Start with connectivity, not the building
The most common mistake is choosing a facility by price-per-rack and treating the network as an afterthought. For most workloads the network is the product: which carriers are present, whether an internet exchange is on-net, and how many independent networks you can reach without leaving the building. A cheap rack in a poorly connected facility costs more in transit and latency than a well-connected one. Lead your shortlist with connectivity density.
The six-factor checklist
1. Connectivity. Carrier count, internet-exchange presence, and network density. Confirm the specific networks you need are physically there.
2. Location and latency. Proximity to your users and to the clouds and networks you interconnect with. Also consider jurisdiction and data-sovereignty requirements.
3. Power and cooling. Available power per rack, redundancy (N+1, 2N), cooling approach, and — increasingly — price per kW and PUE. Confirm you can grow without re-contracting.
4. Certifications. The compliance signals your workload requires — SOC 2, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA — plus the facility's Uptime tier. Verify certificates, do not take labels at face value.
5. Operator credibility. Does the company actually own and run the building, or are they reselling space in someone else's? A verified operator with its own network footprint is a different risk profile than a broker.
6. Contract terms. Cross-connect fees, power overage pricing, remote-hands rates, term length, and exit terms. These line items often dwarf the headline rack price.
Verify the operator, not just the listing
Anyone can publish a listing. The harder question is who actually operates infrastructure at a site and whether they are an operator or a reseller. That is the gap viabandwidth is built to close: each facility carries a confidence tier — Verified operator, Network-confirmed presence, Public facility record, or Discovered facility — based on independent network evidence (operator-domain matching, autonomous-system and announced-prefix data, exchange and carrier presence), not self-reported claims. Start your shortlist from verified operators in the metros that fit your latency and jurisdiction needs.
Questions to ask before you sign
Which carriers are on-net today, and what does a cross-connect to each cost? Is an internet exchange present? What is the real available power per rack, and the overage price? What redundancy is the power and cooling built to, and is the tier certified? What are the remote-hands rates and response times? What are the exit terms if we outgrow the site? Honest answers to these tell you more than any brochure.