CEN is Connecticut’s premier partner for high-performance internet services. We accelerate the progress of our members by providing reliable, low latency, high-speed networking services. We are the provider of choice for organizations that demand exceptional value, performance, and highly personalized service.

CEN’s fiber footprint extends to every community in the state. CEN’s high performance network is “open access,” and any Connecticut organization can join and reap the benefits.

Contact Us to learn more about how CEN can benefit your organization.

CEN differs from other ISPs in numerous ways including network design and performance, pricing and billing, and customer service.

Why CEN?

• Cost Savings– CEN’s Cost Recovery model provides lower pricing, more included services, and larger feature sets as compared to other for-profit ISPs.
• Performance– CEN’s scalable, resilient network design offers an unmatched combination of performance attributes for speed, latency, reliability, and security.
• Personalized Service– CEN’s Connecticut based team backs its members with 24/7/365 Network Operations Center and access to senior technical staff for the most consistent, local, expert service available.

Contact Us to learn more about CEN’s products, services, and pricing.

CEN is governed by the Connecticut Commission for Educational Technology whose members can be found on their site, CET.

CEN is open access and available to any organization in Connecticut. Our membership currently includes organizations from public and private K-12, higher education, health care, government and municipalities, libraries, public safety, non-profits, and for-profit businesses.

Contact Us to learn more about becoming a CEN member.

Current members include:

• Higher Education
• Public K-12
• Private K-12
• Libraries
• Government Agencies
• Other Members (Open Access).

CEN offers the same bandwidth tier and services pricing to all members regardless of organization type. Because CEN’s capital assets are funded with public bond monies, for-profit and private organizations may be charged for any equipment deployed for their application.

CEN’s prices are not negotiable. However, members find that our billing policies are much more flexible and accommodating compared to other service providers. For example, CEN offers a burstable connection without any rate limiting. CEN also does not charge for overages, unless it is extensive and sustained. Bandwidth tier pricing is announced by December each year and bandwidth commitments are updated in April-June for the start of the new fiscal year in July.

To learn more and to receive a quote for CEN services, Contact Us

Currently, CEN accepts payment for services via check or ACH bank transfer. To request ACH payment please contact the CEN business office at GetConnected@CTEducation.net.

CEN invoices are emailed directly from the State of Connecticut billing system, Core-CT. Please be sure to add corect@po.state.ct.us to your safe senders list to avoid any issues.

Currently, CEN can only have one billing contact per invoice . We do offer the ability to combine invoices for customer with multiple members into one itemized invoice. These invoices will reflect total cost for all entities.

CEN offers a growing list of services across five major areas: Internet Services, Security, Research Support, E-Rate Support, and Internet2.

CEN’s Services Management Advisory Council comprises members from all member groups. We invited any member to join this council to help determine CEN’s future services offerings.

Contact Us  to learn more about our services and how we can help your organization.

Yes, CEN can provide solutions for members with multiple campus locations. We provide multi-location solutions for a number of our members either as multiple, standard connections, or as a virtual private network between campus locations with one “border” to the outside world. More information is available on the Private Ethernet page (with link to Private Ethernet page in Services)

CEN can also provide connections to locations outside Connecticut.

Contact Us  for more information and to receive a quote.

Yes, CEN’s web filtering service provides members with an internet content filtering solution that meets the requirements of the Children’s Internet Protection Act and the standards required for E-Rate subsidy funding.

More info: Web Filtering page

CEN provides DNS hosting services for members at no additional charge. DNS hosting is part of our Network Control Grid suite of services. More information is available on the DNS Hosting page.

Members can contact our Network Operations Center (NOC) at getconnected@cteducation.net or call 860-622-4560, option 1, for help with DNS.

CEN operates a statewide, private network for its members. Traffic passing between CEN members and selected in-state peers does not traverse the public Internet, which improves performance, reliability and security. This provides an additional layer of security for our members but is not a replacement for end-to-end encryption of sensitive data.

CEN provides 24/7 DDoS Mitigation Services at no additional charge to its members.

For those with demanding security needs, CEN can also provide layer 2, layer 3 and site-to-site VPN services for members, often at no additional charge.

CEN’s Managed Firewall Services provides enterprise class technology to protect members with a first line of defense against malicious internet traffic.

Yes, CEN is a participating internet service provider in the E-Rate program. Our 498 ID (formerly SPIN) is: 143049066. CEN is happy to respond to all Form 470 requests from any of our K12 and Library members or those eligible for membership. For more information refer to our E-Rate Information page.

CEN’s Member Relations team would be happy to help you with your E-Rate questions. They can be reached at getconnected@cteducation.net or 860-622-4560, option 5.

Participants in the E-Rate program can chose one of two methods to receive their discount:

1. SPI – CEN will discount customer invoices directly
2. BEAR – Invoices are billed in full and customer gets reimbursement from USAC directly

It is the decision of each customer how they would like to be billed, however you can only use one method per funding year. Once your Form 471 is approved, reach out to your consultant or email billing@cteducation.net directly to specify your preference.

Additional information on E-Rate billing methods is available at: E-Rate Invoicing.

CEN members, if you have a problem you would like to report, you may do so by calling:

(860) 622-4560 and choosing option 1 for GlobalNOC Service Desk

or send an email through our Contact Us page.

The GlobalNOC Service Desk is the first point of contact for all network issues. They support our network 24x7x365 allowing CEN to ensure reliable operations services.

We strive to provide at least a week’s worth of notice for any planned maintenance work.  If you wish to be informed of these instances, please join CEN’s Maintenance Notification list or consult our calendar link which includes all maintenance, scheduled and unscheduled on the network are listed (problems/ resolutions).

Please contact us and we will route your request to the appropriate CEN team member.

CEN’s Member Relations team can help you with these requests and many others. They can be reached at 860-622-4560, option 5, or at getconnected@cteducation.net.