Frontier Would Like You to Buy a Second Expensive, Slow DSL Line New 'Second Connect' DSL 'Deal' Isn't Much of One Earlier this year Frontier Communications began talking about a "Second Connect" option for some DSL users, which doesn't provide actually bonded DSL -- but simply an additional line for the home at a supposedly discounted rate. Telecompetitor directs our attention to the fact that Frontier has been pushing this new service a little harder of late, issuing a press release insisting that Second Connect is the perfect solution for those unhappy with their existing slow and pricey single DSL line. “If your house now has a single dedicated Frontier connection to the Internet and you are tired of sharing bandwidth to get your work done at home with the kids’ schoolwork, gaming, social networking and streaming video, call Frontier today at 800-921-8101 or visit Frontier Second Connect for more information. We can help!" insists Frontier's marketing department. Frontier advertises the second line at $13.50. Except users in our forums who have signed up for the service note that once you get done layering in all of the usual phone company fees, taxes, and second modem rental costs -- the service isn't really any sort of value. Complains one user: Frontier advertises a second connect line for only 13.95 a month. After calling 5 times, and over two hours on hold, they reveal the true cost which is $53.19. Don't waste your time. Even after the 'corrections' the second connect line cost around $48. I say around, but I haven't met a staff member yet, that could correctly calculate tax. How convenient for you Frontier. Their computer system can calculate it for your bill, but is unable to calculate it when inquiring about the service....hmm.. whats wrong with that picture. Instead of upgrading their network to offers services that can deliver speeds demanded in a modern household, Frontier is trying to sell users on a second expensive slow and DSL line with a false advertised price. Sound like a deal to you? Here's another, similar complaint: Finally got our bill today for the second DSL line that was suppose to only be $13.50. WRONG! Our bill went from $101/month for unlimited phone and DSL line, to $154/month. And that doesn't even include the other fees such as installation which was suppose to be free. Worst part of all of this, we still only get 1.3M down and 128k up on each line. Sorry but had to vent! Make sure you guys are watching your bills! Time for a phone call to cancel that second line. This is not what I signed up for! In other words, that $13.50 1.5 Mbps (if you're lucky) DSL line is actually closer to a $50 1.5 Mbps DSL line once Frontier gets done slamming you with additional fees. These kinds of below-the-line fees have been a mainstay at phone companies for decades, essentially allowing them to engage in false advertising and covertly jack up the advertised price post sale. It's a practice that has yet to see any real attention of regulators, even those ceaselessly professing dedication to "transparency." It helps that Frontier serves a lot of uncompetitive markets where users have no other options, resulting in "deals" like this one.
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  MattAll noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | "As Low As?" Since they mention "As Low As" I wonder what else you have to bundle to actually get down to that $13.50 price before fees? | |
| ssavoyPremium
join:2007-08-16
Henrietta, NY | Backward It amazes me how backward this company is. Their latest offering in my area is "1-12mbps" for $39.99. What a deal. I hear we can get 1-100 inches of snow this winter, too. | |
| | | Had Frontier for 5 years due to lack of comeptition Was able to ditch them this week when a local Cable provider came in, installed fiber and updated the local HFC network. I was previously paying $60/mo for a "5mbps/384kbps" connection, which after ATM and Ethernet overhead equaled to about 4mbps/200kbps. I now have a 20 mbps connection for less.
Where Frontier is the only real option in rural areas many users, like myself, had basically lived with the "grin and bear it" attitude. Had I the options I have today I would have never used Frontier for anything else than landline phone service. | |
|  ansarSearch for HighSpeed
join:2004-12-10
Utica, MS | What a jump! Man, what a jump from 13 bucks to 50 bucks. I still don't see how they can justify that and not be sued for false advertising. | |
|  |  VanPremium
join:2009-07-08
New Orleans, LA | Re: What a jump! said by ansar:Man, what a jump from 13 bucks to 50 bucks. I still don't see how they can justify that and not be sued for false advertising.
Sure you do....like most major ISP's and/or TV corporations....they can do basically whatever they want (except merges these days) and get away with it.
So their data meters dont work for everyone? So what? What are the customers really going to do?
So their prices are much higher than stated? So what? Who is really going to stop them?
I mean, suing these companies gets people nowhere because of how ridiculously complicated and hard the companies have made it to sue them in any sort of fair jurisdiction. | |
| | NWOhio
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH | did you read "as low as" meaning its as low as that. Nothing says that they're selling it that cheap. | |
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| | Seems they didn't make any promotion for Karl ... I have no problem with their service | |
| | etaadmin
join:2002-01-17
Dallas, TX
kudos:1 | Re: Seems they didn't make any promotion for Karl ... Frontier serves the Czech republic (riho.cz)? or Tor is a wonderful hiding tool  | |
| | | | | Re: Seems they didn't make any promotion for Karl ... Well they wouldn't want their Frontier employee domain showing up.  | |
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| NWOhio
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH | totally agree. if DSLR or anyone else that means something around here was made a great deal the article would have been spun another way. Frontier just hasn't cut their yearly donation to DSLR. | |
| | | DolganPremium
join:2005-10-01
Sun Prairie, WI Reviews:
 ·Charter
| Re: Seems they didn't make any promotion for Karl ... quote:
Re: Seems they didn't make any promotion for Karl ...
totally agree. if DSLR or anyone else that means something around here was made a great deal the article would have been spun another way. Frontier just hasn't cut their yearly donation to DSLR.
You obviously have a reading comprehension problem as all of the Major Telcos and Cable Cos [as well as several of the minor players] have had their problems/issues exposed on this site.
Frontier has one of the worst backbones {considering their current size}, a heavy debt load from acquiring Verizon assets, and a poor business plan. This is an obvious ploy to get more money by deceptive advertising, and one of the reasons we need to regulate business--since they can not be trusted to self-regulate. | |
| | | | NWOhio
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH | Re: Seems they didn't make any promotion for Karl ... You must know i have no reading comprehension problems. I stated what I did due to there are companies on there that are bashed for doing things some on here think are wrong and then others get phrased for doing the same thing. Money talks and the rest is BS on here. And I'm not new around here and I know how this site works. You don't think that certain providers get their "news" favored over others for nothing do ya? It's all about who has the Franklin's and who doesn't. | |
| | | | | DolganPremium
join:2005-10-01
Sun Prairie, WI Reviews:
·Charter
| Re: Seems they didn't make any promotion for Karl ... No, I really do think you have a reading comprehension problem if you truly believe what you are stating. Karl is pro-consumer and has pissed off the shills for both Telcos and Cable Cos, whenever he calls them to the carpet for issues such as this. Some carriers have more issues than others--that is why they are hammered more often.
I would love to have the link to any article where Karl praised a company for deceptive billing practices... as that is the only way I would retract what I've said. | |
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| | Add some real speed first. I recently received a mail about this from frontier. I sent a email telling the GM there is no way I'm getting a second 1.5MB line. Maybe when they actually put some speed out here I would consider a second line.
Typically if it looks to good to be true it usually is. While some great people do work for frontier a lot of the management is clueless on how to run a business. | |
| | Reviews:
 ·Frontier Communi..
| Re: Add some real speed first. Frontier sent me mail offer on this Second Connect option about 2 months back. I had seen info on BBR/DSLR on details of it. I fail to see the benefit for the price(with the extra charges/taxes).
Then, received Frontier marketing phone call on a recent Saturday at 7:30AM for Second Connect. A little early in the AM, for me.
Would agree that Frontier should concentrate on delivering faster speeds, not on this. | |
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| | If true, and fees are nearly quadrupling the price, that is outrageous and should be outlawed. I'm tired of hearing about buyer beware and how the market can be left alone to handle these things. This is just completely out of control and it is rapidly getting worse. There is no limit to the crap people will try to pull if there aren't boundaries imposed. | |
|  firephotoKDEPremium
join:2003-03-18
Brewster, WA
·Frontier Communi..
| Here's a great idea Maybe occasionally they should check the quality of their existing customers lines and adjust upward accordingly instead of doing what seems to be assuming that if they never hear from the customer everything is fine.
I guess they don't want to be like other internet providers where their users have to wake up and discover their internet connection is faster without ever doing anything.
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|  NetFixerFreedom is NOT freePremium
join:2004-06-24
The 'Boro
 ·Vonage
 ·Cingular Wireless
·Comcast
·AT&T Southeast
| Well, at least they allow it (unlike AT&T) Well (bargain or not), at least they allow a customer to get two DSL lines and do their own load balancing if the customer wants/needs to do it.
I had two AT&T DSL Direct circuits for several years (and I paid full price for each of them), and my RV082 router did an excellent job of load balancing. However, this March (coinciding with the start of AT&T's bandwidth cap program), AT&T arbitrarily decided that anyone who had two DSL lines must be a bandwidth hog, and that would no longer be allowed. One of my lines was disconnected with no warning...or even an explanation. It took me two days and many phone calls to actually find an AT&T employee who would tell me what happened (and that I officially would not be allowed to reinstate the disconnected circuit, or get another one because AT&T's new policy was that only one DSL circuit could be installed at the same billing address).
FWIW, even though AT&T had disconnected one circuit, they did not actually remove it from my account...I was still being billed for it.
AT&T...Rethink Possible.
»Edited title: AT&T only taketh away
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| |  djdanskaRudie32Premium,MVM
join:2001-04-21
kudos:4 | Re: Well, at least they allow it (unlike AT&T) Two 1.5Mb DSL lines from frontier it a single 3-6Mb line from at&t. sucks. 1.5 is all I can get in western Illinois from frontier. | |
| |  DavidNow accepting new patientsPremium,VIP
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL
kudos:70
·AT&T Southwest
 ·DIRECTV
·AT&T Midwest
·Google Voice
| why not order one for the same address but specify a "apt.=a" option?
That's how people with uverse get around it. Or in some cases one guy used a different CLEC all together and he has DSL and uverse at his location.
key thing is as long as there is some type of billing address seperation, it goes through just fine.
For instance.
123 anywhere ave, anywhere, ay 12345 has dsl
in order to get a second one you just need
123 anywhere ave, apt. a, anywhere, ay 12345
as long as the billing and location address differ it's legit, and flies.
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| | | | | | | NWOhio
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH | Re: Well, at least they allow it (unlike AT&T) T just has to enter it in and will do it online. My old address in Cleveland wasn't in their database and I just had to give them the address i wanted listed- even did it online....in 5 minutes i was able to order service. Even listed STE on it and worked just fine. | |
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| | NetFixerFreedom is NOT freePremium
join:2004-06-24
The 'Boro Reviews:
·Vonage
·Cingular Wireless
·Comcast
·AT&T Southeast
| said by David:why not order one for the same address but specify a "apt.=a" option?
That's how people with uverse get around it. Or in some cases one guy used a different CLEC all together and he has DSL and uverse at his location.
key thing is as long as there is some type of billing address seperation, it goes through just fine.
For instance.
123 anywhere ave, anywhere, ay 12345 has dsl
in order to get a second one you just need
123 anywhere ave, apt. a, anywhere, ay 12345
as long as the billing and location address differ it's legit, and flies.
I had a more creative approach. I just dumped AT&T as my ISP. This was not some simple database error that kept me from getting new service, this was an intentional slap in the face to an existing customer. Of course, that is something that AT&T has proven themselves quite good at doing.
AT&T seems to have forgotten that (at least in some areas), they are no longer an official monopoly, and that their "Rethink Possible" mantra also includes the possibility to tell them what to do with their inferior services. As soon as the ETF penalty expires on my two remaining AT&T cell phone contracts, those numbers will be ported to another carrier (one number has already been moved away).
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A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. | |
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| | | what about with a business line? Will they let you have 2 then? | |
| | | NetFixerFreedom is NOT freePremium
join:2004-06-24
The 'Boro Reviews:
·Vonage
·Cingular Wireless
·Comcast
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: Well, at least they allow it (unlike AT&T) said by Joe12345678:what about with a business line? Will they let you have 2 then?
That is something you would have to find out from AT&T. There was a thread recently in the »AT&T Southeast forum where a business user with two DSL lines had one line stop working. The circuit itself worked OK (good stats showing on the modem), but there was just no IP connectivity (the same symptoms I had). Unfortunately, I don't think that user ever updated the thread to tell us if that problem was resolved.
The two AT&T DSL lines I had were residential, but that was only because AT&T would not provision them as business lines because I did not have a traditional business class POTS line. I did have a business number with AT&T CallVantage at that time, but that was not enough to be able to get even a single business clsss DSL line installed (it had to be a POTS line). FWIW, I did have business class service with my previous ISP (Covad), and I have business class service with my current ISP (Comcast), but AT&T just seems to specialize in making things difficult whenever possible.
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A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. | |
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| DavidNow accepting new patientsPremium,VIP
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL
kudos:70 | well good luck with your new providers. | |
| | | | | NetFixerFreedom is NOT freePremium
join:2004-06-24
The 'Boro Reviews:
·Vonage
·Cingular Wireless
·Comcast
·AT&T Southeast
| Re: Well, at least they allow it (unlike AT&T) said by djdanska:You can have more than one dsl line with at&t, under the same address and account. (last i knew) I've done that in business accounts and know people who've done that in residential. (granted once comcast got docsis 3.0 running, it was cheaper just getting them, and everybody i know did just that) Second address is different. Nothing stopping you from calling at&t and setting up a second line on your normal account for dsl. Here in west-central Illinois, frontier offers this for you. (I've actually gotten something from them a day or two ago. And it's on the front page of dslreports.com today! 1.5mb/s X two lines? No thanks)
The "last I knew" was when AT&T shut down one of my existing DSL circuits this past March because their new policy said that only one DSL line per address/customer was allowed. Perhaps they have backtracked on that position since then, but I really don't give a damn...AT&T is no longer a valid option with me.
And FYI, I did try to get the terminated line reconnected, and even tried to setup a new second line, but AT&T explicitly told me that it was no longer permitted.
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A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| | Second DSL ? Another attempt by a dinosaur telco to entice someone to spend more money on an ancient technology because they are too cheap to do the job right to begin with. They have no plans to upgrade to a fiber-optic service or provide a significant increase in bandwith. Give us fiber or get the hell out of the business. | |
| | NWOhio
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH | Re: Second DSL ? and VZ is any better? | |
| | | | I'm trying to figure out who's greedier here, Frontier or the people goofy enough to order a second DSL line?! I don't care how slow or fast that first line is, I WOULD NOT be ordering a second line and compounding my issue or bill!
I had Frontier for part of the 2 year contract I signed with Verizon. Only part that was really bad was when I tried to cancel the service. That's when I found out what kind of total idiots are working there!
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»www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/ | |
|
Reviews:
·Frontier Communi..
| Second Connect. I did catch the post about this in the Frontier Forum the other day. I'm not sure where everyone is getting this 53.00 for the second line. I took Frontier up on this offer about two months ago. The install went pretty decent, and I even got the 35 for the install waved. The next bill i get was around 30 dollars more than my original, Basically because of it being prorated. My bill this month is 75.00 and some change. 60.00 for my first 3.0 line, and 15.00 for my second. Everything has been fine for me on my side of the second connect service.
It would be lovely if Frontier would upgrade everyone, but it's just not going to happen. As with everything else in rural communities, we always get seconds. | |
| |  GbcueAlmost P.E.Premium
join:2001-09-30
Santa Rosa, CA
kudos:8
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| Re: Second Connect. said by Intoxicoded:I did catch the post about this in the Frontier Forum the other day. I'm not sure where everyone is getting this 53.00 for the second line. I took Frontier up on this offer about two months ago. The install went pretty decent, and I even got the 35 for the install waved. The next bill i get was around 30 dollars more than my original, Basically because of it being prorated. My bill this month is 75.00 and some change. 60.00 for my first 3.0 line, and 15.00 for my second. Everything has been fine for me on my side of the second connect service.
It would be lovely if Frontier would upgrade everyone, but it's just not going to happen. As with everything else in rural communities, we always get seconds.
You pay $60 for 3 mbps DSL?
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My Blog 2.2 | |
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| NWOhio
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH | If you don't have a problem with a telco on here you don't matter. But I did read your post the other day about that. But again; nobody seemed to care. | |
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 Boomer86never say roadkillPremium
join:2002-10-18
Walden, NY | it will hit home eventually When the last of Frontier's existing data customers have migrated to 3G or 4G wireless data (which will be faster than DSL by then) and they are almost devoid of a customer base, that's when the shananigans of this company will end... and NOT because they are upgrading plant, they will go into bankruptcy.
Whatever entity takes over at that point will strip out whatever remains of value and dump the rest.
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I turned on my computer for this? | |
| | | | Re: it will hit home eventually Most 3g/4g wireless in northeast Pa will be running on frontier fiber in the near future, and most of it is run off of frontier copper lines already. | |
|
 acadielPress fire to beginPremium
join:2002-06-22
Bloomington, IL
kudos:1 | Costs I think it's kind of strange that people are getting charged $50 - maybe unless they're getting a second line as well?
It's around $20 here for SecondConnect (including taxes), and including the forced modem rental. If you have 3M on your primary line, they give you 3M. If you have 7M on your primary line, they give you 7M.
And no, I don't work for Frontier.
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| | | | Frontier's "second line" Three replies to them:
1. No.
2. Never.
3. Not on your life.
Patience, oh my brethren, wireless is coming and so is Frontier, in Chapter 7.
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Help stamp out hate; and haters. | |
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