Frontier Communications – Internet Service Provider

I honestly can’t remember the last negative review I’ve written in any form — mostly I try to focus on the positive. Mom used to tell me that if you have nothing nice to say then don’t say anything at all and I’ve generally been successful with that approach, but this has been too much. Dealing with Frontier has been possibly the worst customer service experience I’ve ever had and I’m not a young guy.
Background: we live in an area with limited high-​speed internet service (have been using wireless for a few years now), so we were quite happy when we started getting Frontier DSL brochures in the mail. A couple of our neighbors had taken the service and were quite pleased, so we called and set up an appointment for installation. The guy on the other end of the line was really friendly and happy to sell the service and so it was.
I should have known that things weren’t going to go well, though, when we were given a 6-​week wait time for install. The gentleman said he’d try hard to improve on that projection and he’d call back in a couple of days to update, but they were really busy so no guarantees (I guess this is the level of comfort that you have when you’re running a virtual monopoly on local phone service). After a week we had heard nothing so time for a call back. Unfortunately, the prognosis was no better; six weeks is what it was and no better. Fine. It was going to be worth the wait so we made some changes to the «home office» in anticipation.
Well, that was five weeks ago. The scheduled appointment was for tomorrow. This evening we get «the call». It went something like this, «we’re really sorry, but we can’t provide your service as promised because we no longer have the capacity in your area». Huh? «Sorry.» No availability date, no other options, nothing. I thought that this whole scenario kind of sucked after having waited for a month-​and-​a-​half so we called back to see if there was anything they could do. Apparently the answer is «nope».
At this point I’ve spent the better part of the afternoon on hold, getting excuses, and otherwise dealing with those poor call center folks that apparently have no authority (I feel bad for them — they must take a beating) telling me how sorry they are and about who didn’t talk to whom on their end. The supervisors can’t be bothered to even get on the phone (literally had one decline to get on the phone because «there’s nothing he would be able to do anyway»). I’m now on my third round of calls, but it’s pretty clear that nothing is going to be done and apparently nobody at Frontier is capable of doing much beyond apologizing. It would have been nice if they could have just gave us the excuses initially so we could have had those six weeks to come up with a different solution, but, alas, it was not to be.
Sorry, folks, for the long review, but this one pisses me off. Tried to work with them. Tried to get an ECD. Tried to explore alternatives and they simply do not want or value my business. Good news is that next time I get one of those glossy Frontier flyers in my mailbox I’ll know to just drop it in the recycle bin with all the other junk mail.

When a company outsources its customer or technical support overseas, it rarely turns out well. People who are not native speakers nor have near-​native command of the customers’ language and culture cannot understand the complexities of customers’ issues. Nor do they understand the culture of the customer’s country.
Unfortunately, Frontier has outsourced its customer service to an overseas company whose employees cannot understand enough English to provide service for all but the most basic issues.

Just awful. I had phone and Internet for $ 80 a month. I dropped phone and my bill went to $ 114/​month. What??? It must be a mistake, right? I call to ask. NOPE! IDIOTS, THESE GUYS ARE IDIOTS. The phone service was out on a regular basis, the Internet is super-​weak and can’t even run Netflix even though it claims to be more than three times as strong as Netflix requires. Get your act together FRONTIER or expect a major drop in customers as soon as your challenger gets up and running. If you have an alternative, my advice is take it!
READ THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS!!! It’s NOT something you want to agree to.

A long drawn out explanation is really not necessary here, the bottom line is that the frontier internet speed is so bad where I am in northwest Connecticut it’s a joke. Their customer service is lame. I’m on the phone wasting a bunch of time, getting nowhere, being frustrated, I can’t believe there aren’t a ton more bad reviews on here.

I recently signed up to receive Frontier Internet service. I had heard wonderful things and living in a rural community it was one of the few internet options. On the day of my installation, half an hour before I was set to sit at home for 6 hours waiting for the technician to show up and connect the internet, I received a call stating, «Due to heavy workloads Frontier is unable to get a technician out to you. Please call back to reschedule.»
I understand the need to have people set aside blocks of time waiting for a technician to show up. Some jobs require more work than others and it’s impossible to make exact appointments all day long. But when a customer is willing to block off the time in order to become a customer with your company or to have an issue with your service resolved, you should have the decency to respect their schedule as well. Many of us work 9 — 5 jobs and are unable to continually block out 6 hours of time from our weekday schedules to wait for a technician to show up and connect our services. With Frontier feeling as though their inability to properly schedule their technicians and plan their days accordingly takes more precedence than my schedule is inconsiderate and poor customer service. It signifies that the company does not view customer service as a high priority. This is not the type of company I want to build a relationship with and I will be seeking out another service provider.

Just a horrible lying company. Called to find what speeds I would get at my house, I gave my address and was told 3−6mbs. Was told I would get free installation and they talked me into signing up with Direct TV. Direct TV was installed and it works fine. After the «High Speed Broadband» installation I could only get 1.5mbs called them and was told that was as fast as I could get at my address. Received my bill and they charged me for «Broadband Installation», and TV hook up (which I never got). Called them up to complain and was told «Broadband was between 0.1mbs to 6mbs. and he also said that they do not deal with Direct TV only with the Dish Network. BTW — the FCC classifies Broadband as 25mbs and over, up from 4mbs in Jan 2015. I cancelled them right then and there.

I wanted to switch from Comcast to Frontier. I called Frontier to setup service for my home and the agent asked me for my SSN. It seems there will be a hard check on my account. When I refused the lady explains — «It is to protect my identity» which doesn’t make sense. So I hung up the call and talked with SSN office, which recommended me to tell them that businesses can’t force someone to give SSN except when taking credit, and should have an alternate mechanism.
I called them again and told the same, now the cust rep says, «oh yes, we have another way of registering using your drivers license but that’s a long process». I said fine and gave my drivers license details.
Next day I see a hard credit inquiry on my credit account from Frontier and I am currently fighting this fraudulent inquiry — luckily I have legal insurance that covers it.
Moreover, After 3 days, I get a voice mail from Frontier that, that they cant provide connection to my home.
So now I am left with no connection and a fraudulent credit inquiry (without even sharing my SSN).
Please stay away from Frontier as I have completely lost trust, and hopefully my lawyers will help me resolve the credit inquiry.

This company is actually an embarrassment to every other internet provider on earth because this is the only company that you pay for Internet without actually getting the internet lol. I’ve had Frontier wifi since August and it’s been a joke since the start.
Beginning, we called to get internet. They said «well mail it out because we’re too busy to come out and you can install it yourself» Unprofessional, but forgivable. Two weeks went by, nothing in the mail. So I called. «We sent someone out last week but no one was home» Okay but we told you guys that we both work during the days and you said you were mailing it to us anyways? So then they said I had to drive there and pick it up myself to go home and install. So I picked the wifi box up Then a week later we get one in the mail. Lol what???
About once a day our internet will all together stop working in the apartment. I’ll restart it and still nothing. When it is working, videos are constantly loading and not playing I’m paying $ 30 a month for this internet or lack thereof. I finally called yesterday (December 8) and they said «no one can come until the 15^th» and he had me run a speed test. We paid for 30 mbs or whatever, when the guy had us take the test it was 122 mbs??? I just really can’t handle this company they are such a train wreck. Consumer ratings of 1 star out of 1,000 reviews if you search Frontier reviews on Google. No clue how they’re still in business but if my internet isn’t fixed by the 15^th I’m switching company’s and reporting them to BBB. NOT WORTH THE MONEY YOU SAVE GOING WITH FRONTIER. PAY MORE FOR AT&T WHICH MY MOM HAS NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH AT HER HOUSE. Mind you she has 5 people in her house, and a ton of computers and phones. My apartment has 1 other person and only 1 computer in the whole place and we still can’t even get decent wifi lol keep going over on my phone due to no internet. What a hassle.
Update: I forgot to add, I requested reimbursement for the days our internet has been down and they said they will from the time I spoke to the rep last night until they can come out. But I called on Saturday and left a message and no one called me back so I waited until Tuesday to call because believe it or not, I have a job other than babysitting Frontier to run their company correctly.

Hi.
I don’t have Frontier and it seems that it’s a good idea not to get them. A sales rep came to my door and convinced me to go with Frontier. (I had Verizon). We set up an installation time for Feb 18^th at 11:30 am. They never showed. I called Frontier and they said I would have to pay a 50.00 deposit. I asked why is that? and I never got an adequate response. I told them to check with their rep who had placed the order and at first, they told me they had no one by that name working for them. Great. I had to give Frontier their own rep’s tel. #. It didn’t seem to matter that I had cancelled an MRI to accomodate these shmoes. They wasted my day etc.
I figured my brain could wait for an MRI. I was continuously on the phone with Frontier. It was back and forth, back and fourth blah blah. After reading these reviews om Unilocal,I decided not to go with Frontier. If just getting the initial order straight was such a mess, I could only imagine what hell I would be dealing with after the installation. Stick with what you got and tell Frontier to «stick it.»

They are the worst! Not only did they mess up our installation like ten times, their internet connection is awful. They have a crazy long window for when they show up and then there is a ton of miscommunication about if you have to be home or not.

Not only was our internet slow and we had to reset our router almost daily, customer service is a joke. Local office wouldnt cancel my internet, so I had to call the 800 number. 3 phone calls later (and prly 15 transfers telling each person my situation) and almost 3 hours of hold/​arguing and my bill still isn’t fixed. Worst provider i have ever had hands down, by far.

Frontier Internet… in short, terrible! The several reps i spoke with before i signed up weren’t honest with me about the internet speed I would be getting. I take that back, they were after I signed up! So I would say honesty isn’t part of their core values. The speed often changes from slow to slower. I seriously doubt anyone gets even close to the 6 mbs they advertise. My opinion, it’s ok to check your email and do some light surfing, but don’t count on streaming YouTube videos. I’ve been a Frontier customer for almost a month and have already given them a date to disconnect me.

Other than slow internet speeds, they claim to offer online voicemail mailbox list. However, you cannot log into it and there customers service just says there is an issue and to try later.
Well this is day 3, no access online.

My experiences with Frontier span several years. They have been endlessly bad. While the service representatives are always pleasant and seemingly helpful, less than nothing ever gets done as promised.
Dealing with tech support and service was always a 2 –4 hour ordeal and we still didn’t get what we asked for.
We ended our Frontier service as the distance of their «box» to our home was too far and our service was extremely slow. Before cancelling their service I called Frontier 3x to ensure I could retain our frontier email addresses for life (as it’s impossible to let all our contacts know about a change) and I was assured 3x that it wouldn’t be a problem.
Today, it stopped working. When I called, I was told our account was cancelled but not to worry, it would be reinstated. Still waiting. As this is our primary email address and any messages to us are being kicked back as being «non-​existent» — we’re basically screwed until someone at Frontier finally decides to switch our account back on.
I have no idea why it was switched off in the first place. I’ve made 3 calls so far today and no luck.
DO NOT SIGN UP FOR FRONTIER INTERNET SERVICE!!! It’s not about price — it’s about service. They say one thing and do another — consistently. I have no idea how to get this corrected as any promises I receive from their service representatives are never followed through.

Recent update: The guy never did call me back… AND — while on the phone he told me a bunch of personal stuff: Talking about his garden… other customers that have called in, etc. Completely unprofessional.
Also, the DVR box keeps freezing. We’ll switch to our DVR to watch something that recorded and the screen will just go black. We’ll try turning it off and on a couple of times… sometimes that works. Other times we have to go and unplug the device.

In the weeks since I first posted this review, the new modem re-​set itself, requiring yet ANOTHER visit from the service crew, and the connection has started to become unreliable, having left us unserved twice in the last week. Our part of town seems to be served from equipment located on field St. in the city, and anybody with DSL within probably 2 miles of this location is also served by this location. It’s becoming obvious that their entire infrastructure is falling apart. They also have NO CLUE as to how to keep customers satisfied.
**update**
Six months later, we’re having problems AGAIN! This time, the problems are myriad:
1) Through plain laziness, the group all the new customers on 1 circuit, which overloads it, and makes it periodically impossible to log on
2) Connections in the neighborhood are failing
3) The wires that were good for telephone-​only service in the 1950’s are NOT good for DSL today.
4) If you are too far away from the equipment, you will get only a fraction of the speed that you are paying for.
No, it’s obvious that, even in a nice part of town, Frontier has no plans to update their equipment, so I guess it’s going to be Time Warner for me. Oh, happy, happy, joy, joy.
**update #2**
We switched to Time Warner, and suddenly, we have 98% of the speed advertized, as compared to AT BEST 50% with Frontier. It also works EVERY TIME you log on, which was something that was sorely lacking with frontier. But, quite possibly the worst part is this: After numerous problems which resulted in an ‘expidited’ repair, if lucky, 2 DAYS later, when we called to cancel, they shut us off within 5 minutes!
Avoid this service, unless you actually WANT to be treated like crap. You have been warned…
**Final update**
One last word on the subject: When our old contract ended in February, we asked Frontier about what deals we could get, and when none were offered, we asked what would happen if we did NOT opt for a new contract, and they told us that we would continue to be charged the same monthly rate, until the next time they would raise or lower it, so we decided to not renew, suspecting that we would eventually find better service elsewhere.
Today, Frontier sent us a bill for $ 200 for cancellation of a contract which we never authorized. So, not only does their service stink, and their equipment suck, but they LIE as well.

If I could give this company 0 stars, I would.
I was stationed in West Virginia for a bit and where I was there were few options for internet and telephone. When I first arrived there the area was covered and serviced by Verizon. About 2 years later, Frontier bought the rights to the area.
Now, keep in mind that I already had service (including a Verizon issued modem) and when I received notification from Verizon that they had sold the area to Frontier, I called Frontier and asked if I needed to do anything and whether or not I needed to send my Verizon modem back in. They said no. I also asked if I could transfer my automatic bill pay that I had set up with Verizon and they said all that was transferred over and I could keep the Verizon modem and continue using it because it was a promotional package with Verizon.
1. They never actually transferred my auto-​bill pay over, so needless to say I was not real happy when I received a paper bill the following month with a late fee and a threat to shut off my service (which requires a re-​activation fee… imagine that) if I didn’t pay the full amount.
2. I called to speak with a customer service representative and the woman just flat out hung up on me when I questioned why the auto-​bill pay wasn’t transfered over like they initially said.
3. Turns out that they don’t do auto-​bill pay.
4. I finally leave WV and go to cancel my service (October time frame). I asked the customer service rep what I should do with the Verizon modem that I had been using and she said that Frontier would send me a pre-​paid UPS box to ship the modem back to them. I reminded her that it was a Verizon modem and she insisted that when Frontier purchased the region that included all of the hardware as well. I said ok. The box came in early November and I shipped the modem back to them.
5. I don’t receive a final bill until after Thanksgiving with late fees on it and charges through Thanksgiving… even though I called and canceled my service back in October.
6. I called customer service to get this straightened out and they said that there was still a live internet and phone line being distributed to my old house (they renovated the house after I left… no one was there using any internet or phone) and after speaking to multiple «escalation specialists» they finally removed that fee.
7. I received a paper bill just before Christmas with a $ 0.00 balance.
8. In January I received a letter from Frontier threatening to harm my credit by sending a $ 100.30 fee to a collections agency for failure to pay.
9. I called Frontier customer service the very next day and the guy said the charge was for the modem, which I had already sent in. He said that there was a note on my account that there was a credit for the $ 100.30 for the modem and that it just hadn’t processed onto my account yet and I should be receiving another paper bill in a week notifying me of the credit for the modem.
10. The next week I received a paper bill… but still saying I owed the $ 103 for the modem. I called customer service one last time and spoke with their manager who said that the account did NOT actually say I had a credit, but rather a charge for the modem, which they apparently had not received. She told me that she would call to their shipping/​receiving department and find out what was going on and call me back later that day.
Surprise surprise — she never called me back even though I gave her my personal cell number and personal email address.
11. I finally had enough and filed a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
12. 3 Days later a gentlemen from Frontier called me to see if they could «work this issue out» and he looked at my account and wasn’t sure why I was being charged in the first place for a modem that wasn’t Frontier’s to begin with. He said that the Verizon modem was part of a promotional package and that it was mine to keep.
He credited my account and then closed it for good.
Folks, do yourself a favor and stay as far away from this company as possible. It is my hope and desire to see this company go under as quickly as humanly possible. What a worthless service from a worthless organization.

5GB cap on upload/​downloads per month. If you view streaming media from Netflix, Youtube, Google Video, this will impact you.
I’m locked into a bundled deal until June 09. Looks like I will be taking my business elsewhere. Don’t be fooled into thinking the bundle package will save you money. In the long run, I have more expensive long distance and sub-​par internet.