Being a poor-boy, I can't afford to have servers at Rackspace, so, the next best thing is SoftLayer (The Planet).
And here's yet another reason...
DC just about always loads super-fast for me. My own sites load super-fast.
Facebook? Hit & miss.
Most sites? Hit & miss.
Yeah, SoftLayer has had some problems in the IDC where DC is, but I've had zero problems. Well, a few tiny issues, but nothing serious. And all of those were the kinds of things that if I were at Rackspace, they'd be non-issues. e.g. It takes 3 hours vs. 1 hour for a minor, non-critial support request. I'll not cry over it.
I started to load a page well before I started this post, and it's STILL LOADING! Or rather, not loading... and it's from a fortune 100 company... And it's still not loading... (partial, but...)
I always get good speeds from DC and my own sites. But they're all at SoftLayer.
Anyways, chalk me up as a happy customer. (Cross fingers, knock on wood, etc. etc.)
Just thought I'd share that for anyone looking at servers.