Review by warthunder2k 
UPDATED: 71 days ago
member for 6.4 years, 926 visits, last login: 11 days ago
 Rouyn-Noranda,QC
 $40 per month
 about 3 days
 "Cheap, fast speed, unthrottled ADSL2+, unlimited downloads"
 "Customer support takes a long time to answer, don't call back if you leave a message to call back"
 "I would recommend them, especially if you live close to the central."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
UPDATE: used this ISP for 3 months now, like them so much that I prepayed for a year and took a 1 year contract!
I hesitated long and hard before choosing colba.net, I read all the reviews on DSLR three times, I searched google and canadianisp.com for more reviews, I asked users on DSLR about their experience with colba.net.Finally, partly because they were cheap, partly because they had unlimited downloads, and mostly because of the superior speed they could provide, I decided to give them a try for 1 month, even with the terrible reviews they had. I'm glad I did. I called on april 16th to schedule activation for may 1st, but a miscommunicaion on my part or mistake by them, not sure which, made them activate the service on the 24th of april instead. So, 1st of may everything went well, I used a modem bought from caneris and everything went fine. When I called the 16 of april I asked for an approximation of speed I would be geting and a tech told me I would get about 10mbit/s, very approximately with no warranty of course. Sales dep. would not commit to a speed above 5 mbits, which I totally understand,they don't want the customers to be dissapointed if they would have lower speed. I personnally sync at 8800 kbps down and about 900 up.
I will now go to each score in detail.
I gave 5/5 for pre-sales info because the sales rep and and tech I spoke to was extremely knowledgable and could answer my questions with ease, even pretty technical ones. You could tell they knew their stuff.
Install Co-ordination is 4/5 because they activated the service on april 24th instead of may 1st. However maybe i'm the one at fault here, I'm not sure I mentionned this to sales rep to activate on 1st of may.
Connection reliability again is a consrvative estimate at 4/5 because I sometimes lose internet connection for about 3 mins about 2-3 times a day, sometimes none. I suspected the modem maybe faulty, I don't think it's colba.net's fault. However since i'm not sure I put 4/5, but perhaps this is not even colba's fault.
UPDATE: updated to 5/5 confirmed this problem was not colba.
Tech support is 3/5, they are very knowledgable but it takes a long times to get a hold of them. If you wait 30 mins on the phone you will be redirected to a voicemail and they don't call back. This is the weakest point of colba.net, but honestly if all goes well you don't have to call them often and they do know their stuff, so this is better than if you have immediate assitance but the tech doesn't know anything.
UPDATE: changed to 4/5 since I have had to hold on less time than before now.
Services: 5/5. Speed is faster than the competition, unlimited downloads (have downloaded at least 55 gigs, partly to test), cheap, unthrottled ( I assume, since they don't use bell's DSLAM's, didn't use bittorent yet.)
Value: 5/5 Again, it's cheap, fast, unlimited, what more do you want? 1 thing though, I have landline with Teksavvy, but still had to pay 5$ more a month for rent of a dryline (so 40$ instead of 35$) They claim it's a bell restriction, and with bell's rep around here, don't have reason to doubt them.
In short, I would recommend them, especially if you live close to the central. They said they have a customer a few blocks from where I am that has 19mbit/s, lucky guy!
PS: if anyone has questions about this review or ISP, don't hesitate to contact me, I will reply
Followup comments:  | warthunder2k
join:2002-04-20
Rouyn-Noranda, QC
 ·Colbanet
 ·Telebec
edit:
May 9th, @12:03AM
| about the speeds Sure, I'll post some results that I made during the day. With the 15% less because of overhead, I usually download at real-world speeds of 7.5mbit/s, I'll post what my speeds are right now.
Right now:
Results of Speakeasy's test speed with New York server:
Last Result:
Download Speed: 7282 kbps (910.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 771 kbps (96.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
I'll try tonight during primetime (ie between 5 and 10pm) but so far my speeds have stayed the same all the time.
Right now I sync at 8450 down, 910 up. A few days ago I synced at 8800 down, 850 up. I downloaded at 7.5 mbits/sec, but didnt save those results.
About the annexe M, I didn't ask. I have no idea if they offer it or not.
EDIT: the speeds during primetime are the same, I could post the speeds but it's not needed, it's the exact same speed. Even since I had my connection, I haven't noticed a speed degration between day/night, so don't thnink it's a problem. | |
|  | jpabboud
join:2005-12-12
Montreal, QC
edit:
May 8th, @08:25PM
| Re: about the speeds BTW your disconnections are caused by the fact your modem is trying to adjust to your line conditions and ColbaNet hasn't set a maximum profile on your line.
Depending on your modem there's a way to tell it to sync at a specific rate (using DMT tools I believe) but I've never played with that.
0pen a thread on the canadian broadband forums, people will help you set it up. This is assuming you have a modem compatible with the software. | |
| | | warthunder2k
join:2002-04-20
Rouyn-Noranda, QC | Re: about the speeds Wow thanks a lot, it was really getting on my nerves. I was thinking that my modem was defective. Thank you, I'll post a thread in the canadian broadband section. | |
| | | | warthunder2k
join:2002-04-20
Rouyn-Noranda, QC | Re: about the speeds WEll as of this day (12 days later) I'm still getting very frequent disconnects, and am waiting on Colba to put my download speed at 6 mbits to see if it's their problem or my modem which I bought from Caneris | |
| | | | | warthunder2k
join:2002-04-20
Rouyn-Noranda, QC
·Colbanet
·Telebec
| Re: about the speeds Ok I forgot to update but this (frequent disconnects) is due to a defective modem, it has nothing to do with Colba.net (bought the modem elsewhere). I am very satisfied with my connection, it is fast, cheap, unlimited download, I would strongly recommend it. | |
| mfrimu
join:2006-12-30
Montreal, QC
·Colbanet
·TekSavvy Solutions..
| Speeds not fast enough to claim ADSL2+ I find 7Mbits not enough of an incentive, given Colba's tech incompetence i have experienced. I get 5.5-6Mbits right now without any issues.
If it were 10Mbits (1/2 of max speed) it would be worth a check. Also I'm only 1km from CO, so I expect over 10Mbits from Colba, wich they couldn't deliver last year, why now?
When I hear of more that 2 people having over 10Mbits in my area I will reconsider. Right now zero people have 10Mbits service in my area. | |
| | 
notSupid
@videotron.net
| Re: Speeds not fast enough to claim ADSL2+ VERY VERY BAD, AWFUL, TERRIFIC !!!
I WAITED 20 DAYS TO HAVE THE LINE AFTER AN ORDER MISTAKE FROM THEIR SUPPORT, SECONDLY, THEIR SERVERS THROTTLE EXAGERATLY AT 2500 KBPS/S SDONW AND.... 100KBPS/ UP !!!!! FOR ADSL2+ GUYS !!! HEY !!! BAD JOKE !!!. I WAS UNTIL TODAY TO NEGOTIATE WITH THEM TO UNTHROTTLE MY LINE WITH A NORMAL ADSL2+ SPPED (FOR INFO WITH ACANAC MY BANDWIDTH WAS TWICE GREATER BUT THEY HAD SOME REVERS LOOKUP SETTINGS PROBLEMS)...
SO IN CONCLUSION, I THOUGHT colbanet WAS A GOOD COMPANY AND WAS THINKING THAT I FOUND A VIDEOTRON OR BELL ALTERNATIVE BUT UNFORTUNATLY I WAS WRONG.... SO IN 2008 DON'T TAKE THIS PROVIDER | |
| | | warthunder2k
join:2002-04-20
Rouyn-Noranda, QC | Re: Speeds not fast enough to claim ADSL2+ Oh I forgot to say that my speeds are now 8 megabits for some reason. | |
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Excellent news