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Frontier recently upgraded my area to fiber and offered a promotional price of 500 mbps for $45 a month. After paying Spectrum $80 for 300mbps I decided to take the gamble. After a rocky start including a tech who decided to leave trash on my property (such as the ONT cardboard boxes and plastic on the outside of my house), the service itself has been great. Over ethernet I am getting slightly better than the 500mbps which was promised, interestingly my upload speeds seem to be slightly higher than my download speeds. And after receiving my first bill it does seem that the price next month excluding the install fee truly will be around the $45 promised. Overall given Frontierâs rather bad reputation I have been quite pleased with their fiber service, but if they raise their prices too much in the future I can always return to Spectrum to get the new customer pricing. member for 8.8 years, 3 visits, last login: 1 year ago lodged 1.1 years ago
I Love the tech support, but the speed value for the money sux big time. For what we pay for telephone service and DSL MAX we should be getting at least 2 megabits. All we get is 1 meg a second..... I have to give this to them; However, They use PPPoA and give us a speedstream 5200 to connect with. ATM works very well with the setup here, my speed rarely drops and theres no logging on. I have a dynamic IP, but my IP doesn't change unless the DSL goes down and that hasn't happened since we got the install worked out. UPDATE: We had our DSL shut off for none payment cos we forgot about it and when they went to cut it back on they said the card was full and we would have to wait. So two weeks later a tech comes by and tells me hes almost done getting me set up, he leaves and comes back a few mins later and says that the DSLAM is sending 10 meg downstream and 1 meg upstream. Im like wOOt! After a firmware upgrade to the modem and several hours tweaking i've made it up to about 9.2 meg. Im uber happy with the service now. Thanks Frontier for giving me what ive been askin for July 8th, 2009 Well as of about a year and a half ago the speed got chopped back to 1 meg, i called yelled and complained until they literally connected me with the lady at the "provisioning" office i guess we can call it and she re provisioned me at 3 meg and that's where Ive stayed since then. Its a max speed card in the DSLAM and the internet service is called max speed and in 99% of the places it doesn't have a advertised speed. This leads most normal people to think they are getting the MAX speed... however I apparently slipped through the crack for about 6 months and was un-provisioned so to speak. I checked and based on my attenuation and such, 10 meg is actually the max for my line. I doubt however that I will ever see it again. Price is still outrageous and they still have no competition. AT&T still hasn't put in 3G in my area and the local wireless guys using the Motorola canopy technology cant seem to get a signal to my house either.... So I'm still out of luck as I was before. I'll come update again on these losers in 2 years or whenever the up the speed, which ever comes first.... hahahaha. August 15th, 2011 Well, still no changes. I have went as far as to place a formal complaint with the FCC because of the repeat outages we've been having and the same $50 price tag with no speed increase or price drop. I contacted Comcast whom services an area just south of my house and put in a service request and hopefully they will bring the lines on down to us so we can get hooked up with them. I've had enough of Frontier, if Comcast doesn't want to deal I may check with ATT and Verizon wireless service... Even with caps, if its up 99.99% of the time I'll be happy. January 27, 2023 Well, a few years ago they started offering bonded services and autopay. So now I don't forget to pay the bill and I get $5 off a month. So I'm now at about 20M download speed and 1.5M upload and about $45 a month. It still randomly loses connection so that's cool. Checked statistics and it's not an issue with the last mile connection, it's elsewhere but nobody can figure it out. A few years back they fired/forced retirement on the only 3 guys who had a clue about the network here because they were tenured so much and they needed to cut cost because they were trying to avoid bankruptcy. Obviously that didn't work. *PS Hopefully this will be my last update to my Frontier review. Comcast is running EPON fiber services to me soon. I mean, I know they aren't great, but I'm currently on a 20M connection that goes in and out constantly every day and has been this way for years. It'll be a welcomed upgrade. It's hard to do anything at home when you have 20M connection in 2023, forget about it being horribly unreliable. Hopefully the fiber build will go by fast. I'll let you know when I get those services up and going. member for 19.8 years, 203 visits, last login: 17 days ago updated 1.1 years ago
My installation appointment was canceled (without prior warning) three separate times before an install truck finally showed up at my home. In total, I was without TV or Internet for 11 days longer than planned. The technician who showed up was helpful in making sure everything was installed correctly. Frontier promised me an $80 service credit for the inconvenience, which I have yet to receive 3 months later. Once installed, I found that the service performs at the promised download and upload speeds. That said, both the TV and Internet service seem to intermittently cut out for a few minutes after couple of days with no explanation as to why. I haven't bothered to recently contact their tech support about it, due to my prior poor experience with the customer service. Edit: Frontier now offers Fiber service in my area. I haven't had any luck getting it installed, though. I made several installation appointments, and the installer never showed up for any of them. member for 23 years, 114 visits, last login: 269 days ago updated 1.4 years ago
member for 5.5 years, 32 visits, last login: 1.8 years ago updated 1.9 years ago
UPDATE 2021: Since my last review, I've since upgraded to 500/500, and service has been very solid. Customer service has definitely improved since 2016, and Frontier is eons ahead technologically than they were since the McCarthy-era of the company. Billing has yet to be ideal as there are people on month-to-month pricing that are paying lower than I do for the same speeds, so some more consistency in rates would be nice. I've been in a FiOS household since 2010, with my parents. We were originally Verizon FiOS customers until we were sold to Frontier Communications. For the most part, everything has been fine under Frontier in terms of reliable service, but they are far from ideal when it comes to perfect customer service. First and foremost, the one major dislike I have for them is the fact that their retail outlets DO NOT carry equipment! When our original gateway failed last year out of nowhere, I tried going to a Frontier retail store and was told that they did not carry equipment at their in-person locations. On this same day, I was on hold with Frontier for more than an hour trying to get connected with a CSR. It took my father on his lunch break to do the same thing, and he got connected to a CSR while I was still waiting on hold. Luckily, my dad managed to explain the situation and a truck roll got ordered for a gateway replacement. In my opinion, a truck roll should not be required for equipment replacement/failure. Secondly, we've had numerous problems with Frontier's auto-pay. Twice they have threatened to turn off our service due to late payments (and instate a reactivation fee if it were turned off) because they didn't notify us that auto-pay never went through. Although Frontier was not at fault for the lack of auto-pay, I still think they should at least give a courtesy notice that auto-pay had failed instead of a threat to terminate service. Finally, I want to make it known that we're on a 50/50 plan. While 50/50 is what is received while plugged in via Ethernet, that's not so much the case over WiFi. We have an Actiontec MI424WR-GEN3I gateway and even when you're on WiFi right by it, the speeds are not fully up to par. It's worse back in my bedroom, where I still am lucky to get 20/20 via WiFi. While it does not help that the gateway isn't in the center of the house, I still don't think it's acceptable to be paying for 50/50 especially when the whole house does not receive those speeds. member for 7.4 years, 4689 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 1.9 years ago
Ordering online was the first showstopper. My address came back as unavailable. I found this strange because there's a large beige box right outside my condo complex with small Frontier signage. I called the number on their website. The rep who took my info was very pleasant, but also could not verify if service was available at my address. I was then transferred to another rep who apparently accessed a different system or database, and my address was then validated as service-ready. Not only was service available, but I qualified for 110/10 DSL! (Of course, their beige box is right outside my condo!) The closing on my condo was delayed, so I also had to delay the install. This is when Frontier's customer service shines in my opinion. Their automated system uses text messaging to confirm or re-schedule installation, so I re-scheduled the installation twice this way. Once I finally got my keys, I confirmed the date, and the installation finally happened. The tech who installed service was very friendly. She came at very beginning of install window (I chose installation between 8am - 12pm). She was not familiar with the complex, and neither was I, but she took her time to figure it out, and eventually it worked out. After installing the Frontier router, I ran a speedtest, tested the wifi, and all was well. Their customer self-service portal is easy to use, and auto-pay gets me $5 discount, which is nice. While their modem router combo rental is free, I wanted to use my own firewall. It is possible to somewhat bypass their router and use your own. I googled the instructions on doing this, which not surprisingly landed me in the forum here. After changing some settings, some trial and error, and presto. My Cisco ASA firewall is now the router. I started a topic on this at the Frontier forum if you're interested. I have no complaints with the service. It's fast, responsive, and so far very reliable. I can VPN into my firewall from my cell without issue and keep an eye on my apartment. My experience might be a rare one, but I definitely recommend them. member for 23.6 years, 10904 visits, last login: a few hours ago lodged 2.3 years ago
I've been a Frontier customer for years. It's either them, HughesNet, or nothing. In my area, there is a waiting list because there aren't any more connections available. If you leave, and for whatever reason, decide to switch back, you have to wait a long time. So, you're basically stuck with what you get. A few years ago, there were a lot of issues with line static causing frequent disconnects. It was repaired. However, as of 9/13/18, it has returned. I called Support. I was told to unplug the router and such. It didn't fix the problem. Then, I was told to go outside to the box. I explained I didn't feel comfortable with that because I'm not that tech-intelligent. They are supposed to be. So, they sent in a ticket. They said someone would be out to check on 9/24/18. In the meantime, I get to deal with static on my phone line. I live in a rural area. Many of us still have landlines. Trying to use the phone is difficult because the static includes this weird buzzing noise at times. It makes it hard to hear. It's the cause of the disconnects. Also, back in March, there was a town hall meeting with Frontier. They made promises such as better service, cutting trees down and things of that nature. People had photos of trees leaning on phone lines and such. Many promises were made. Hardly any of the trees have been cut. It will not take much for a large storm of any nature to cause numerous outages. Three years later, things are worse. Over the past month, the quality has declined rapidly. Disconnects almost every day. In the past week, we've had 3 outages. I've called Support several times and get the run around. I also spoke with someone higher up with no permanent resolution. member for 12.8 years, 65 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago updated 2.5 years ago
The last thing I thought I would be doing is writing a review for what used to be the competition but here I am and let the truth be known. Anyone who has followed me here in the BHN forums for the past ten years knows I speak my mind and my expectations are extremely high from the customer experience perspective so I went into this fully expecting to be writing a different review altogether. How wrong I was..... My needs were simple, One WHDVR, 3 boxes, 2 cable cards, 1 100/100 internet and finally 1 Premium channel. After having been served with the bill of the century (with zero hope to negotiate a lower rate) with my old provider aka Spectrum and the immediate loss of three of my most favorite features whether I liked it or not I decided to jump ship and give the competition a try. I called Frontier early in the week and was installed the very next Saturday. My initial experience with the phone rep was spot on, friendly and yet professional, the agent in no way tried to "be my friend", avoided invasive "so what are your plans for the weekend" type questions that drive most sane people crazy and was void of the usual small talk that should never be seen in a customer care encounter. The agent knew his products, inside and out, did not attempt to high pressure upsell me in any way he simply allowed me to guide the tone and tempo of the conversation which is the way all such calls should go. He handled the order quickly without asking a lot of repetitive questions and a few short minutes later I was off enjoying the rest of my day. Unlike almost every other Care experience I've had I walked away calm and relatively confident things would go just as planned on Saturday. On Weds prior to install I received a phone call to let me know they would be coming by to get the fiber run installed and to expect someone within the next 48 hours. Sure enough two kind souls showed up on Friday, they spoke fluent english, paid attention to detail and left my yard in great shape considering a substantial amount of traversal work was required. All in all an outstanding experience at the hands of the Frontier contractor. The day of install the technician (Chris) called before the 12-4 timeframe to ask if he could come and just a few minutes later the project was started. Initially we did a walkthrough where I proceeded to give him the bad news....he was going to be here a long long time He took the realization that sales had woefully unprepaired him for this job in stride and together we worked on converting the house to Frontier. If I had any gripes it would be that the order was missing the two cable cards and despite trying in vain Chris couldn't find any but as of my writing this he will be back out on Monday. Chris did an outstanding job on this install which at best given the amount of technology I have in my home would have been nightmarish for any other tech. He worked 7 solid hours nonstop and in the end left me completely operational. My only gripe here was that he had no experience with bridging their router so I could use mine....an absolute must. I took care of that after he left however and when he comes back tomorrow will be providing him with materials he can keep ready for the next time. My impression of the equipment is wow, refreshingly current tech with a firm understanding of customer tech trends, needs, wants and must haves including a flawless implementation of MoCA (although not fully 2.0 yet), boxes that can function wireless, wired or via MoCA without having to call the company, I can move them myself hows that guys!!! This is something I couldn't say for my previous provider aka Spectrum who instead of going forward is actually digressing the customers in the BHN and TWC footprints because apparently their engineers couldn't get the stuff to work right (so customers have to suffer for this Tom? You should have rid yourself of the engineers who were too inept to make it work, not the equipment). The Frontier equipment is absolutely current technology not something from Circa 1995 or older than my previous providers (Spectrum) CEO's suits and business model. There were no geez I'm sorry sir but since we were acquired the products you want are no longer available....NONE! The DVR is fast and responsive, records up to 6 programs AND the boxes also act as full function clients including the ability to schedule recordings...how refreshing is that. My internet speeds are symmetrical and spot on performance wise. The other boxes are tiny tiny but packed full of features...again another pleasant surprise. The guide is something I'm going to have to learn to love, I'm sure there are perfectly good reasons for the way things are its just a bit much for me to digest at the moment lol....change is good....change is good...right? Another pleasant surprise was the full suite of television anywhere products including a full function remote TV app and all the other usual bells and whistles, obviously no expense was spared nor do they have some antique viewpoint of these products. And finally and this is a big one. Frontier gets it, they have chosen a path of meeting and engaging the customer on their terms, not Frontiers. Frontier offers a multitude of support options from traditional phone, to forums, social media including 3rd party forums like DSLReports, hell they even offer Direct Forums. Kudos to Frontier for understanding that their customer relationships are stronger, longer lasting and mutually beneficial because of it. Frontier has fully embraced the power of social media and understands the value instead of talking it down as nothing more than a "Bitch Box" for customers to get something they aren't entitled to quoting Spectrums CEO Tom Rutlege. Tom would do himself, his company but more important HIS CUSTOMER WHO PAYS HIS SALARY THAT ALLOWS HIM TO ENJOY THAT LAVISH LIFESTYLE HE ENJOYS SO MUCH by sheding his 1950's business model by following in Frontiers footsteps and start treating the customer in the manner in which they deserve and demand. Thank you Frontier for giving customers the choice of engagement, I for one truly appreciate it and I know for a fact I'm not alone, see you in your forums All in all the experience was top notch and if you are faced with similar circumstances to mine, by all means give it a try I don't think you will regret it, I know I certainly don't. EDIT 4/3/2017 - Once again Frontier and my tech Chris delivered as promised. As noted above my order was messed up regarding the cable cards. He contacted me bright and early this morning with two brand new cards (he even brought spares just in case....one smart tech) and he arrived 20 minutes later, we installed them and he was on his way. NOW THIS IS WHAT YOU CALL A PROMISES MADE AND PROMISES KEPT EXPERIENCE! Kudos to Chris and Frontier for a job well done. You made me happy when I didn't want to be. I wanted to find something wrong and fully expected and you left with me with nothing! I have increased your score just a bit to reflect this in fairness. EDIT 4/8/2017 - Just received my first bill and much to the surprise of many I'm pleased and I mean very pleased to say that it matched to the penny what I was quoted. I am one happy dude.... EDIT 4/9/2019 - I'm greatly distressed to have to report back that the billing issues I mentioned previously not only have persisted but have worsened to the point I can no longer recommend Frontier as as provider of any service not just internet. To make things worse it appears that Frontier CARE management have taken a page or two from the Spectrum "How to completely alienate a customer in 3 easy steps" playbook. In the past Care Reps at least appeared to care and want to genuinely help when things go south but not any longer. Not sure if they have just been worked into the ground or that a fundamental shift in the company culture has left them simply not giving a shit about doing their job, you know basic Customer Care, Problem Resolution...the works. Unlike Spectrum where empowerment to do the right thing by the customer are words to become unemployed by, Frontier reps at least based on what I have been told by their Office of Executive Escalations (who by the way are really great people, just powerless to fix a billing platform so fucked up their best next step would be to set it on fire and start from scratch) are empowered to do whatever is necessary to make customers happy within reason. Now generally this means that they have the authority to do whatever is needed to bring for example a billing issue that won't go away to resolution quickly, including but limited to escalation to appropriate business units, issuance of one time or multiple credits and the like. It appears however that while they may in theory have the authority few if any actually seize the bull by the horns and git'er done. It could also be that the poor reps are so overwhelmed with billing complaints they simply have nothing left to give customers in the form of simple understanding, concern and empathy for the pain their billing system repeatedly inflicts on customers virtually unchecked EVEN AFTER corrections are allegedly made. It is for these reasons that tonight I signed a new contract with WoW and will be installed tomorrow. Not only did I keep the same level of television product or channels I even managed to grab a freebie premium for the first year on top of everything AND I paired it up nicely with their new Docsis 3.1 Gigabit service (I'll report back speeds later). I'm going to continue running both providers for approx 30 days, however Frontier has been notified that they are currently in breach of our brand new contract and I have chosen not to continue with it. I was of course reminded that I signed an arbitration clause (which at the time I felt was completely unnecessary and out of place) which didn't help Frontier's case any. Edit 11/18/19 - Rock solid connectivity and video services. Billing issues have settled down thanks to help from Carla in the Office of the President. Even with all the frustration previously I recommend them if you can get in your area. Edit 1/17/2020 - Review changed to reflect the bogus $10.00 "router fee" hat Frontier is imposing on all FiOS customers whether they have the router or not (which I dont). member for 6.9 years, 91 visits, last login: 267 days ago updated 4.1 years ago
Initially ordered the Fios 150/150 back in early 2016 and as it's been a while so, I'm trying to recall the events. There was some initial issues with pricing and an amazon gift card that was settled early on. I've moved on and it's not really pertinent to the service. It was more of customer satisfaction issue outside of my service. When calling into support you seem to get routed to anywhere in the US which seems somewhat unorganized as one rep had issues accessing my most recent updates to a service ticket. Maybe it just how their calls are routed and handled. Guess it's better for US support than to be routed to some outside entity. (My opinion) I upgraded to 300/300 around 8 months ago and have been happy. I experienced one service outage when I had my house wired with cat6 and the installer disturbed a fiber splice in my telco box that was poorly done. It took 5 business days for Frontier to respond. I was credited for those days without service. 01/05/2020 - recently upgraded to 500/500 and was given new customer pricing at $40/month + router fee for 12 months. Pricing to increase by $10/month after 12 months. I was previously paying nearly full price for 300/300 at $125/month. This was a surprise, but I was elated. I was also credited for a replacement router that was supposed to have patched firmware that corrected three vulnerabilities identified by Tenable Research (G1100 router), but once I installed the replacement it has the exact same fw so I returned it. After 6 weeks I was charged via autopay for un-returned equipment, but I turned it around a week after receiving it with the supplied return label. It took several calls, but the billing dept. finally credited me. I'm very pleased with the service, the courteous reps that I've spoken with and the new pricing is great. If you need to contact them, I recommend calling. Chat is slow and can be frustrating. member for 23.5 years, 816 visits, last login: 314 days ago updated 4.2 years ago
UPDATE 12 Dec 19: This is an initial report on my VDSL upgrade. I'll update further in a few months. Install ended up getting delayed due to health issues on my end. Once I got settled in, it went in without a hitch. Mad props to the local Frontier tech. He gave me a call, said he could come early, and could he do that? Sure. When he came to the door, and we talked, we discovered my order had gotten rather screwed up. Once I explained to him what the order taker had told me, he said he'd go to the CO to check things. He told me when he returned a variety of issues were present in my circuit back to the CO. He had straightened them out, and now was ready to look at replacing the cable to my jack which dated back to Ma Bell days. We concluded the best option was to run a new jack, with wire going outside. The only problem was that he didn't have enough indoor/outdoor Cat 5e on the truck, but new spools were at the CO. Once he got the indoor/outdoor Cat 5e installed along with a new jack, things progressed quickly. They came to a screeching halt when Frontier's provisioning team got involved. The tech stayed with the job until back-office stuff got corrected, and I had the speed the order taker had said I'd get. Frontier needs to realize the local techs (in this case, a CWA union member) are more than worth their weight in gold. The install tech knew what he was trying to do, and had enough institutional knowledge to work the system properly. He represented Frontier extremely well, serving to counteract the experience of that tech support call to India. ****previous review**** I've been on DSL Reports for years. My current pipe with Frontier is now about six months into a contract, and I thought it's time to post a review describing my experiences. In the past, I've had service from a local dial-up provider, ATTBI, Comcast, Verizon DSL, AT & T Wireless, and now Frontier. I'd like to think I know something about pluses and minuses of all of these companies. Streaming video is what caused me to switch to Frontier. We had been using smartphones, but when we began to slowly inch up to the data caps, I knew our household needed something without one. In the midst of decision-making, Frontier advertised a deal with a year of Amazon Prime with qualifying service. So I called. The rep at the other end & I settled on 12/2 service at $40/month. He offered an install date of three weeks out, which was okay by me. Install guy came at scheduled time. He unboxed a new ActionTech 2250 gateway. He then proceeded to wait because he needed another truck with tech to protect him while he ran the phone line (from the Verizon era) back to the house. That took about an hour or so, and involved serious jaw-flapping for a bit after the line was run. The actual hook-up went smoothly after that, with no real issues, and the tech leaving me with a bonded ADSL connection of 12/2, verified by both Frontier's tech support and me. Service is solid but not spectacular. I've had to call tech support three or four times when my speed dropped. It had to do with something involving the bonded connection. Once or twice, it had to do with weather. These instances were late at night, and I suspect some maintenance time had something to do with it. Overall, in my area, Frontier is neither as bad as some reviewers make them out, but neither have I experienced truly outstanding anything from them, except the Amazon Prime deal, which went through with no hassles. So, here are my suggestions for dealing with Frontier. One: use the DSL Reports speed test tool to keep a record of your upload/download speeds. Test your line regularly, but “random.” Test it at least once a week, but make sure you do the tests during different parts of the day, to help build an accurate picture of what the Frontier service to your location looks like overall. You will find this especially helpful if you have to get government involved. Second: Do the “Level 1” troubleshooting before you call tech support. Since they work off a script, if you can tell them (in good conscious, naturally) you've power-cycled the modem, etc., etc., they will pass you up the support chain that much quicker. For bonus points, log into the admin page for your gateway/modem/router and tell them what attenuation you're getting and signal to noise ratio on your line. This should cause the tech on the other end to roll a truck if need be. Remember, “Your call may be recorded for training purposes.” (haha) Third: If you don't like the support tech you're talking with, find an excuse to (politely!) end the call. Then call in on another Frontier number to get to tech support. In my case, during a storm that knocked out service, the one rep actually hung up on me without speaking. So I dialed through another Frontier number, and on the other end was a really nice, patient, tech support rep. If you should try this, odds are quite good you will find better tech support, as Frontier has advertised online as late about how they're hiring military veterans. Those people tend to be a notch above the ones hired off the street. Lastly: Be Nice. “You catch more flies with honey and not vinegar” applies here. The Frontier support people I've dealt with using this policy tend to go above and beyond to offer service – opening trouble tickets for me, rolling a truck, etc. So, in my area, the bottom line for Frontier service runs something like this. Service solid, but not spectacular. Keep records of their performance. Be nice to tech support. And watch the quality of service like a hawk. It's sad that we have to police ISPs on our own. But that's the state of the internet in the US today. member for 21.3 years, 989 visits, last login: 1 day ago updated 4.2 years ago |