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Review by isozv 
UPDATED: 15 days ago
member for 15 days, 1 visits, last login: 14 days ago
 Montreal,QC
 $29 per month (12 month contract)
 about 30 days
 Bell Canada
 "best price, best speed"
 "service"
 "best price, best speed"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
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I changed my ISP for AEI to Colba.Net about a year ago because of their advertising. ADSL2+ for $360/year. Pretty much unbeatable.
the modem was a bit overpriced but you can avoid shipping if you go to their office.
At first I was connected to the ADSL network, which was standard but it wasn't what I was expecting. I was told to wait one or two months for implementation.
It took nearly 6 months before getting ADSL2+. It was a painful process, I was calling at least twice a month to get answers, which I rarely received.
Eventually, I was connected as a beta tester for the ADSL2+ in the, newly implemented, St. Michel neighborhood.
Since then, it's been marvelous, I get 15-17 Mpbs downloads and 900 kbps uploads.
[URL=http://www.speedtest.net][IMG]»www.speedtest.net/result/3053599···G][/URL]
the first modem they sold me was: »www.versatek.com/products/vxver170p.htm
they, eventually exchange it for a better one (»www.versatek.com/products/cpe-vxver170m.htm)
advice to potential costumers: make sure you get directly ADSL2+ to avoid the hassle, I would definitely ask for a written guarantee. other than that, great price, great speed
Attached images and files 305359995.png.zip 158 bytes
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Review by warthunder2k
UPDATED: 19 days ago
member for 6.3 years, 895 visits, last login: a few minutes 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:
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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. | |
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Review by outlineblue
UPDATED: 27 days ago
member for 188 days, 21 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Montreal,QC
$35 per month (12 month contract)
about 7 days
"Great speed, low cost"
"Speed depends a lot on your distance from the CO"
"Great speed at a great price, but make sur you ask what kind of speed people in your neigbourhood are getting"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
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 Review by Guspaz
Posted: 243 days ago
member for 6.7 years, 674 visits, last login: a few minutes ago
Montreal,QC
$35 per month (month by month)
about 7 days
Bell Canada
"They didn't beat me with baseball bats."
"Everything, primarily that nobody in the area ever got working service."
"They're probably some sort of money-laundering operation"
| Pre Sales information:
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First, as a note, the only thing that went relatively well was the installation. There was some confusion as to when the Bell tech would come, but at least he came without too many delays. However, other than that, nothing else about the experience was anything the worst:
- The sign-up process involved calling a number, waiting on hold, speaking to a person at a callcentre whose only job is to take our name and number so that a REAL employee can call us back.
- They promised 24-mbit service, provided 0.3mbit service, a problem experienced by everybody on the CO/neighbourhood
- The issues were not isolated, but widespread, affecting everyone on their DSLAM at the CO
- Their tech support was unreachable, causing (me) to waste $30-40 on cellphone charges. Call them, wait on hold for 20 minutes, get sent to voicemail, leave a message, never get called back. Ever. At least other people probably only lost the time and not the money like I did.
- When you did manage to reach their tech support, they barely spoke English, were incompetent (kept telling us our poor performance was an issue with the e-mail server, which is insane), and lied (every day for at least two weeks they claimed it would be fixed the next day)
- Their staff disappeared from DSLR right after they signed the lot of us up, and hasn't been heard from since
- They charged us $80 for modems with an MSRP of $35
- Apparently, in addition to their broken equipment in the CO, their actual transit links are oversaturated
- Invoices, bills, and documentation for the service arrived from a completely different company without any explanation or warning.
- Canceling the service was an AOL-like nightmare, with them refusing to allow cancellation via phone, requiring e-mail (even though it was from gmail). Some of their contact e-mail addresses returned account-not-found errors. They then proceeded to ignore the cancellation e-mails. I only managed to cancel my service after mail-bombing every single e-mail address I could find on their English site, their French site (the two sites have different contact info), and the mysterious "other" company's site. They were then so confusing in their lack of English comprehension that they had me convinced that they intended to charge me for the next months' service even though I was still halfway through the first month when I canceled.
- Most of these issues were not isolated to just me, but experienced by all other Colba customers in the area. Most of us signed up about the same time, and canceled about the same time.
In short, they seem to be some sort of scam ring or money laundering operation. We're not sure, but obviously no company that provides this level of customer service could still be in business, so there must be something else going on here.
Avoid this ISP at all costs. The fact that I can rate them "worst" score 1 for almost every category and DSLR will say "ratings match consensus" should tell you something.
Followup comments: 
FinishedColba
@enter-net.com
| colbanet when i called them january 7, i asked them when adsl2+ will be available, they said for the end of March, so i paid for 12month.
BIG mistake!, no adsl2+ on the end of March, call them to ask, they say in 3 week, waited ... no adsl2+ they told me they have problem so it will be for June!, now december 24, still no adsl2+.
they called me last week to ask if i want to renew for one more year!, guess my answer.
It's a bunch of liar, worst they still advertise adsl2+!
all i wish that they close their door.
go to hell colbashit! | |
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Review by uncle
Posted: 332 days ago
member for 332 days, 7 visits, last login: 314 days ago
Montreal,QC
$35 per month (12 month contract)
"Polite Customer Service"
"ADSL2+ (Max Speed 600 kbps) Customer Service Lie and Lie"
"Don't Sign Up With Colbanet - You'll Be Sorry"
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On August 29th, 2007 Colbanet switched me from ADSL to ADSL2+. The same day my INTERNET SERVICE PROCEEDED TO BE DISCONNECTED FOR 14 DAYS! The worst part was trying to get a hold of the technical support personnel. I would be on the line for 30 minutes until their automated answering service instructed me to leave a message and that my call would be returned in priority. Try up to 36 hours later for a response on avergae 24 hours later. And when I did get through to a tech person, they reassured me each day that the problem would be resolved within 24 hrs. The truth was 24 hrs times 14 days.
Now that I am finally connected via ADSL2+ my download/upload speed, which I have checked with numerous speed test sites before and after the changes, has decreased from 1500 kbps to a maximum of 600 kbps and all this on the ADSL2+. When I mentioned this to the tech support they said they knew of the problem and it would be fixed shortly. That was 10 days ago and no one has called back since.
Summary:
The ADSL2+ offered by Colbanet is a total bust. In the NDG area of Montreal, it's just 10 times faster than regular dial-up speed. Their tech support are dishonest, and the company doesn't care about their clients, at least ones with major problems. The low download speed of 600 kbps persists and I still get the standard answer each time I call that the problem will be fixed in a few days and that was 10 days ago. If you call the tech support expect to be on the line listening to the annoying customer service message, "Your call is very important to us, please stay on the line and the customer service representative will be with you shortly." Again, what a lie! Don't choose Colbanet, you'll be sorry.
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Review by wisechild
UPDATED: 356 days ago
member for 4 years, 21 visits, last login: 241 days ago
Montreal,QC
$35 per month (12 month contract)
about 21 days
Bell Canada
"I can check my email! Yay!"
"Forget ADSL2+, you're lucky to get a reliable 5Mbps"
"Make sure they have what ADSL2+ in your area from some1 you know, don't trust the rep"
| Pre Sales information:
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»/speak/slidesh···MA%3D%3D
The picture above was taken while connected directly at the demarc. Enuff said. If not, well here's my little Colba.net story.
Joined their ADSL2+ in January 2007. Had 5Mbps.
30 calls to their tech support and 2-3 months later. Not a single change. All stories and lies. I've been a tech support before as well, I am a very empathic person, but even for me that was too much.
Decided to post in this forum, that finally grabbed their attention. Gerhard here helped, at least he tried. Did a few tweaks on their side, connection got worse, he undone the tweak. Emails back and forth. Got a Bell tech to finally come, tech said he fixed a short circuit then left: only my upload was a bit better but that's it. Gerhard even came to my house, couldn't fix it, but he raised the possibility that my old wiring could be the culprit.
At that point for some reason I dropped to 3Mbps, tweaks on or off didn't matter. The problem got assigned to Michael who had to schedule another Bell tech to come and test the connection on my De-marc. He opened tickets after tickets but no Bell tech ever came. Michael says the Bell guys doesn't understand what he wants. This paragraph took another 3 months...
Come today June 28th. My legendary patience just ran out. Called Bell, they say it cost 100$ to change a de-marc (mine doesn't have a phone jack). So I took a knife and gutted my phone wire into 2, brought a laptop, their crappy ADSL2+ modem and the powerline right next to the demarc on the 2nd floor balcony. Sorted through the wires and plugged it all in. Behold, SAME crappy connection (see picture)! My wiring is good, all the tests on Bell side are OK, the problem is with Colba.net
28th June: Now trying to cancel and get a refund. I will post back the result. I'll try Acanac next.
Now 19th July: Still can't get a deactivation going. Just when I finally get to speak to a human, everyone is on vacation it says. Just great.
End of my story.
I just learned a few days ago that a co-worker of mine switched to Colba.net as well. He only have 5Mbps also. There is no problem with his location, we checked with the map. The support guy told him that some profile somewhere needs to be changed and that they are on it. My poor co-worker is still buying all that bull... The beginning of another story?
Edit 19th July: no big surprise there, my coworker still stuck with "just" 5Mbps. I envy him. That says a lot.
Edit: 10 minutes later:
They just called me again saying that I will get a full refund on August 1st if I return the modem. I'll have to call again tomorrow for the deactivation date. Let's wait and see if they keep their promises this time.
Last Edit: 24 August
I got my check for a full refund 2 days ago. It better not bounce! There's one good person at Colba call Ginette she did keep her word. In retrospect although it was definitively Colba fault I was unlucky as well for a few things... Anyways, I'm happy with Acanac 5MB now, full speed no problems.
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Review by sp33d_fr3ak
UPDATED: 357 days ago
member for 1 year, 59 visits, last login: 35 days ago
Montreal,QC
Contract price not specified. (month by month)
about 14 days
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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Review by sp33d_fr3ak
UPDATED: 358 days ago
member for 1 year, 59 visits, last login: 35 days ago
Montreal
$40 per month (month by month)
about 14 days
"you'll feel better once you tell them what you really think about their services. believe me!"
"EVERYTHING."
"FAILED. Bad. Unreliable."
| Pre Sales information:
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Most of the times their speed do not exceed the fifth of a standard DSL line, ie 5mbps. You should consider yourself lucky if you get to have a 2mbps with these guys. I call tech support and I have to wait at least 25 minutes to get an answer and the tech guy on the phone is not even answering me. He’s just referring to another tech support guy whom he refuses to mention the last name. I ask him for an extension to that support guy and he tells me he has none. I mean I’ve already worked in a call center and every room had a special extension reserved for emergencies. I guess my clientele is not worth me getting that extension. So yeah, I guess I’m going back with either Bell Sympatico or Tekksavvvy. I hate to be lied to and I guess I might just send a letter to Office du la protection du consommateur and the BBB if I do not get at least the modem refunded.
Their modem is not worth the material it was built on. I’ve bought it without a contract for $90 + taxes and I found it from the manufacturer for only $40. »www.versatek.com/products/vxver170p.htm Believe me, the modem was sold for $35 just a week ago.
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Review by Philip2007
UPDATED: 359 days ago
member for 359 days, 1 visits, last login: 315 days ago
Montreal,QC
$29 per month (12 month contract)
Bell Canada
"It sounded great"
"Not as fast as it should have been"
"Speed disappointing, service....hmm"
| Pre Sales information:
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I don't usually like to be too negative in public forums but Colbanet are sorely testing my patience. At first things went OK although I have never seen anything like the speed they said should have been possible with ADSL2+. The best I have had dowsntream was 6.5 Mbps. and that was from their servers at enter-net. With Speedtest.net I never saw more than 4.0 Mbps. Since mid August my speed has dropped off sharply and I am lucky to see more than 1.5 Mbps. Someone called Miguel did some tweaking at the Atwater CO to no effect whatsoever and that's it...every time I call them I get the same "disconnect the filtres ..etc etc.." I have connected the modem directly to the incoming phoneline and connected directly from modem to PC and the speed is the same...No one has got back to me and there is no sugestion as to what the problem might be. I believe it may be a problem with the modem (VERsatek VER170P) Miguel agreed that there could be a problem with that but has not replied to my emails....I am somewhat disgruntled with the service however I would like nothing better than to be able to report that all is now fine and the issue has been resolved...come on Colbanet!
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Review by mfrimu
Posted: 1.1 years ago
member for 1.6 years, 36 visits, last login: 89 days ago
Montreal,QC
$37 per month (month by month)
about 22 days
"none"
"Terrible installation, service unreliable, no support -"
"Stay AWAY!!!!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
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First order was placed on May 9th or so. Promised service was for the 15th. Got a call that the 15th is not longer possible and rescheduled for the 21. Another call that the 21st was not longer possible and again rescheduled for the 25th. Bell tech came and switched lines at demarc. Apparently he tested line and line was dead. He promised line would be up in one hour. It took more than a week to get the situation resolved. At the end, one of the issues was VCI setting in modem, a banal setting that their tech support should have known about as ALL modems are sold with a default setting not compatible with ColbaNet service. Tech support at ColbaNet are completely clueless about anything regarding modems, internet and PCs. For example Tech guy insisted my modem was a DHCP server. Well boy, dream on. My Gnet is not a DHCP by default, as any ADSL modem on the market.
Once the internet was working I got decent 9Mbits (modem apparently connected at 13Mbits). But that only lasted one week. Starting with weekends and early mornings, speed decreased gradually. Now barely 5Mbits in daytime, 56Kbits in the morning. Is ColbaNet upgrading their servers? Look around in forums for more horror stories. If you must try it, make sure to have alternate DSL for at least the first month of service. But my recommendation is to avoid it at all costs.!
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Excellent news
Now DEAD.![www.speedtest.net/result/3053599···G][/URL]](http://www.speedtest.net/result/305359995.png[/IMG][/URL]){kind=link}
![www.speedtest.net/result/2980155···G][/URL]](http://www.speedtest.net/result/298015582.png[/IMG][/URL]){kind=link}