It means the address is announced by the hosting network rather than by a consumer-facing ISP.

Two bandwidth numbers that should not be confused

The Washington line’s gigabit description refers to the connection speed. The datacenter line’s 10 Gbps description refers to a shared node uplink. Neither is a promise that every transfer to every destination will reach the headline rate.

Internet transfer speed also depends on the remote server, route, congestion, TCP behavior, and whether the test uses one connection or several. A nearby multi-connection benchmark is useful for checking line capacity. A single download from a distant mirror often measures the mirror and the route as much as it measures the VPS.

Monthly transfer allowances are separate again. The smallest tier in either family includes 1,000 GB per month. Other current tiers include 2,000 GB. A priority bandwidth option on the datacenter line raises its transfer allowance to 5,000 GB along with its network cap. Connection speed and monthly transferred volume answer different questions.

When Washington is worth the premium

The Washington line is worth considering when all three statements are true:

• You need a full server you can administer.
• You need the public address to belong to an ISP network.
• Washington, DC is an acceptable location for the workload.

If the first statement is false, you may need a simpler network service instead of a VPS. If the second is false, the datacenter line is likely more economical. If the third is false, neither more CPU nor a cleaner benchmark changes the geography.

When the datacenter line is the clearer answer

Start with the datacenter plans when the workload is infrastructure in the ordinary sense: running services, compiling software, hosting a remote desktop, maintaining a test environment, or moving data without a specific ISP-identity requirement.

The useful distinction is not “premium IP versus cheap IP.” It is specialized network identity versus general-purpose compute value. We operate both so customers do not have to pay for one when they actually need the other.