ExpressRoute Metered vs Unlimited Calculator

What is ExpressRoute


ExpressRoute lets you extend your on-premises networks into the Microsoft cloud over a private connection facilitated by a connectivity provider. With ExpressRoute, you can establish connections to Microsoft cloud services, such as Microsoft Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics 365.

Connectivity can be from an any-to-any (IP VPN) network, a point-to-point Ethernet network, or a virtual cross-connection through a connectivity provider at a co-location facility. ExpressRoute connections do not go over the public Internet. This allows ExpressRoute connections to offer more reliability, faster speeds, lower latencies, and higher security than typical connections over the Internet. For information on how to connect your network to Microsoft using ExpressRoute, see ExpressRoute connectivity models.



Key benefits

·         Layer 3 connectivity between your on-premises network and the Microsoft Cloud through a connectivity provider. Connectivity can be from an any-to-any (IPVPN) network, a point-to-point Ethernet connection, or through a virtual cross-connection via an Ethernet exchange.

·         Connectivity to Microsoft cloud services across all regions in the geopolitical region.

·         Global connectivity to Microsoft services across all regions with the ExpressRoute premium add-on.

·         Dynamic routing between your network and Microsoft via BGP.

·         Built-in redundancy in every peering location for higher reliability.

·         Connection uptime SLA.

·         QoS support for Skype for Business.

Bandwidth options

You can purchase ExpressRoute circuits for a wide range of bandwidths. The supported bandwidths are listed below. Be sure to check with your connectivity provider to determine the bandwidths they support.

·         50 Mbps

·         100 Mbps

·         200 Mbps

·         500 Mbps

·         1 Gbps

·         2 Gbps

·         5 Gbps

·         10 Gbps

Dynamic scaling of bandwidth

You can increase the ExpressRoute circuit bandwidth (on a best effort basis) without having to tear down your connections. For more information see Modifying an ExpressRoute circuit.

Flexible billing models

You can pick a billing model that works best for you. Choose between the billing models listed below. For more information, see ExpressRoute FAQ.

·         Unlimited data. Billing is based on a monthly fee; all inbound and outbound data transfer is included free of charge.

·         Metered data. Billing is based on a monthly fee; all inbound data transfer is free of charge. Outbound data transfer is charged per GB of data transfer. Data transfer rates vary by region.

·         ExpressRoute premium add-on. ExpressRoute premium is an add-on to the ExpressRoute circuit. The ExpressRoute premium add-on provides the following capabilities:

o    Increased route limits for Azure public and Azure private peering from 4,000 routes to 10,000 routes.

o    Global connectivity for services. An ExpressRoute circuit created in any region (excluding national clouds) will have access to resources across any other region in the world. For example, a virtual network created in West Europe can be accessed through an ExpressRoute circuit provisioned in Silicon Valley.

o    Increased number of VNet links per ExpressRoute circuit from 10 to a larger limit, depending on the bandwidth of the circuit.

Metered vs Unlimited


A natural question for customers is what is the breakpoint to go unlimited over metered?  At what point does getting an Unlimited circuit actually become cheaper than the metered circuit?  To help answer this we have put together the following calculator to help customers understand where this price point is for various circuits depending on utilization.
  


Using this calculator, customers can select their circuit size from a drop down list and then manually modify their sustained average bandwidth per month.  The pricing at the bottom is broken out for Metered and Unlimited as well as Standard vs Premium and will update automatically based on the users input.

For example, if a user were to leverage a 1Gb ExpressRoute Circuit and expect to sustain 500Mbps of data transfer, we would selects 1000 for the circuit size and enter 500 for the sustained bandwidth.  We see the values of this below which show that the Monthly metered cost is still the cheaper option.


If we bump this utilization to 650Mbps however, we now see that the Unlimited circuit is actually cheaper than the metered cost.


ER Calculator Metered vs Unlimited:  ER Calculator: Unlimited vs Metered
*Pricing subject to change


Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 11, 2019 at 7:06 AM

    Thanks for the tool! It will help my in my day-to-day discussions!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bryan AshleyFebruary 13, 2019 at 12:17 PM

      Glad you found this useful Javier. Thanks for the feedback!

      Delete

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