(Chain O’ Lakes Internet)
Family Owned and Community Minded

Since 1996, Chain O’ Lakes Internet has been the premier local Internet Service Provider for Northwest Lower Michigan . It is truly a family owned business with, President M. Joseph Gaylord, Vice President William A Gaylord, Treasurer Michael Gaylord, and Vice President of Marketing Dale Gaylord. In 1996, there were no local dial-up Internet providers in the Chain O’ Lakes calling exchanges except for a few lines provided by the Central Lake School District. This meant that anyone who wanted Internet access had to dial Traverse City Long-Distance. Noticing this opportunity, Joe started the company in the fall of 1996, and quickly surpassed all his expectations. In the following years, Chain O’ Lakes Internet expanded to cover virtually every area from Cadillac to the Charlevoix/Petoskey, and everything west to Lake Michigan

Early in 2001, Chain O’ Lakes Internet incorporated, with the family still controlling all the stocks, and changed its name to COLI Communications. With the new name, came a new spirit of expansion. COLI Communications now offers not only Dial-Up Internet Service, Computer Repair, Network Design and Installation, Website Design and Hosting, and three different forms of Broadband Internet Access. Having just deployed the newest broadband technology, High Speed Wireless Internet, COLI Communications is keeping itself at the forefront of the technology boom. Wireless Internet is the next technology in the evolution of Internet access that started with dial-up access, then came ISDN, DSL, Cable and finally to Wireless. Wireless is the future of Internet connectivity. Just imagine a world where the high speed access of information is at your fingertips, no matter where you are.

Throughout its existence, COLI Communications has been committed to its customers and its communities. The customers of COLI Communications enjoy some of the best technical support available in the entire state of Michigan When a customer calls the technical support line at COLI, they enjoy fast friendly support without having to wait on hold or listen to elevator music for hours like many larger providers. This has helped them provide the great technical support that they are known for.

The dialup service provided by COLI Communications is second to none. With the highest quality servers and routers available, their customers have better connections at a great price. They pride themselves on very few busy signals, even during peak hours, and first class technical support staff. With the addition of four thousand dial-up numbers nationwide, they also have the largest reach of any northern Michigan Internet Service Provider.

As a service to the communities it serves, COLI Communications has created dynamic community websites for many Northern Michigan towns. The sites are completely free of charge to the citizens and governments of the communities. They currently have sites for Mancelona, Kalkaska, Rapid City, Alden, Elk Rapids, Fife Lake, Cadillac, and Bellaire with more being created. These sites let the citizens of the towns insert their own community news, their own events, recipes, and many more things. The governmental bodies can insert their own searchable minutes and agendas. Links to all the sites can be found at In an effort to better serve their customers who leave for the winter months, COLI Communications has just announces it has obtained over 4000 local dial-up numbers nationwide. With this new National Service, this Small Town Northern Michigan Company is now competing with ISP's nation wide. Their customers will have the ability to connect to the web no matter where they are in this great country. When customers leave for Florida in the fall, they will be able to keep COLI Communications as their Internet Provider. This is a great service that cannot be offered by many local Northern Michigan companies.

While their growth has been tremendous, the family that started Chain O’ Lakes Internet back in 1996 has remained community minded. With all the efforts this company and its employees put fourth to make sure that they give back to the community, it makes them a one of a kind company. If you or anyone you know is having trouble getting quality tech support, just give COLI Communications a call at (888) 299-0071 and they will work to fix your problem. As company President Joe Gaylord always tells his employees, “it is never an inconvenience to make the customer happy”. This company truly gives the best technical support in Northern Michigan .