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Review by jwhitaker148  - Location: Lucasville,Scioto,OH
- Cost: $30 per month
Good "The modem arrived. Twice."
Bad "Never calls back when they promise they will, still no service, no answers to my questions, placed incorrect satellite TV order"
Overall "This is without a doubt the worst customer service experience I have ever had."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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(ratings below consensus)
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Back in July of 2013 I made the decision to move from the big city back to rural Ohio to be closer to family; I had to give up my fantastic cable service, but family is more important. Frontier is the phone and internet provider for the area which isn't serviced by a cable company because they say there are too few customers on the road to justify running cable there. I didn't really foresee it being a problem because my mother and a cousin that live on the same road have DSL from Frontier and don't have any issues.
Apparently I'm not that lucky.
So with some optimism I called Frontier to establish service. The lady I spoke to seemed nice and took all of my information. I decided to go ahead and get Dish Network since that's what they bundle with and get their DSL; I have enough bars on my cell phone to make calls so I really didn't want to get their home phone. After a few moments of small talk, because the rep was actually IN my area (which led me to feel even more optimistic), she informs me that my address isn't eligible for DSL service because it's too far away from the office. I asked her where the office was and she told me it was in Portsmouth. After a few minutes of explaining I get her to understand that there are two homes further away from the office than mine that have DSL from Frontier. She then explains that maybe her system just isn't up to date and she goes ahead and processes the order, setting me up with my satellite install and a self-install for my DSL.
A few days later I get a call from a Frontier rep that went to voicemail. She explained that they had to change my service date and asked me to give them a call. I promptly called back and the lady I spoke to confirmed my order, except she had me down for basic phone service and satellite TV. We went through the whole thing again, complete with her verifying the DSL service at a residence further from the office than mine, and she set me back up and made sure my modem was going to ship.
Curious, I called Dish to confirm my installation and it turns out it was all screwed up too. No DVR had been ordered, I had the wrong package, everything. So I fixed that order and crossed my fingers.
The 23rd rolls around and I call to find out when I should plug in the modem and test the connection. The rep told me to wait until 6:00 pm which is how late the techs are usually out. So at 6:30 I hook up the modem and.. nothing. No solid DSL light, just a blinking one. I call them back and they tell me the tech came and said I lived too far away. I asked them how it was possible that two other homes could have service and were further away from the office but mine can't. The rep told me they couldn't answer that and referred me to a supervisor, Michelle, from "Escalations." She said she'd contact engineering and call me back the next day.
I never got a call back from her. I waited a couple of days and called Frontier again. This time I was told they were going to groom the lines and I would get a call from the local manager on when I should expect service. I never got that call either. I waited several more days, called back on a Friday, and this time I got a guy who contacted their dispatch for me and told me they estimated it would be about a week. Ten days later I still don't have service so I call back and get told that they're going to groom the lines the next day, add an extender, that a tech would be out and I should be good to go.
Ha.
I never saw a tech before I had to leave for work. I called Frontier again to see if everything was still going to go as planned. I was told the tech was out in the field but they left a message with my phone number and asked the tech to call me when they were hooking the line up and tell me how things went. I never got that call either.
I'm so tired of dealing with Frontier at this point that I don't even know if I really care anymore. Despite that feeling I called back again today and was given to a supervisor who told me she was going to get me a technical supervisor and get me some kind of answer. Really at this point that's all I want. I'm on the verge of getting satellite internet because this is just ridiculous. Even with a cap and the horrible customer service satellite supposedly has it can't be worse than what I've put up with from Frontier. At this point even if they put their foot down and tell me I can't have service and I have to send the modem back I just want an answer on why.
Maybe I'm being unreasonable but it just doesn't seem logical to me that two homes further away from the office than I am have DSL but I'm not eligible. It makes ZERO SENSE.
I want to have hope that this supervisor will get me a resolution but I'm running pretty low on hope at the moment. Right now I would tell anyone thinking of getting service from Frontier to stay away from it unless they had no other option.
UPDATE 08/28/13: The supervisor, Nicky, from Washington has still never called me back. I've left multiple messages asking for an update and still nothing. However, as I was leaving for work today lo and behold there was a Frontier van sitting in my yard and a gentleman working on the line. He told me that he couldn't sync from the line itself and he suspected an old coil somewhere was interfering with the signal. He said he had spoken to the guy who did the DSL upgrade for my road and that there was no reason every house on it couldn't have DSL.
Which.. is what I've been saying all along. But it's nice to know that their technicians aren't just a myth fabricated by the worst customer service center I have ever dealt with. Only one CSR has given me real answers and the rest never call back when they say they're going to; including their supervisors. So I guess I'll wait a little bit longer before calling the local satellite company to have Exede installed so I can see how this will play out.
UPDATE 08/30/13: I received a voicemail from Frontier yesterday saying engineering had my service ready to go and that they would send me a modem. I found this interesting because I already have a modem. Out of curiosity I checked it and sure enough, still not synced. I called tech support to see if it was because they said they were sending a new modem or because of some other problem but they said the work order was still open. Needless to say I got transferred to customer service again who to,d me I lived too far out. I told her what the tech told me about the coils and she said "Oh yeah, old coils will block a DSL signal." And then she gave me a service date of October 2nd to get the work done.
Original service date? July 23rd.
Satellite is seriously looking more attractive by the day.
Update 9/10: I spoke with Frontier again today, got a pretty nice guy who didn't read from a script and give me a response based on the first note for my order like most of the people I talk to do. He put me on hold for quite a while and kept apologizing for it but I told him it was no big deal. Honestly it isn't, not if you're genuinely trying to help me, which he was. When he came back to the line he told me that a tech had noted on 8/24 that I lived 25,500 feet away from the node, but that the local engineer went out to check and said they were wrong and that I only lived 13,000 feet away from the node. He also was supposed to have taken care of all the technical issues blocking service, but because our area is backed up it will be 10/2 before they can hook everything up.
So unless something changes my next update will be in October.. and hopefully I'll be able to give them a higher score.
Update 10/04: Nope. Still no DSL. Now I'm dealing with the social media team after complaining on Facebook and Twitter. My new service date is 10/8 and supposedly all they have to do is hook up the outside wiring. We'll see. Next stop is the state attorney general. This review is turning into a blog with all the updates. I also revised the monthly price to show only the price do the DSL and not the combo with Dish. Also lowered the install coordination rating to reflect yet another missed install date and the fact it took me half a day of phone calls and social media complaints to get an answer on a new service date. RR on the social media team was polite and helpful at least.
member for 50 days, 7 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 1 days ago
Comments:
 DeLiverPremium
join:2004-09-01
Cincinnatus, NY | A quick question... If your Frontier experience had exceeded your expectations, would you have contributed a similarly long and helpful review?
I doubt it. | |
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 ·Frontier Communi..
 ·WOW Internet and..
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1 recommendation | Re: A quick question... Actually as soon as I receive my refund check from Wide Open West after they log my equipment returned I was going to post a review on them, because I loved their service and wish they offered service where I am now.
My turn.
Did you have a point to make or do you just like to hear yourself talk?
I doubt it. I'm betting you like to hear yourself talk. Perhaps, given your own "review", you just don't like seeing people give a negative recount of their experience with your friends? Just because you have "connections" at Frontier and like their service doesn't make my negative review any less valid, or take away my right to post it if I wish. | |
| |  spewakR.I.P DadkinsPremium
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA
kudos:1
·SureWest Internet
1 recommendation | said by DeLiver:If your Frontier experience had exceeded your expectations, would you have contributed a similarly long and helpful review?
I doubt it.
I doubt it also. Not for the same snarky reason as you posted though. Reason I doubt it is that there is rarely any good experience regarding Frontier. | |
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| | Frontier I don't have any issues with Frontier. techs are nice and do what they can. I know that they are working on some congestion issues. I know that things seem to get worse but I have seen some speed bumps here in MN in some of their exchanges. They are more reliable than the cable copmany in my area which is Mediacom. | |
| | | | Re: Frontier That's great for MN, but not so much here in Ohio. | |
| | | iowaboyPremium
join:2004-02-28
Fairfield, IA Reviews:
·Windstream
 ·WildBlue
| Re: Frontier I don't know what the problem is with the review. It is just an honest post of what has happened so far. It reminds me of another national company who has lots of issues also and not providing what it should be. I do hope they finally get your DSL installed and working. I haven't updated my review on my phone company DSL experiences yet but will soon as I am having issues of a bad line that they seem to not want to fix. | |
| | | | | | Re: Frontier There is no problem with the review. However, the review really comes down to the OP insisting on having the service installed after the OP was told the service would not work. Now, months later, guess what? The service doesn't work. IMHO its BS to post a bad review when there was obviously a reason way back at the first phone call the OP was told he/she was not eligible for service. | |
| | | | | Reviews:
·Frontier Communi..
·WOW Internet and..
| Re: Frontier IMHO it's BS to reply to a review without fully reading it. If you had you would see that two houses further away than mine have DSL and that they essentially are the end of the line. You would also see the section where the field tech discussed that the entire road had been upgraded for DSL. You would also see that the engineer measured and said I wasn't too far out and did qualify for service, hence why they did the upgrade two years ago. Hence the first person you think I should have listened to was WRONG. | |
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| Review by n2ubp - Location: Middletown,Orange,NY
- Cost: $35 per month (12 month contract)
- Install: about 5 days
Good "Compared to Time Warner pricing they are relatively inexpensive"
Bad "Frontier Infrasture and speed increase upgrades happening all around me but not at my location"
Overall "Slow but reliable service. Perhaps too slow to handle my household workload. "
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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
member for 6.2 years, 279 visits, last login: 4 days ago
lodged 12 days ago
Comments:
| | Frontier service I 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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| Review by ShellMMG - Location: Grass Lake,Jackson,MI
- Cost Contract price not specified.
Good "Reliable, local tech guys are great!"
Bad "The whole install coordination"
Overall "A HUGE improvement over satellite/wireless or dialup"
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Pack lots of patience when installing new service! The only thing that went RIGHT from drop to connecting to the network were the diligence of the local gents completing the post-winter drop and hooking up the modem. We even had our dry loop disconnected and given to a new customer, creating an afternoon of sheer panic until a tech physically fixed it!
Since our install the only trouble has been Mother Nature with power outages or regional congestion/interruptions at CO's. it's been very reliable in speed and we were even bumped up from 3mb to 6. Our drop is also ready for when/if bonded DSL ever comes though.
member for 4.4 years, 1282 visits, last login: 4 days ago
lodged 25 days ago
Comments:
| | FRONTIER = WORST COMPANY WORLD WIDE THIS IS THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER DELT WITH. FIRST I LOSE INTERNET FOR A MONTH, REFUSE TO PAY THE BILL THEN THEY TELL ME IF I PAY THE BILL THEY WILL PROVIDE HOME PHONE SERVICE FOR THE SAME RATE. THEN THEY NEVER PUT IN THE PHONE AND SAY NONE OF THAT WAS DICUSSED AFTER I PAID THEM. INTERNET COULDNT BE ANY SLOWER WITH THEM, GOES DOWN 15 TIMES A MONTH! I WOULDNT WISH THEM ON MY OWN WORST ENEMY. | |
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| Review by shoechew - Location: Delray,Hampshire,WV
- Cost: $65 per month
Good "I have nothing good to say about Frontier"
Bad "Over priced garbage. Lies."
Overall "Yes, Frontier is the very lowest bottom line."
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»www.bbb.org/
»www.fcc.gov/complaints
»www.wvago.gov/publicresource.cfm
»www.psc.state.wv.us/complaints/default.htm
We have had Frontier just over a year and it has always been unacceptable. Over the past 2 months I have complained several times to Frontier, the BBB and the FCC. I guess they robbed from the rest of our neighborhood to give extra speed to us because lately our Speedtest results are twice as high as the neighbor's. Now Frontier insists there is nothing wrong with our connection and they act like I am lying when I tell them it STILL slows to a crawl in the evenings. Even IF the connection was stable and reliable, $45 for 1 meg would still be a huge ripoff and such overpricing should be criminal considering how slow it really is. We can't even go back to dial-up because Frontier will charge a ridiculous/per minute rate for data.
member for 57 days, 9 visits, last login: 30 days ago
lodged 29 days ago
Comments:
| | Frontier I don't have any problems with Frontier. Speeds depend on the distance to the Dslam. We have 3meg here and most of the time its right around 3meg. The end of the summer it dropped down to 2meg but now that the kids are back in school things are back to normal. | |
| | | Frontier is OK - speeds usually as claimed seems as if uploads are being compressed as of late - vpn to ADSL is barely usable - but usually getting the download speed advertised (3~5 Mbits down). Upload speed is another issue - should be 300k and best at this end has been 178k. Contacting customer service usually resolves lag/jitter/speed issues - for a time - then need to call again. VoIP on this line is marginal. The local tech is AWESOME tho - much better service calling the tech directly than putting in a trouble ticket. I can't imagine that TWC would be any better though - got us all over a barrel so for now it's the option that's available. (A captive market). | |
| | | Yep I can sympathize.
I've been waiting for about 50 days for my install. 
But they say I'll be good to go on 10/2. I hope so. | |
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| Review by DeLiver - Location: Cincinnatus,Cortland,NY
 Business customer- Cost: $379 per month (36 month contract)
- Install: about 1 days
Good "I have inside support numbers and know the techs and managers."
Bad "VDSL2 at 20/3 (unbonded,unvectored) is what I can get at the moment, 20/5 is doable and I should have pushed it. Next time."
Overall "Frontier or TWC? I'll stick with the local people."
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I won't bore everyone with the details of my long term connection with this telco. For the quoted price, we do two fixed IP DSLs, 3 full featured POTS lines and an 800 overlay. With the inside contacts (evading the 800 merry-go-round) the service is excellent. I don't abuse those contacts and get in the 800 queue like all of you, using the lingo that gets you bumped up the food chain. I will say that customer service has degraded somewhat since the Verizon integration - most of the CSRs don't have the detailed information available to deal with sales or support in a particular area. Any change in service will be borked, either service itself or billing - it really is a minefield and needs improvement. If I call for business support, that is what I expect to get. Why do I get asked for residential or business service when I call the business number? Fix it.
I do sympathize with the residential customers out there on long loops, it is tough. I can only speak for my area, and those loops would be in much better shape if the county highway department and your buddy with a backhoe would do an 811 before they dig. Seriously. Copper is only bad when abused or stolen.
Finally, I'll admit to posting this because I tire of the endless drive-by 'reviews' of this company. They are trying hard at least in my area. I'm hooked to a brand new Adtran 5000 as I type.
Life is good.
member for 9 years, 2627 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged 37 days ago
Comments:
spewakR.I.P DadkinsPremium
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA
kudos:1 | Drive by reviews? Really? What makes theirs "drive by", and yours more pertinent? | |
| | DeLiverPremium
join:2004-09-01
Cincinnatus, NY | Re: Drive by reviews? "Fair warning: reviewer joined this month" | |
| | | spewakR.I.P DadkinsPremium
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA
kudos:1 | Re: Drive by reviews? said by DeLiver:"Fair warning: reviewer joined this month"
Really? | |
| | | | | Hm. So, does that mean when you joined you were so special that you didn't get "Fair warning: reviewer joined this month"? | |
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| | Don't buy! Frontier Internet is always extremely slow and every week we have to call them to fix our Internet because it won't work. Worst service ever. Won't be getting again. | |
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| Review by Dyrnwyn - Location: Blomkest,Kandiyohi,MN
- Cost: $84 per month (24 month contract)
Good "Field Techs."
Bad "Everything else - & just getting a field tech out is horrible."
Overall "If there's anything else available besides sat & dial-up, take it!"
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6 years with Frontier, & nothing but trouble. They were the only broadband provider for our town until recently, & I will be changing. Only reason I've waited is because our landline phones are with them too, so I've built a PBX to take care of that issue, just need to finish tweaking it & it's bye-bye Frontier, hello MVTV.
Most recent complaint would be this past week, when most of the entire Frontier network went down, & it took 1 hour & 34 minutes with a phone tech & her supervisor to finally decide it wasn't just my computers & then sent a tech out to replace the modem. As soon as the modem was replaced, internet was back. No way in anybody's business that should have taken more than a few minutes, given the widespread problem (I called two hours after they told my wife's business that the entire state was down & they had over 80 calls at that point) (also, turns out they were down all over the country, not just MN), let alone more than 20 minutes!
Before that, one other major issue of the line being "grazed" a block away took 3 months to get fixed. The tech had to dig down through snow to get to the sliced wires. Had they heeded my complaints about the quality of service three months before, there wouldn't have been any snow, & I wouldn't have had such poor internet.
I could go on, I have several customers I do tech work for that "used" to be Frontier customers.
Look at their S&P stock downgrade last week to "negative". Not a company to do business with, let alone invest in. Get as far away from them as possible.
UPDATE: Managed to leave Frontier in the spring of 2013. They tried to pull the "you're still in contract" crap, so I told them they already breached the contract due to the poor quality and fraudulent speed claims (their techs informed me our area is governed to never go over 1.5, even though they bumped us up to the 6mb billing rate in October 2012).
Currently using BroadbandMN.com. They cost more, but for the most part, have been much more reliable, and the speeds over 80% of the time are as advertised. They lease from Charter - just wish I could actually get Charter.....
member for 2.7 years, 43 visits, last login: 46 days ago
updated 46 days ago
Comments:
| | hmm Well your area is set up with VDSL and speeds around 12 meg or better.  | |
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| Review by schipper - Location: Nebo,Mcdowell,NC
- Cost: $40 per month
- Install: about 10 days
Good "Not much, most of the people at the call center speak english, which is good because you will be calling them often."
Bad "It is constantly down. When it is working its slow, and they havn't improved the speeds in 3 years."
Overall "Go with any other provider if possible, even Sat if you can deal with the latency. "
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I have had their service since they took over from Verizon and it has consistently gotten worse since that point. In the past year I haven't had a single month where it hasn't gone down at least once. Their support is completely useless as well, quoting as much as 9 days out for repair sometimes. When you do call in you almost always end up with someone reading off a script who is unable to do anything other then schedule an appointment for next week. All in all its the single worst service I have ever dealt with and I am selling my house just to get away from them.
member for 4.9 years, 1 visits, last login: 41 days ago
lodged 51 days ago
Comments:
| Review by MrBungle87 - Location: Durham,Durham,NC
- Cost: $85 per month (12 month contract)
Good "VDSL is great; better modems and hardware on VDSL."
Bad "ADSL is slow and oversold in many markets. Customer support is hit and miss."
Overall "If Frontier's VDSL packages are available in your area, they become a lot more compelling."
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UPDATE, 8/9/2013: so far, so good. Haven't encountered any real issues since being switched over to VDSL in January. Still getting consistent 25Mbit (usually 30) downloads. Ping times could be better (around 60-70ms now), but this is the nature of interleaving, I suppose. My only real complaint is upload speed, or lack thereof. At the time of installation, uploads averaged 1.6Mbit (while being advertised at 3Mbit), and have since decreased to an average of 1Mbit. I'm not sure why uploads are low, but I'll have to talk to our local Frontier manager again to figure it out.
UPDATE, 1/24/2013: VDSL (25/2) is installed using the Actiontec V1000W modem/router, and speeds are great. 30Mbit down, typically, and roughly 1.3Mbit upload, which is less than I expected, but still double what I was seeing on ADSL. The only problem is ping times are higher now, at about 80ms (probably due to interleaving instead of fastpath). Will update if and when anything changes.
If you're relocating to the Triangle area of North Carolina and value a fast Internet connection, avoid Durham at all costs. In this area, Frontier and Time Warner have all but cornered the market on broadband (though, Frontier has no real claim to call what they sell 'broadband'). Time Warner will offer you up to 50Mbit/5Mbit service (down/up), provided you pay them $7-11 per month for their modem/router on top of the $99 standard (non-promo) rate you'll pay for their highest speed tier. By all accounts, Time Warner is a ripoff--though, in all their beneficence, they've deigned not to cap your usage, yet. The nominal pricing for TW's 20/2 tier is about $55 a month here, and you can use your own modem in this instance (read: no monthly modem rental fee to line their pockets). So, that might be more attractive, value wise, but still expensive.
Then, your only other option: Frontier. Ah, Frontier. When Verizon sold their decrepit copper infrastructure to Frontier in mid-2010, we didn't know what we were in for. It turns out, my worst suspicions about Frontier were realized. From the very beginning, the changeover involved Frontier taking on aging equipment it couldn't or wouldn't maintain, overselling DSL, delivering infuriatingly slow peak time speeds, and engaging in highly questionable customer service practices. We were on Verizon's 3Mbit/768Kbit plan and, for the most part, we got the advertised speeds and decent ping times (even during peak hours). Amazingly, Frontier managed to shoot that all to hell with their mere presence. Download speeds plummet daily to sub-1Mbit, and any sort of Youtube/Hulu/Netflix/ESPN3/Skype activity is out of the question. This goes on for HOURS.
I'd spoken with so many different customer service reps and technicians at Frontier that I had a better handle on their problems than they did. Being the aficionado for networking that I am, I got tired of their piss poor answers and decided to take this to Frontier's General Managers for both my county and the state of North Carolina. Finally, a GM was giving me some concrete answers. I live 4224 feet from the CO and according to technicians, our line quality is great, as are the SNR/attenuation numbers, yet we're still stuck on 7Mbit service that suffers nightly and drastic slowdowns. The GM tells me I am easily eligible for the 12/2 "Ultra" package, and I should be eligible for the 25/2 "Ultimate" tier. But he's still researching things at our CO, and I'm waiting for the final word on where we'll go from here.
So to all of you weighing Frontier as an option, I would suggest you do your homework before pulling the trigger, because their VDSL deployment seems spotty at best, and you probably won't be able to get the information you need from call center people in Washington state. Considering we pay $35 a month for Internet, we definitely don't get $35 worth of service. I'd gladly pay another $10 a month for consistent 12/2 speeds, and the GM claims the VDSL network runs on different hardware and isn't oversold like the lower speed tiers. Time will tell. I'll be updating this when we move to a higher speed tier.
But take this as a cautionary tale for broadband in the Durham area. Many other points around the Triangle have AT&T U-Verse as an option (like Cary), but U-Verse is also highly localized to various towns and neighborhoods here, and if you live in a rural area, your options will be even more limited. The price you pay for living in a "less profitable" region.
member for 260 days, 113 visits, last login: a few minutes ago
updated 57 days ago
Comments:
| | In regards to VDSL availability To be sure, VDSL availability is typically when available when you are withing 8000 feet from the central office to be capable for speeds up to 25mbps, we have been doing a lot of work since verizon was around, keeping in mind it has only been 2 1/2 years since we took over and started improving upon Verizons Antiquated networks. I apologize if you didn't get good answers from here in the Washington Call Center, I am extremely proficient in the systems and can definitely assist in this as well. If the issue has been addressed and investigated, then you should be good to go (at the very least being able to get bonded DSL for the 12/2mbps speed), I've checked the terminals in Durham/Raleigh area and do see that the Central office is equipped for VDSL (up to 40mbps for Business, 25mbps for Residential). We have a number of people available for VDSL but like with all internet providers (except wireless) it is distance related. | |
| | Reviews:
·Frontier Communi..
| Re: In regards to VDSL availability Thanks for your reply. The technician who installed VDSL (25/2) told me he wasn't sure whether VDSL or bonded ADSL2 would be used since we were the second house in the area they've installed VDSL. But, it seems to be working well. I also have to give credit to the technical supervisor for our area who called me and gave me information about our true total loop distance (which was longer than I thought due to a large cable loop on another street), but they either removed or replaced a tap and loop length decreased.
I do have one question for you, though: I'm seeing a lot of errors (presumably) under "30 Minute Near End FEC Interleave" and some under "30 Minute Near End CRC Interleave". Fastpath is disabled so I guess there must be a distance consideration in still using interleaved mode on VDSL2? Either way, my download speeds are great, so I don't know how accurate the SNR and attenuation stats the modem is reporting are. I've attached a screenshot for your perusal. Hopefully, you can make some sense of the FEC numbers.
I'm also seeing higher pings than before (75-100ms), which I'm guessing is due to interleaving. Is there a way to test whether fastpath would cut ping times? | |
| | | | | | I have Frontier DSL on Camano Island, WA zipcode 98282. Do you know if anything can be done to improve speeds? I am on the south end of the island, so I imagine I am far from the CO, and it looks as though we're routed through the Everett, WA pop. Do you know if VDSL is available, and can I bond two DSL channels together if I add a second phone line with Frontier? You can write me back at jakej1978 AT g mail dot com
Thank you. | |
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| Review by zebibyte - Location: Fairview,Multnomah,OR
- Cost: $130 per month
Good "Great speeds, Nice HD TV"
Bad "Core network can get overloaded links"
Overall "FIOS service is great if you can get it"
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Great 35/35 FIOS service and full HD channel package. I"ve got my ONT inside in a closet, so no weather related issues. Ethernet handoff to my own router, works great.
member for 7.4 years, 315 visits, last login: 5 days ago
updated 59 days ago
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| Review by aguypd - Location: Silver Springs,Wyoming,NY
- Cost: $36 per month (24 month contract)
- Install: about 7 days
Good "First year is free"
Bad "We lose our connection every time it rains"
Overall "Switched back to RR"
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(ratings below consensus)
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(update 2013-06)There hasn't been any improvement in the service from Frontier. The latency still runs 60-70 ms and the bandwidth is still down around 3.5 Mbs on the 10 Mbs service.
(update 2012-11)Recently the Internet service seems to have degraded. The latency has increased to near 70 ms and the connection resets several times a day with a new IP address being issued each time.
(update 2010-09)I am still glad that I switched back to Road Runner. However, my mother still uses Frontier's DSL. She consistenly gets bandwidths around 3.5 Mbs on her 10 Mbs service. The latency is usually around 50 ms. It can be frustrating to work on the computers at her house and attempting to use the Internet, after getting used to Road Runner at home.
We decided to get rid of our telephone service with Frontier, too, and switch to Time Warner's Digital Phone. Frontier wanted to charge us $200 because they said we had entered into a 2 year contract with them for the Telephone service. The two years for the DSL when we had it, ended back in May of 2010, and we never agreed to a 2 year contract, so I guess they just automatically put us on one.
My wife called the service department and complained and the customer service representative, said that they would cancel the $200 charge.
(update)After continuously comparing bandwidth between my mom's dsl with Frontier and our Road Runner connection, the Road Runner connection is always about three times the bandwidth and less than half of the latency.
(update)My mother, who still has Frontier DSL, got hit by lightning. She called Frontier's customer service and told them that she lost the phones and DSL. The service tech came out and got the phones back online, but never checked the DSL. She had to call them again and finally drove an hour to one of their centers, to pick up a new modem.
(update)Forget trying to get anywhere with their customer service. If you tell them you have an issue, only when it is raining and the lines are wet, they will still send a technician the next day, even though the sun is shining and everything is dried out.
(update)Switched back to Road Runner after less than six months with Frontiernet. It was a mistake to ever switch to Frontiernet.
Switched from Time Warner's Road Runner to Frontiernet's 10M DSL with a new plan that the first year is free and the second year is only $30/month and a promise that the 10M was available to our house. This turned out to be a mistake
After having the service for almost a month, we had several problems and tech support was a 45 minute wait on the phone. Technicians came out the next day and found a problem between us and the CO. Our speeds, 3568/374, are better than they were yesterday, 503/260, but not as good as they had been, 4417/376. This definitely is not what they promised us, though.
Apparently, when it rains our connection is unstable. This is terrible. I guess I have to hope for a drought, so I can have a good connection. Because of the bad connections in the wet weather, Frontier keeps throttling back our speed, instead of fixing the actual problem. The latency has really tanked, too. We were getting a latency around 35 ms, but now we are over 80 ms.
Every time it rains, we can look forward to speeds around 500/200 and a latency over 100 ms. It is terrible.
Frontier has released their announcement on their caps, and our speed is down to 95/78 with a latency of 695 ms. Go figure.
After lying to us about the availability of 10M being available in our area and their position on net neutrality, I am not holding our breath about their honesty, that people in their price protection agreement, won't be capped, also.
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member for 5.4 years, 2104 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 61 days ago
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