Colbanet is one of the larger independent Internet Service Provider

Internet service provider

An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...

s in Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, offering Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 via ADSL 2+

ITU G.992.5

ITU G.992.5 is an ITU standard, also referred to as ADSL2+ or ADSL2Plus. Commercially it is notable for its maximum theoretical download speed of 24 Mbit/s.-Technical information:...

, ADSL, and dialup. They also offer a few VoIP and long distance services via the Spectravoice brand.

Network Coverage

Headquartered in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, ColbaNet can provide ADSL broadband

Broadband

The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...

 to the vast majority of Ontario and Quebec, using Bell Canada

Bell Canada

Bell Canada is a major Canadian telecommunications company. Including its subsidiaries such as Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, and NorthernTel, it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for telephone and DSL Internet services in most of Canada east of Manitoba and in the northern territories,...

's wholesale gateway access service. In Early 2007, ColbaNet launched their own network which uses their own ADSL2+ hardware in telephone central offices, in order to compete directly with Bell's higher speed offerings. ADSL 2+ Network (up to 24 Mbit/s) available in downtown Montreal with planned expansion to Toronto.

History

Colbanet began as mainly a dialup ISP, providing mainly 33.6k and 56k access in the late 90s and early 2000s. They also, like many providers, offered email, web hosting, and co-location. As broadband became more popular, they began providing ADSL by using Bell's wholesale network, like many independent ISPs do today in Ontario and Quebec. Using this system, the copper wires and central office equipment is entirely Bell-owned and operated, but independents like Colba still run their own servers and supply their own transit links. As such, they are not resellers , they simply rent a portion of the path to reach customers.

Enter-Net

Colbanet acquired the Enter-Net brand through acquisition of a part of CGI group, which also was in the ADSL, dialup, and web hosting, and consisted mainly of business customers. This allowed them to become one of the larger independent ISPs in Quebec, and along with the new ADSL2+ infrastructure, possibly the largest competitor to telephone (Bell) and Cable (Videotron) incumbent providers. Colbanet continued to sell products under the Enter-Net branding for a short time before merging the brand.

Colbanet has absorbed a number of smaller ISPs, and grows significantly by acquisition, but also investment in new infrastructure, as they were the first independent to launch their own ADSL2+ network.

Recent Acquisitions

• VoiPra IP-PBX Acquisition - last quarter 2008
• Spectravoice Communications - February 2006 - VoIP telephony - Acquisition of important intellectual property
• CGI Group - October 2003 - Internet Access
  Internet access
  Many technologies and service plans for Internet access allow customers to connect to the Internet.Consumer use first became popular through dial-up connections in the 20th century....
  
   division - formerly Cognicase. Acquisition of internet access division, ISP provisionning assets, Transfer of employees from CGI
• Generation.Net - July 2003 - Acquired Internet services division with customer base
  Customer base
  The customer base is the group of customers and/or consumers that a business serves. In the most situations, a large part of this group is made up of repeat customers with a high ratio of purchase over time. These customers are the main source of consumer spending...
  
  from Versus.