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Frontier Testing New Fixed Wireless Services

Frontier Communications says the company is testing new fixed wireless broadband services the company intends to aim at more rural subscribers. Sure, the company may be hemmoraghing DSL subscribers frustrated by a lack of upgrades, and fending off rumors of potential bankruptcy largely thanks to this upgrade apathy, but Frontier continues to insist it's working very hard to expand broadband availability courtesy of $283 million in CAF-II subsidies from the FCC, which Frontier says will help it expand broadband to 650,000 rural locations it previously claimed weren't economically viable.

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“We are already well on our way, with a deadline to reach 40 percent of those homes and businesses -- over 500,000 -- by year-end 2017,” Frontier said in a recent FCC filing. “We also continue to explore all possible avenues for further expanding broadband in high-cost rural areas, including through the CAF Phase II Auction.”

While some of those users will see slightly faster DSL, others will apparently be seeing a fixed-wireless service. Said service will use 3.7-4.2 GHz band spectrum for rural fixed point-to-multipoint deployments, but the company has yet to state how much it will cost, whether it will be capped, and at what speeds it will be delivered.

That said, companies like Frontier and Consolidated Communications are pushing the FCC to modify rules allowing for these kind of point-to-multipoint deployments.

“While our companies continue to evaluate the specifics of this plan, at a minimum it focuses the Commission upon the correct goal: ensuring that the spectrum is not locked into large mobile wireless geographic licenses that do not allow for fixed wireless use,” the companies said. “Simply put, BAC’s proposal offers a straightforward path to unleashing this spectrum, and it may be the best way to start ensuring this spectrum starts paying dividends to rural America.”

Meanwhile, Frontier is busy trying to put out numerous fires at once, from low employee morale due to executive mismanegement, to lingering customer frustration at the company's bungled acquisition of Verizon's unwanted networks in Florida, Texas and California.

Most recommended from 15 comments



Anonb0dd6
@comcast.net

13 recommendations

Anonb0dd6

Anon

Frontier TRYING to provide svc to unwanted customers

On a positive note, Frontier is TRYING to provide svc to customers unwanted by other companies. It is them or satellite or cellphone access.

Economist
The economy, stupid
Premium Member
join:2015-07-10
united state

1 edit

6 recommendations

Economist

Premium Member

Frontier is doing much better than VZ in SoCal...

Verizon LOVED endlessly raising the price of FiOS while Frontier understands that Spectrum is an actual unlimited service competitor. From reading years of Karl's Frontier bashing along with knowing about Frontier's debt, I was uneasy with the takeover, but things are way better now in my neck of the woods than during the Verizon era.

I have Frontier FiOS at my business and for the first time in eons, no billing errors. Verizon always had billing problems, mystery $2 charges for stuff, contract pricing suddenly being removed, charges for stuff that is supposed to be included in my package... I have none of those problems with Frontier. Despite them advertising biz 75/75 for $115, Frontier renewed mine at the same $99 2 yr contract, no problem. Verizon would never offer me a promotional rate at renewal, ever. I always got the bend-over-the-barrel price of the day.

Current residential Frontier FiOS Price Promos
24 mo price guarantee, NO contract

50/50 $30
100/100 $40
150/150 $50
300/300 $100
500/500 $150

Biz 1yr contract
25/25 for $20 Yeah, twenty bucks
50/50 $50
75/75 $70

You would be lucky to have the old Verizon promos be less than 2X that price with nice multiples of inflation price increases.
wasvznowftr
join:2010-07-13
00000

5 recommendations

wasvznowftr

Member

Wrong map

That graphic is a map of pre- California, Florida, and Texas Frontier.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

4 recommendations

tmc8080

Member

crappy upgrades

Frontier and Fairpoint were bankrupt the day they were spun/spurned from Verizon. The fact that were hasn't been a filing yet is besides the point. These companies and new partnerships are devoid of true leadership that can get the job done and the money to make it happen.

At some point, there will be federal subsidies for municipalities to deploy their own last mile fiber-- largely from these ever increasing VOIP and cellular taxes being levied on cellphones and voip lines where they used to come from regular landlines. Right now, giving money to these companies isn't doing much more than a band-aid on addressing broadband black hole need as semi-permanent as the destruction in Louisiana and Puerto Rico.

Anon89a20
@frontier.com

2 recommendations

Anon89a20

Anon

They don't say if this includes current low-speed DSL customers

Not sure what they define as "broadband" but 2.5 down isn't cutting it.