Review by n2ubp - Location: Middletown, Orange, NY, USA
- Cost: $41 per month (36 month contract)
- Install: about 5 days
Install was perfect, speed matches what I ordered, no contract, 3 yr price lock Some areas in my county still stuck with slow, non competative old technology 24/1mb VDSL speed for the same price as TWC 15/1+modem rental 1yr promo
| Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:
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I've had Frontier ADSL service since 2001. Connection reliability and monthly charges have improved over these years but available connection speed has not kept up with my household and telecommuting needs. Speed tests are showing 2.6mb speeds on a 3.7mb connection. Adjacent areas serviced by Frontier are offering 5 and 6 mb default speeds for the same price or less than what I pay for my 3.7mb connection. Some nearby towns even have 12mb connections. Calling Frontier Sales gets me an answer of "3.7mb is the fastest you can get in your area" and there are no plans to increase local speed offerings. Time Warner cable with default speeds of 15mbs might be my best solution since Frontier has no upgrade plans in my area just outside of Middletown, NY Update Dec 17 2014: My TWC promo 15/1 service was almost up, TWC is oversubscribed in my area, the best it could do from 7 - 11 pm was 4/1mb. Frontier finally upgraded the remote switch serving my area, offering VDSL service with a max of 24/1 for about the same cost as TWC 15/1 promo + cable modem rental. They sent a tech out to install a new NID and router at my home. Nice friendly guy, 40 years in the business, knew what he was doing. I couldn't ask for a better install. On schedule, works as described. So far speedtest results are 24/1 mb. I will update this review in a few more weeks. Update Jan 25 2015: The VDSL connection is solid and reliable, providing 24/1 service as speed tested even during prime time. Recently TWC sent me a letter informing me that my promo pricing had expired and the new price would be over $51 plus the new $8 per month cable modem rental fee... so TWC 15/1 service would be about $59 per month before taxes and Frontier VDSL 24/1 service for the next 3 years is about $41 per month before taxes. It's nice to have choices. member for 16.6 years, 1994 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 9.1 years ago
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jrtrainer
Anon
2013-Sep-26 6:34 pm
Frontier serviceI have been trying to get my mothers service for her basic phone started for over 10 days. I have spoken to 4 different reps and was even promised a call back, which never happened. My last call ended when they said I did not even have any information in their data base on either myself or my mom. What a company. And we wonder why our government can't get anything done. :~) | |
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anon45325
Anon
2014-Dec-18 10:41 am
Frontier / HomeFusionMy parents live about a mile from town (small town of around 2500 people in the midwest). They have had DSL for about 10 years. It started out as NeonDSL then went to Verizon DSL then to Frontier. With Neon and Verizon their connection was generally pretty good and stayed up most of the time. Sometimes some local flooding would affect the line and they would have to physically repair it down the road (near town). My parents do the normal Facebook, e-mail checks...Some Youtube but they are not heavy users and rarely stream movies. For the past two years their connection is awful. They would get around .2Mb/s and would call and complain. They got the technician's number and would call him directly. He would come over and say they shouldn't be throttling you, you should get 5 Mb/s here. He would call them up and the connection would magically speed up where it should be. After a few days they are back to a crappy connection. Now their technician has moved to a new area and the new technician hasn't been able to make it by. I don't understand this since they are not heavy users. It's like it is slowed down until it will JUST work and they keep it there until several call complaints are made and things magically speed up.
I live a few miles on the other side of town. DSL lines terminate just short of my house and I'm told they do not have the infrastructure to provide me with a good enough internet signal. This left me with Satellite. I had Wild Blue for about 4 months. It went out due to weather more often than my DirecTV. I work from home and the 700+ ping made working remote nearly impossible. I then heard about Verizon HomeFusion. It seems to use the same 4G connection as my cell phone. I barely get 4G at my house on my cell phone (It depends on what side of the room I stand in, I can get 1 bar 4G. I get 1 or 2 bars 4G in the front yard but only 3G in the back yard). HomeFusion uses a can antenna that they mounted on my TV antenna. I've had it for 2 years now. It's the same plans as satellite, 10GB, 20GB, 30GB, $60, $90, $120. I get between 20-30 Mb/s download and 6-12 Mb/s upload. The connection is solid and rarely ever drops. In two years my connection speed only dropped once. I called and they said they only guarantee something like 6 Mb/s download or something so they wouldn't fix my problem. Strangely enough my speed went right back up after I hung up the phone. The ping is around 40 most of the time and I can play online games without issue. Also, I have a great connection for web conferences, VPN, etc.
It seems hard for me to deny that they throttle my parent's speed to an unusable level. I just don't get why in an area this small. No one around them are heavy internet users. Most barely have computers. They have had DSL for a long time without issue until recently.
I would highly recommend HomeFusion to anyone left with little options. I have the 20GB/mo. I don't stream movies here and really watch my youtube streaming. I can keep it at 20 but sometimes because of work I have to spend another $10 to get another 10GB to get me through the month. Otherwise it's something like $10 for every GB you go over or something if you don't have them bump it to the 30GB/mo. They will just bump it for that month and then drop it back to the 20GB/mo. | |
| | n2ubp join:2007-07-13 Middletown, NY |
n2ubp
Member
2014-Dec-18 7:48 pm
Re: Frontier / HomeFusionI work from home and use about 4GB per day, * 30 = 120 GB per month. I am not reimbursed for ISP charges by work. HomeFusion would bust my budget. | |
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anon46673
Anon
2014-Dec-18 8:13 pm
Re: Frontier / HomeFusionI don't have large file transfers for the stuff I do. When I do I just use friends' unlimited internet as needed. I wonder how much bandwidth an average work from home person uses...I'm an engineer and I can always just update the files on my work's server while home too so I don't have to transfer the larger files. I would think 4THE would be a little high for the average work from home person... | |
| | | | n2ubp join:2007-07-13 Middletown, NY |
n2ubp
Member
2014-Dec-18 8:44 pm
Re: Frontier / HomeFusionI am a data analyst, specializing in Geospatial Analysis, usually on a national level. Lots of big files and video conferences. | |
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Castle_realm
Anon
2015-Feb-2 7:41 pm
InternetWhy am I only getting a lot less then what I should be getting. My mom is paying for 6mb/s and I have rarely seen it max out at 3. Most of the time it's near 1mb/s. I know whether has a factor in it but an clear days it is still the same. I have called 5 different times they send people out to try and fix it. Nothing works. Frontier sucks. | |
| | n2ubp join:2007-07-13 Middletown, NY |
n2ubp
Member
2015-Feb-3 7:26 pm
Re: InternetAre you looking at the speed test report on the Web or the speed the router connects to the frontier network? | |
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