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Review by bparisi See Profile

  • Location: Bloomfield, Ontario, NY, USA
  • Cost: $15 per month (12 month contract)
Consistent speed download speeds, poor latecy and random lags.
Deceptive practices, misinformed CSR's, you likely WILL NOT receive advertised speeds.
If you have no choice it is worth the risk, but be prepared to deal with csr's and tech support to get what you are paying for!
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

New review in process, stay tuned.

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member for 18.4 years, 509 visits, last login: 10 days ago
updated 14.6 years ago

john262
join:2003-09-26
Elko, NV

john262

Member

I got the same lie about the modem.

I also have my own modem, a Speadstream 5200. When I signed up they told me that I wouldn't be charged a modem rental fee because I had my own modem. When my first bill came there was a modem rental charge on it so I called back and they said they would take it off and it would be reflected on my next bill. Well, it was still there on my next bill. So I called back again and again they told me they would take off the modem rental fee and adjust my next bill. I haven't got that bill yet so we will have to see.






Review by dgriff233 See Profile

  • Location: Monterey, Putnam, TN, USA
  • Cost: $40 per month (24 month contract)
none
slow speed, IP and WAN addresses constantly changing
only choice in my area - stay away if you have another choice
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I recently moved to TN from NY, I had Cablevision in NY which was very fast and NEVER went down. I am forced to use Frontiernet here in TN because they are the only one that is available in my area. The DSL is slow, about 1/3 the speed I had in NY and the IP and WAN address keep changing. VERY annoying.

If you have a choice of ISP's choose someone else. If someone else comes into my neighborhood, I will switch and gladly pay any early termination fees.

member for 14.6 years, 11 visits, last login: 13.6 years ago
lodged 14.6 years ago


Review by SevDog See Profile

  • Location: Kearneysville, Jefferson, WV, USA
  • Cost: $55 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 4 days
Friendly reps.
High price, low speeds, dishonest sales, rude techs.
Worst internet service ever. If there were competition I would run.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I called sales after finding out that I had no other alternatives for broadband in my neighborhood. I was told that I would have 10mb down for $49.99. Price sounded

ok for the speed but was higher than when I had Verizon DSL (34.95 for standalone 3mb).

Tech came to install and was very quick as he already had configured the modem. As soon as he is out the door I run a speed test and find that I have about 1mb down. I call the tech as he has given me his number and tell him the speed. I am told that I ordered 1mb service and that he could bump me up to 3mb. I tell the tech that I was told by sales that I was getting 10mb. So then he says to the techs around him "Hey guys, sales told this guy that he was getting 10mb!". I could hear loud laughter over the phone. So he bumps me up to 3mb and I am still very slow. Getting anywhere between 640kb and 1.7mb depending on when I run the test. Call tech support several times. One trouble ticket was closed with no work being done. Another trouble ticket took over 2 weeks to be touched by repair. I am finally getting some decent speeds but the upload speed that they offer is very low compared to what I was used to with Verizon. I'm getting about 330kb up. My pings on online games are through the roof and its not even worth playing anymore. Oh...sales also forgot to mention that there is a monthly rental fee for the modem. All in all this has been the worst service I have experienced. Due to the lies from sales, high price, crappy speeds, outages, slow responses and no follow up from tech support I couldnt dump Frontier fast enough if there were other alternatives in my area. DO NOT USE FRONTIER FOR INTERNET SERVICE!!!!!! Also, I hate them and cant tell you enough how much.

member for 17.7 years, 1 visits, last login: 14.6 years ago
updated 14.6 years ago


spewak
R.I.P Dadkins
Premium Member
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA

spewak

Premium Member

Hating them

Hating them is easy. They make it easy. Everything you describe is what happened to me. They lie, and then they suck! Suck bad at that! I feel for you. I dumped them as soon as my Fiber was installed. Good luck in getting a new provider.
bparisi
join:2005-10-23
Bloomfield, NY

3 edits

bparisi

Member

NO kidding!

I too have been fed lies with the same deceptive sales pitch!

I can't even express how much i can relate to your experience with frontier. I just recently signed up for their service (DSL max + phone service for $59 monthly).

Well, where should i begin.

Lie number 1: Just like you, i was told i would be eligible for the 10 megabit down/1 megabit up connection in my new residence, this information was given to me based on my zip code/area, or so i thought. Well apparently i was provisioned on a 3 mbit down/ 5xx up line, and that was clearly shown on my speed tests and on my modem sync. I call again and i am told by a very rude and not very sympathetic frontier CSR that there is no such thing as DSL Max 10mbit service and she even had the audacity to tell me that i am even lucky to have 3mbit in my area! WTF!?

My solution? I call their tech support multiple times and get a ticket issued for their provisioning department, the next day i get a returned call from one one of their local technicians (provisioning department), I am told that my numbers look good on my DSL modem (attenuation/SNR?) and he will try to see what he can do for me but can't make any guarantees. I practically had to beg him to bump my speeds up.

Later on in the afternoon i check my modem and i have indeed been upgraded to 7616 kbits down and 1024 kbits up, which leads me to believe that i could really be on a 10mbit if they really wanted me to. Now why i was not given it to begin with is what bothers me the most. It just sounds like frontier is trying to rip off people that are not knowledgeable enough to know that they are not getting what they are paying for. Oh, and yes one of their CSR also ran around circles with me about the bullshit talk that they cannot guarantee their advertised speeds yeda yada yada, yeah right...

Lie number 2:

It also turns out they were also charging me for modem rental fee without my authorization, since we had already agreed that i would be using my own dsl equipment. I made sure of that 100% before i went ahead and signed up for the service (and contract after all) with a frontier representative named Diana. As soon as i realized that i was going to be indeed charged for the rental fee, i make another call away and another CSR explains that the modem feel is mandatory and that you can't not use your own equipment. What a crock of ****.

I call Diana again (the CSR i signed up the service with), and she assures me that it will be taken care and apologizes for the convenience. ( I will have to check again to be certain that i am not getting charged for it.)

At the moment i shall wait on my first bill (depending on how much i will be taxed) and decide if i should just go ahead and switch back to RoadRunner and only keep around frontier's landline telephone service or go ahead and take my risk with frontier's broadband service for the next 12 months. I still prefer frontier's upload cap than RR's pathetic excuse of 384 kbit for their standard service.

Hey, at least i have 30 days to decide...

-jblp


webfeet
@frontiernet.net

webfeet

Anon

frontier sucks

Everytome i have a problem they read from the screen as they have no real techs on land lines! The problem i tell them is whenever it rains my speed drops dramatically and then lose signal. they have been here repeatidly (never when it rains) and say i cant find a problem!!!!! I wanna throttle some one!!!!!!!!. I kepp telling them to change the line from the pole to my house but they cant grasp the electricity and water = interferance. After all i am just a dumb industrial mechanic!!! I want to switch to dish internet but hear not so good things about that t.!!!!! ;(........ I am stuck as theres no cable out here.!!!!!

Review by MRMinSF See Profile

  • Location: Mineral, Tehama, CA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
better than nothing, especially in a rural area; good chat-based tech support
PPPoE connection drops with annoying regularity; max 1mbps download;
not being snarky when I say "better than nothing"
Pre Sales information:
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We're in Mineral, California, population 90, at the base of Mt. Lassen in Northern California. With only one broadband option other than satellite, it's hard to complain too much since the alternative is dial-up. I could tolerate the slower speeds if the connection didn't drop 1x to 2x per day. Have swapped out routers and modems, too, but that didn't help.

I have been impressed with Frontier's online tech support (using a neighbor's connection, of course) which supplied rapid answers to tech and account information.

(PS not sure why it says I joined this week; have been a DSLReports member for 5+ years?!)

member for 14.7 years, 11 visits, last login: 13.6 years ago
updated 14.6 years ago


Review by mellowfellow See Profile

  • Location: Etters, York, PA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified. (24 month contract)
Friendly and knowedgable phone techs
Clueless on site support. Service is extremely unreliable. Worthless during rain
Better than 56.k Dial-up
Pre Sales information:
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I have had other broadband providers in different areas. I never had any issues with them. Then I got Frontier. I ordered the 3mbps service. They were supposed to show up in the afternoon when I am home. The showed up in the morning and dropped the modem on the door step(this would become the pattern). No problem. I set it up and every thing was working fine. The weather stayed good for awhile. and while it was kinda slow at night, it was mostly acceptable. Then it started raining. I could barely get a web page to load. Pings would time out. I tried working with Frontier to get this issue fixed. I should have just stopped the service in the first 30 days. Now I am a few months in to a two year commitment with a service that can be slower than my cell modem.

No wait it's worse that the cell modem because I get less packet loss on the cell during bad weather. Franlkly when it's bad outside is when I am most likely to want to use it. I would recommend trying Cell data service or Sat service before Frontier if cable is not an option.

At this point I am almost willing to pay the ETF just to have reliable service. If I had the disposable income, I would have already.

member for 15 years, 6 visits, last login: 14.8 years ago
updated 14.8 years ago


Review by bitsmartcorp See Profile

  • Location: Horseshoe Bend, Boise, ID, USA
  • Business customer Business customer
  • Cost: $170 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 10 days
Speed is decent, reliability has been good so far.
Business class users ARE NOT ALLOWED ACCESS TO MODEM CONFIG!?!?
If it's your only option, then go for it, otherwise go elsewhere.
Pre Sales information:
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Value for money:

I actually have two 3mbps "business class" (doesn't really mean a whole lot) lines I am using for re-broadcasting as a WISP feed. The speeds are close to advertised, and the reliability has been 100% up time as far as I'm aware. That's about where the good ends.

When I ordered the two lines, the quoted costs were nowhere near what I'm now paying. I was also unaware that I would not have ANY access to the config utility of the two modems when I agreed to the contract. If I want to have any changes made in the modems I have to call tech support and have someone make them for me, which of course wastes my time, especially when there's a major issue on one of the lines, etc. In addition, I have talked to only ONE tech there so far who seems to have any knowledge whatsoever of networking.

The Speedstream 5930 is a good modem, but still does not have dual LAN interface capability so I cannot run private IP addressing over one interface, and public addressing over the other -- it's only one or the other and I am yet to find a solution for how to get around this.

All in all, they don't compare at all to Qwest as far as speed/price/configurability, which I am using for several other feeds for my WISP.

member for 15 years, 49 visits, last login: 12.8 years ago
lodged 14.9 years ago


Review by rochkatzman See Profile

  • Location: Rochester, Monroe, NY, USA
  • Cost: $99 per month (36 month contract)
  • Install: about 5 days
Rock-solid and consistent performance, Free Mini-laptop
Advertised peak speed isn't as high as cable.
Latency is superior to cable. Better gaming experience.
Pre Sales information:
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I has RoadRunner before and live in a apartment building. I was experiencing service interruptions, latency issues and performance slowdowns during evening hours. I play Halo 3 and GOW on XBOX live and the latency with RoadRunner was causing a problem.

I was concerned about speed as the advertised "peak" speed of DSL was less than Cable but can honestly say the real world speed is very good and the drop in latency makes a big difference in gaming.

The technician was very helpful and actually did a virus scan on my computer and optimized the broadband performance to ensure I was getting the highest speed - something the cable installer didn't do.

member for 15 years, 1 visits, last login: 15 years ago
lodged 15 years ago


Racerbob
Premium Member
join:2001-06-24
Webster, NY

Racerbob

Premium Member

$99 a month ?

Wait now... $99 a month for what ?

Review by jmundale See Profile

  • Location: Needmore, Fulton, PA, USA
  • Cost: $50 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 10 days
reliable, consistent service level,
expensive, tech support
they have a monopoly for this rural market
Pre Sales information:
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Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

they provide two levels of service for residential, Internet lite which is 768Kbps down 128Kpbs up for $30 / mo with surcharges and tech support it is closer to $50. I just put in an order to upgrade to 3Mbps service. which is $50 / mo base, and another $20 in surcharges. My monthly package for phone w caller ID and internet lite was ~90 /mo, now goes to 130 / mo. I wanted the extra bandwidth for Netflix downloads. I will post again after new service comes on line.

member for 21.8 years, 49 visits, last login: 10.7 years ago
lodged 15.2 years ago

atigerman
join:2002-01-19
Tigerton, WI

atigerman

Member

Cost of dsl lite

I have dsl lite from frontier, but i'm not paying that much. For me dsl lite is 19.99 a month from 49.99 which was the 3 meg service. But i was only getting 1 meg down with the 3 meg service, that's why i downgraded....
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

You cant say that have a monopoly

Just what the Subject says. You can't claim that. They only are the only provider due to nobody else wants to expand into your area. You are free of course to order a T1 or greater and then choose your ISP from a big boy.

Also you are free to start your own ISP or move to an area where you can get cable or another DSL ISP.

There are plenty of options and if you have neighbors why not ban together get a T1 and split the cost of it and share it by wireless?

Hmmmmmm... monopoly ???? I don't think so. Should be be grateful they even provide you with DSL YES. Because they don't have to.
jmundale
Premium Member
join:2002-06-06
Needmore, PA

jmundale

Premium Member

monopoly defined = frontiernet in fulton county

Merriam Webster definition of monopoly = a commodity controlled by one party.

If i wanted to get together with my neighbors and get a T1, guess who sells it -> frontier.

Review by bbarry See Profile

  • Location: Chemung, Chemung, NY, USA
  • Cost: $29 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 7 days
always on and fast
monthly modem rental fee even if you use your own equipment
the only solution other then satellite for broadband
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I signed up for High-Speed Internet from Frontier (Citizens Communications) mid December 2007. They had a special running till the end of the month for $29.99 a month plus $3.99 monthly for the modem fee on a one or two year price protection plan for qualifying (new) customers. They lower it to $24.99 for the second year plus $3.99 monthly for the modem fee.

I had no problems signing up, just call their toll free number listed in the Frontier flyer and gave my info. I asked for the self install package as I already had my own equipment and local network setup. They said the installer would drop off the kit in a week on the scheduled live date. I spent the next week running a dedicated category 5 line to my pc for the modem and installed a single filter inside my house just inches from the network interface device. I had a speedstream 4100 adsl modem setup in bridge mode plugged into my router wan port. I also have a courier 56K modem plugged into the router and all I needed to do was change the router to PPPoE and type in the new login name and password.

My line went dsl live on the date they specified around 1pm and the technician stopped by to check the line and drop off the kit. The modem left was a speedstream gigaset SE567 router/wap/modem all in one. I did not want to bother with it since I already had a configured router with a separate access point running all static ip's, wep and mac allow table. I also tried to get them to take their SE567 back but they don’t seem to want to. One tech said they would send a box with prepaid shipping for the modem but it never arrived. From what I have been reading Frontier will still charge the rental fee regardless

since it's part of the contract. Nice way to make $33.98 a month into $29.99 by having a separate fee for the modem rental. I don't think this is fair and will be doing research with the FCC and PUC about forcing someone to rent equipment when they have their own.

I was told by a tech I would have 3mbs service and the modem shows my ATU-C/R as 3712/448. My speedtest to frontiernet.net are around 3220 kbps Download (402.5 KB/sec) and 366 kbps Upload(45.75 KB/sec). I'm only 1.4 miles from the CO which helps. So far after 6 weeks the service is solid day and night and everything works fine

including the kids xbox 360 with live. Coming from dialup this was a welcome change as my daughter moved back home from college and I knew dialup would not cut it.

I'll update my status with frontier from time to time as I have a 2 year contract and if I decide I no longer want it they will gladly charge a $200 early termination. Not likely to happen as the internet is needed for school homework and Youtube (Thanks kids for showing me that). Besides, there is no cable outside of my local town and the only choice besides dialup is satellite and that’s too expensive. So looks like I am stuck with dsl through frontier until something better comes along.

09/15/08

Well, it has been 10 months and how has my service changed. I used to have 3000mbps+ download speeds but that only occurs outside of primetime now. Between the hours of 5pm and 11pm I loose 83% of my download throughput. I am seeing about 400kbps during these hours. The service has clearly been over sold and no longer has the capacity to serve all users. I contacted Tech Support but don't expect much recourse. If you are looking for high speed in Chemung, NY better look into roadrunner through Time Warner.

member for 16.2 years, 43 visits, last login: 178 days ago
updated 15.5 years ago


wlampl
@frontiernet.net

wlampl

Anon

Frontiernet.net Speed test

I got hooked up with Frontier DSL on Jan 9, 2008 and
as of today, Jan 30, 2008 I am experiencing the following:

Upload..............693 KB per sec

Dnload............. 7.447 MB per sec

VERY satisfied with the exception of being forced to
rent the Modem.

I live in Elk Grove, CA and they tell me I am about
1,400 feet from the nearest relay station.
mmorgan27
join:2004-06-08
Downingtown, PA

mmorgan27

Member

Default Password for Frontier SE567

After a fruitless search for the default password for this modem, I ended up calling tech support. To save some people some time, the default password is: wirelessdsl
mmorgan27

mmorgan27

Member

Another Frontier.net speed test

My mom got Frontier DSL, she currently gets:

Upload............ 304 kbps = 38KB/sec

Download.......... 1275 kbps = 159KB/sec


That's a factor of 20 less than wlampl unless he meant Kb and Mb.

She lives in Dallas, PA.; probably over 2 miles from the relay station.

I live over 2 hours away and I have to comment on the absolute horridness of the Gigaset firmware:

  1. I've used web interfaces from US Robotics, Netgear, LinkSys, Motorola. All have weaknesses, but Siemens Gigaset has to be the absolute worst I've ever seen, not only from an interface layout perspective, but also from technical implementation; see below.

  2. Who ever wrote the firmware was unaware of web standards. If you try to use Safari to configure this device, you are out of luck. You'll get a succession of confusing errors. Frontier suggested that I install Firefox (my mom uses a Mac).

  3. After getting her setup, and selecting the level "High" for the firewall (she doesn't play games that require incoming connections). I made sure she could still browse the web. When I got home I find out that she can no longer retrieve email. The "High" setting actually blocks outgoing secure POP connections?!? I was able to walk her through to changing the setting back to "Low". In their defense, they do have a custom level, but I didn't have time to try that out.

  4. I use SSH for remote administration, so I need to enable port forwarding. The port forwarding configuration seems a bit lacking. You can not specify that incoming connections to port x should be directed to IP/port y. They must go to IP/port x.


Still it is waaaaay nicer than dial-up.

Review by chip51 See Profile

  • Location: Port Crane, Broome, NY, USA
  • Cost: $45 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 10 days
Adequate and reliable
Price keeps going up and is now more expensive than cable
adequate till I go back to cable
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Started with a great price, about 29.95 per month. however, the price started kept rising along with the price of the telephone service until now DSL costs more than cable services which are 3 times faster. When this contract expires, so does Frontier.

I installed the equipment and filters myself with no hassles.
I hooked it up and when they turned it on at the company, it worked

Previous speedstream routers were junk but this one (the 5200) has been good to us.

No free antivirus with the package like the local cable company supplies.

Recently we had a few outages but they claim they will credit us for it. However previous credits we have had to continuously "remind" them of we don't get them.

Only actual advantage over cable is that the local cable company has NO battery backup so even with UPS here it will go down while DSL stays up.

Like the cable company, they never know when service will be restored during a major outage.

member for 15.5 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 15.5 years ago


Smith6612
MVM
join:2008-02-01
North Tonawanda, NY

Smith6612

MVM

Free Anti-Virus

Frontier does offer Anti-virus for free to everyone for what I know. Just wanted to let you know.