High Speed Internet 24mb/1m ADSL2+ $17.95/month with Colbanet/Colba.net [QC only]
Posted: Apr 21st, 2010 1:22 pm
ADSL2+ up to 24mbps/1mbps on the Montreal island, unlimited bandwidth with http://www.colba.net. $17.95/month if you prepay for one year. Dryloop is $7.63/month more. Activation fee is $30.
Speeds will vary drastically according to your location. Colba has their own DSLAMS, so the closer you are to their COs, the faster your speed will be. Go to their map and plug in your postal code. If you are somewhat close to one, you are lucky. If you live right next to one, then you've really hit the mbps jackpot: http://www.colba.net/map2plus.php?lang=en
There are negative reviews on dslreports but they are old. Most people who use their service currently are pleased with their speed. The ones who are not did not follow the directions below:
1. Call them and they will check your address and tell you the speeds of any clients they have on your block.
2. If you are over 1.5km away from a DSLAM and there are no examples on your block with Colba service, then don't bother.
3. If you live less than 0.5km from a DSLAM and there are no examples on your block, then take the chance anyways.
4. If you find someone in your building or block who has very good speeds, you may not get the same if the wiring in your building is older.
A couple things to remember which make Colba.net ideal and not-so-ideal:
- Be realistic: If you don't live close to one of their COs (<1.5km), then don't bother.
- Ask for speeds of people living next to you. If they can't give you a very close sample, then don't bother.
- Apparently they don't have a vacation hold, so if you go away for a month, you can't put it on hold.
- Cancellation fees are 50% of remaining monthly fees, NO MAXIMUM. (No longer legal for contracts signed after June 30- because of Bill 60. Can anyone comment?)
- You can try it for a month at the no-contract price of $35/month +$30 installation, and then switch to the $17.95 deal.
- Reviewers have mentioned that they got an average speed with their own modem, but got a much higher speed when they tried the modem which Colba recommends.
- This is not Bell. Their technology is solid, but expect very delayed response times to technical problems and even sales inquiries.
Check the map and let us know if you are one of the lucky ones living next to a CO!
UPDATE July 27, 2010:
A couple things to remember with Colba which have been repeated countless times in many forums:
1. You may have an ADSL2+ modem, but most people get horrible speeds with non-Colba modems. Once they get the modem which Colba sells, most people see a huge boost in speed. Nobody has any idea why this is so, but it is worth a shot.
2. Are you in a building with an intercom? Highrise or residential buildings downtown have intercoms that are hardwired to the phone link/jack in your apartment. The link will create massive interference. In the basement of your building will be a room with all the telephone wires and intercom lines for the entire building. You will need the Bell technician to go there and install a filter between your line and the intercom. Every phone line will require a separate filter.
3. Make sure your building is equipped for Fibe 25. If so, then Bell has upgraded the wires in your building to support very high speeds. If not, your speeds will be somewhat lower. This is not something you can request- Bell is doing it one building at a time.
4. Check your TCP/IP settings. Many MTU and TCP/IP optimizers will turn your connection into a turtle. If you have fiddled with these settings and it didn't get faster, then get the program to revert them back to the Windows default settings.
My suggestion is to:
1. Sign up for Fibe 25 with the current promotion
2. Bell will upgrade your connection and make an appt for a technician.
3. Ask the technician to install a filter in the downstairs room between your line and the intercom. Most are lazy and won't do it without you pushing them.
4. Ask him if your building has been upgraded for Fibe 25. It will give you an idea of your potential speeds.
5. Then switch to Colba.
Almost all problems with Colba speed have to do with things out of their control. For the price of $17.95/month you can't expect Colba to send a technician to start troubleshooting on Bell's wires. I have two people in the tower next to me- one is getting 5mb DL without a filter and the other is getting 18mb DL with a filter.
<---------------------Please thank me if you liked this thread!
Speeds will vary drastically according to your location. Colba has their own DSLAMS, so the closer you are to their COs, the faster your speed will be. Go to their map and plug in your postal code. If you are somewhat close to one, you are lucky. If you live right next to one, then you've really hit the mbps jackpot: http://www.colba.net/map2plus.php?lang=en
There are negative reviews on dslreports but they are old. Most people who use their service currently are pleased with their speed. The ones who are not did not follow the directions below:
1. Call them and they will check your address and tell you the speeds of any clients they have on your block.
2. If you are over 1.5km away from a DSLAM and there are no examples on your block with Colba service, then don't bother.
3. If you live less than 0.5km from a DSLAM and there are no examples on your block, then take the chance anyways.
4. If you find someone in your building or block who has very good speeds, you may not get the same if the wiring in your building is older.
A couple things to remember which make Colba.net ideal and not-so-ideal:
- Be realistic: If you don't live close to one of their COs (<1.5km), then don't bother.
- Ask for speeds of people living next to you. If they can't give you a very close sample, then don't bother.
- Apparently they don't have a vacation hold, so if you go away for a month, you can't put it on hold.
- Cancellation fees are 50% of remaining monthly fees, NO MAXIMUM. (No longer legal for contracts signed after June 30- because of Bill 60. Can anyone comment?)
- You can try it for a month at the no-contract price of $35/month +$30 installation, and then switch to the $17.95 deal.
- Reviewers have mentioned that they got an average speed with their own modem, but got a much higher speed when they tried the modem which Colba recommends.
- This is not Bell. Their technology is solid, but expect very delayed response times to technical problems and even sales inquiries.
Check the map and let us know if you are one of the lucky ones living next to a CO!
UPDATE July 27, 2010:
A couple things to remember with Colba which have been repeated countless times in many forums:
1. You may have an ADSL2+ modem, but most people get horrible speeds with non-Colba modems. Once they get the modem which Colba sells, most people see a huge boost in speed. Nobody has any idea why this is so, but it is worth a shot.
2. Are you in a building with an intercom? Highrise or residential buildings downtown have intercoms that are hardwired to the phone link/jack in your apartment. The link will create massive interference. In the basement of your building will be a room with all the telephone wires and intercom lines for the entire building. You will need the Bell technician to go there and install a filter between your line and the intercom. Every phone line will require a separate filter.
3. Make sure your building is equipped for Fibe 25. If so, then Bell has upgraded the wires in your building to support very high speeds. If not, your speeds will be somewhat lower. This is not something you can request- Bell is doing it one building at a time.
4. Check your TCP/IP settings. Many MTU and TCP/IP optimizers will turn your connection into a turtle. If you have fiddled with these settings and it didn't get faster, then get the program to revert them back to the Windows default settings.
My suggestion is to:
1. Sign up for Fibe 25 with the current promotion
2. Bell will upgrade your connection and make an appt for a technician.
3. Ask the technician to install a filter in the downstairs room between your line and the intercom. Most are lazy and won't do it without you pushing them.
4. Ask him if your building has been upgraded for Fibe 25. It will give you an idea of your potential speeds.
5. Then switch to Colba.
Almost all problems with Colba speed have to do with things out of their control. For the price of $17.95/month you can't expect Colba to send a technician to start troubleshooting on Bell's wires. I have two people in the tower next to me- one is getting 5mb DL without a filter and the other is getting 18mb DL with a filter.
<---------------------Please thank me if you liked this thread!