Overall Grade for Frontier® Fiber Internet
Currently, my grade for the overall experience with Frontier Communication service and support is:
GRADE: A
Grade breakdown: FiOS 500/500 Internet service itself (speed, latency, reliability): A, Frontier customer service: B. This grade will change as my Frontier saga continues.
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Frontier Fiber Internet (FiOS) 500/500 in Lantana, TX
- 2024-06-23: Still with Frontier 500/500 and still happy. I called them and they were able to lower my price for 500/500 in order to be competitive with the local cable company offerings so I was quite pleased with that so I am upping their grade from A- to A. Looks like they changed the name again and now call it Frontier® Fiber Internet.
- 2023-09-06: Still with Frontier and still happy. Even though the local cable company has been barraging me with cheaper (and slower) offers in the mail, I have no intent of switching to cable from fiber. I still have 500/500 and it is more than I really need.
- 2022-08-04: I received an email today that said: Happy Frontier-versary!. Yes, it has indeed been almost 3 years now. Aside from the initial missed installation no-show, I've been pretty happy with the service and I'm still at 500/500 and paying less than $45/month after all taxes and fees.
- 2020-11-18: I received an email today that said: FiOS by Frontier is now Frontier FiberOptic. New name. Same blazing-fast fiber-optic service. UPDATE 2023-09-06: Looks like they don't use "FiberOptic" anymore; now it's just Frontier Fiber.
- 2019-07-31: Temporarily removing my fraud alert with Experian was going to be a hassle to I called back to see what they could do and they asked me 4 security questions which I was able to answer (although one was quite tricky). Anyway, I was able to get scheduled for an install date on August 8, 2019. Upgrading the grade from "B" to "B+".
- 2019-07-30: On July 30, 2019 I received a mailer advertising Frontier's new 500/500 Internet for $39.99/month. This really caught my eye because these are some series speeds for not a lot of money and with fiber no less. It's about time Frontier stepped up their game. I've been enjoying Astound (previously Grande) Communications's gigabit Internet service (Power 1000) but it's delivered over co-ax and the upload speed is only 50 Mbps, plus it is more expensive.
- 2019-07-30: I decided to take a chance and sign-up. I tried to sign-up online. They wanted my birthday and social security number to do a credit check. I went ahead and gave it to them even though I generally despise giving that information out (though there have been so many data breaches that it's probably out there anyway). They came back with 4 identity verification questions which I answered (I have a fraud alert on my credit profile). I waited then it took me back to where I enter my birthday and social security number. Eventually it told me "Based on information provided, this order cannot be processed online because Frontier was unable to verify your identity". I'm downrating the grade from "A" to be due to this experience. I'm not trying to get a multi-thousand dollar loan here.
- 2019-07-30: I next attempted to call them to sign-up (855-888-6538) and talked to someone named Michael Sebastian who was helpful but seemed to have difficulty (at first) locating me at my address. Eventually he did provide a path for me to sign-up. Due to the fraud alert on my credit, I could either do a lot of paperwork and get something notarized or I could temporarily remove the fraud alert on my account then call back. A bit of a hassle for sure. Oh, he did get my order going and I told him to take off the 12 months of free MULTI-DEVICE SECURITY (because after 12 months it costs money unless you cancel and I don't want it nor do I want to have to cancel it later). Stay tuned to see what happens next.
The Install
- Scheduled for August 8, 2019, 9 AM to 1 PM (attempt #1).
- Install Day 2019-08-08: It's install day (2019-08-08) and I'm waiting for the installer... now about 1 hour left until the given arrival window closes. Will he/she make it??? Now only 30 minutes left to arrive on-time. And now.... they're officially a no-show during their 4 hour given time frame (9 AM to 1 PM).... now the question is... will they show up late? It's now about 1.5 hours past the window and no one has even called to let me know what's going on so I'm downgrading my Frontier experience rating a full letter grade from B+ to C+. UPDATE: Still no show or phone call and it's almost 5:30 PM.
- UPDATE 2019-08-09: They never came and never called on the install day. If they don't contact me soon then I will be further dropping their grade.
- UPDATE 2019-08-09: Amy from Frontier called me around 2:25 PM and apologized for what happened and nobody notifying me. She said something about my order being kicked to engineering because the splitters in the area could only handle up to 300 but now "the work is done" and my install can proceed. My install is now scheduled for August 21, 2019 which was the soonest. If an earlier time becomes available then she is suppose to schedule it and let me know. Of an interesting note, another Lantana resident had the same original install date and time as me and an installer (Ben) came to his house and installed his service as scheduled. So far he has indicated to me that he is happy with it and getting the advertised speeds.
- Scheduled for August 21, 2019, 9 AM to 1 PM (attempt #2).
- UPDATE 2019-08-21: It's install day (try #2)... will Frontier show up this time? It's about 11 AM now.... no show, call, or text message so far but they still have about 2 hours left in the window. If they don't show this time then their grade is going straight to an F (about 1 hour left in the appointment window as I write this). It's now past 1 PM and no one showed up or called or texted so I'm changing the grade from C+ to F.
- UPDATE 2019-08-21 (#2): Josh arrived late at 1:15 PM (15 minutes late but no big deal although a call or other communication that he was coming would have been nice). I was genuinely surprised because I expected it was going to be another no-show. Installing now and will update later. UPDATE: It went well! The installer, Josh, was very nice and was done by 1:55 PM (he was only here about 40 minutes). He replaced my old box (that could only go up to about 75 Mbps or maybe a little higher) and used the pre-existing fiber cable and pre-existing ethernet cable. After Josh activated my new service I plugged the ethernet cable into my pfSense router and it was soon operating with FiOS. A quick speed test showed that I was getting slightly over 500/500 speeds. Ping time was great. This is a massive improvement in ping time and upload speed. Download speed is slower than what I had before but it's still over 500 megabits so I can't complain. Changing the grade to a B (would have been an A if the first install date wasn't missed w/o any notification). Now to call Grande (now Astound) and cancel my cable Internet.
Speed
The below is with Grande (now Astound) Power 1000 (DOCSIS 3.1 gigabit cable w/50 Mbps upstream) shortly before I switched to FiOS:
The below is with Frontier FiOS 500/500 (the very first test I did so not a cherry-picked test out of many):
NOTE: Tests performed using a wired gigabit Ethernet connection with my own pfSense router.
Conclusion: Download speeds are slower with FiOS (as expected) but both ping time and upload speed are MUCH better. Typing on a console connected to my remote Linux server is so responsive that it feels like it is sitting right next to me on a local network. Accessing files on the server is also noticeably quicker (in terms of response/latency). So far I'm very pleased. No complaints from the family (although I don't think they can tell the difference vs. what we had before). Hopefully they have a great connection to Netflix and other streaming services. If they don't then it will definitely be posted here (so far no problems)!
UPDATE 2019-09-09: I have streamed Netflix without issue but my wife has run into "insufficient bandwidth" at least two times streaming from Amazon (with a TiVo Mini VOW). I do not recall this issue ever happening with Grande (now Astound) but some quick research indicates this may be an Amazon issue, and some people claim that using an Amazon Fire TV Stick fixes the problem. UPDATE 2019-09-14: Rebooted the TiVo VOX a few days ago and my wife reports no problems since.
Reliability
- UPDATE 2022-10-13: Had an early morning outage (my backup connection took over) from about 1:20 AM to 2:30 AM. Probably some early morning maintenance.
- UPDATE 2022-09-15: Had a reasonably "large" outage today, which I believe was due to a fiber cut due to construction. Internet access was down from about 9:07 AM to about 5:05 PM (about 8 hours). Can't really blame Frontier if a construction crew cuts their fiber. Fortunately my backup system (with a great neighbor's Internet access who setup a guest WiFi network for me) got a good test and worked well especially after some tweaks to improve the stability of the wireless connection.
- UPDATE 2022-08-03: Briefly (maybe 15-30 minutes) went out early this morning while I was streaming video then it came back up and I got a new IP address. I suspect some early morning maintenance. Annoying but I understand the need to do this every now and then. Reliability overall has continued to be excellent.
- UPDATE 2022-01-13: Frontier Internet went down for a few hours around the end of last year (December 29, 2021) and many people around me were affected. I think there was a fiber cut but not sure. I understand these things happen from time to time. When it came back up I got a new IP address. Other than that it's been very reliable.
- UPDATE 2021-10-17: Reliability has been excellent for the past few months.
- UPDATE 2020-08-17: It's been over six months since the January outage and there have been no further significant outages to report. I'm upping the reliability rating from A- to A.
- UPDATE 2020-01-10: Reliability was excellent (A+) until Thursday 2020-01-09 at about 9 AM when I suffered a 28 hour outage (rebooting the ONT box and router did not help). Because I use the Internet for work and planned on getting a lot of this done that day, this greatly affected my productivity and gave me some stress because I did not know how long it would be until I could get it restored (especially with Frontier's reputation). The good news is that on 2020-01-09 they were able to schedule a tech visit the next morning from 8 AM to 12 PM. The same tech that installed my original service (Josh) showed up after 12 PM but at least someone showed up (I was very concerned that no one would show up). He said (paraphrasing here) that someone was probably updating, upgrading, or re-organizing the fiber infrastructure and disconnected my fiber line but did not reconnect it (they left it "parked" as if it were an used line), so I assume it was an easy fix to reconnect my fiber line once the problem was discovered. The outage also caused my IP address to change for the first time, which caused me to have to spend more time updating my systems and servers for the new IP ("normal" customers would normally not have to deal with extra configuration for IP address changes). Unfortunately I have to knock the service grade down from A+ to A- because of this outage.
- It was very reliable back in the day when I had Verizon FiOS (but at much slower speeds and with an older model ONT box that couldn't handle 500/500).
- UPDATE 2019-08-21: No down time to report yet (but I just had it installed today).
Billing
- UPDATE 2022-09-02: I lost part of my discount so my bill has gone up to $46.98/month. If I am reading the bill correctly, I will lose my $10/month discount in January 2023. Still can't complain. Less than $50 a month for fiber Internet (even if it is "just" 500/500 and not gigabit) is still a good deal and still beats the cable competitor (Astound) on price and speed (and of course fiber is superior to cable).
- UPDATE 2022-01-13: Just got an email that they are extending my promotion for 12 more months (through Jan 2023). It looks like the $10/month discount will be staying for awhile longer. Nice. Can't complain continuing to get 500/500 Internet for $43.98/month.
- UPDATE 2021-10-17: It's been awhile since the last update. The "Internet Infrastructure Surcharge" was adjusted on my account back to the old $3.99 price and I was credited for when they charged me the higher fee on one of the bills. Also, my $10/month discount was extended to 2022-01-30 and I have no idea why but I'm not going to complain. Bottom line is that lately I've been paying $43.98/month (total cost) for 500/500 service which is a great deal if you ask me.
- UPDATE 2021-02-26: I just got an email from Frontier: "In February, an increase in the Internet Infrastructure Surcharge was applied to your account in error. We have corrected the error and credited your account. Your next bill will reflect these changes. We regret the inconvenience." So we'll see what happens on the next bill.
- UPDATE 2021-02-25: I just received notification of a new bill. The total is now $46.98 which is $39.99 plus a $6.99 "Internet Infrastructure Surcharge". Still a good deal for 500/500 fiber service but I really do not like how they can just jack up the extra fees (which should be included in the base price to begin with) any time they want especially when I am still on a 2-year contract. In fact, their website even said "For customers currently with a promotional rate for a specified term, the Internet Infrastructure surcharge increase does not apply until the promotional rate expires."
- UPDATE 2020-12-28: I suppose it should not be surprising that the router fee did not "disappear" like I was told that it would. On my bill for 12/23/20 to 1/22/21 it's still there... or is it? ... because I just noticed that it changed from "WiFi Router" to "WiFi Router Service", so perhaps the "WiFi Router" fee is indeed gone, but it has been replaced with a "WiFi Router Service" fee. Trying to chat online gets me "Chat is currently unavailable". UPDATE: I was able to connect to someone via chat a few hours later and I asked why the $10 fee was showing up on my latest bill. I told them I was not using their router and they offered to "process a removal for this fee". I asked if the removal would affect my current bill and all future bills and they said I will no longer see any fee about it. I asked how much it would be to upgrade to gigabit and they said $74.99/month plus taxes. I asked about it not being $10 more a month (which I thought it was based on what I've heard from others) and they said that was available too but they suggested "the Simply FiOS Gig Service $74.99 per month before taxes so you will get the provisioned speed." I asked "So I won't get the provisioned speed for an additional $10?" They said "It will be less than 80% for the Gig service speed." I asked "What speed is it?" They said "That's 940/880 Mbps". I asked "And what speed is the $74.99 per month speed?" They said "Simply FiOS Gig Service $74.99 , that's 940/880 Mbps. The additional $10 is less than 80% for 940/880M. If you want, I can still process it for the additional $10." So I was totally confused. Anyway, I said I would think about it and that I wanted to make sure the router fee came off first while everything else stayed the same. Given that the last person said the fee would come off when it didn't, it's hard to believe what they say.
- UPDATE 2020-12-19: I did an online chat to return Frontier's router because I've had it since installation (because I had to pay for it whether I used it or not) and a new law is going into effect on 2020-12-20 that says ISPs can't charge for equipment that customers don't use. See Law banning “rental” fees for customer-owned routers takes effect Sunday. I was told that their system says no router was ever provisioned and it shows that I have no returnable equipment. So I guess that is good because I don't have to actually return anything. They also said that "the router fee will be removed once the law will take effect tomorrow 12/20/2020". So we'll see if that actually happens and a new fee to compensate doesn't suddenly appear on my bill. If the fee is removed, the 500/500 price becomes an even better deal when it's $10 cheaper per month. I do wonder what it will go up to when my 24 month price and $10/month discount expires. If I only lose the $10/month discount and the price only goes up $10/month then that will still be quite reasonable, especially with the $10/month router fee (supposedly) going away.
- UPDATE 2020-08-17: I called to cancel the free "Frontier Secure Computer Security" product a few weeks ago and it actually went surprising well. I wasn't using this product and it was only free for the first 12 months. My bill actually went down a little, probably because I was paying tax on it and the credit I was getting to pay for the service was not crediting me for tax. I'm upping the customer service rating from C to B.
- UPDATE 2020-06-25: I am paying about $10 a month for a "WiFi Router" which I don't use. There is a law that is suppose to ban charging for equipment that is not used but the anti-consumer FCC pushed the effective date of this law back until December 20, 2020 (from June 20, 2020). See Frontier users must pay “rental” fee for equipment they own until December. Looks like I'll be paying the extra $10/month through this date (but I also wonder if they will invent a new fee to make up for not being able to charge $10/month anymore).
- UPDATE 2019-11-30: I received the VISA reward card (faster than expected). I had to go through some "hoops" to activate it and set a PIN (all online). The whole process of getting this reward card is not difficult but it does seem awfully inefficient and unnecessarily time-consuming to go through all the steps. Anyway, it worked and I immediately used the card's full balance which was immediately reflected on the card services screen that lets you track your card activity.
- UPDATE 2020-06-25: When I originally ordered, there was 12 months of "Frontier Secure Computer Security" included for free which I thought I wouldn't use. Normally this runs $5.99/month. I haven't used it nor do I want to start paying for it after 12 months so I called to take this off my account before I start having to actually pay for something I don't use (like having to pay the router fee for a router I don't use). The representative was very friendly and took it off my account and assured me that it would not affect my contract, price, or anything else other than simply removing "Frontier Secure Computer Security". If there are any issues or surprises with the removal of this then I will definitely update this page!
- UPDATE 2019-11-21: I received an email to claim the $100 VISA Reward Card. A claim number came in an email with subject "Your Visa Reward Card from Frontier is ready". I immediately claimed the reward. Claiming the reward was quick and easy however there was some weird "agreement" regarding a 1-year term I had to agree to even though I'm suppose to be on a 2-year term so I'm not exactly sure what that was about but I don't think it's significant. Anyway, it looks like the next step is to just wait for the card to arrive in the mail (another 3-4 weeks according to the email).
- UPDATE 2019-11-19: I received the free year of Amazon Prime this morning. A redemption code came in an email with subject "Amazon Prime Subscriber Key". I immediately used it and it added 12 months to my existing Amazon Prime subscription.
- UPDATE 2019-09-30: I received the paper bill in the mail. Monthly charge was $55.94 as expected. The breakdown of "TAXES AND OTHER CHARGES" is $3.99 for an "Internet Infrastructure Surcharge" (as expected), $0.14 for "Denton Local Sales Tax", and $1.82 for "TX State Sales Tax".
- UPDATE 2019-09-25: I received another email from Frontier today that says "Your Bill Is Now Available - Your bill of $55.94 is due on October 17, and will be processed using your Auto Pay settings on file. We encourage you to sign in to your Frontier online account to view your bill as well as any important regulatory customer notices". So according to that it seems like everything is in order including the correct due date.
- UPDATE 2019-09-24: I just got my 2nd bill for 2019-09-23 to 2019-10-22. I went online and it says my current balance is $55.94 and "New Charges Due Date Sep 16, 2019" which doesn't make any sense. When I look at the current bill it shows the expected $39.99 + $10 as the "TOTAL MONTHLY SERVICE CHARGES". Taxes and other charges amount to $5.95. The total is $55.94 so I'd say that is a pretty good price for 500/500 fiber Internet service. I set up Auto Pay and it says "Your Visa ending in XXXX will be charged 7 day(s) before your due date" but the due date of "Sep 16, 2019" is in the past. Maybe it didn't update yet since the bill was just generated? Hopefully I will get another bill in the mail that will have a due date that makes sense.
- UPDATE 2019-08-26: I went online and saw my first bill for $150.23 (which I immediately paid). Fortunately there were no big surprises. The one-time installation part of the bill was $75 ("High Speed Internet Installation") + $9.99 ("Equipment Delivery and Handling Fee"). The monthly service charge was $39.99 ("FiOS Internet") + $10 ("WiFi Router"). As stated elsewhere, they insist on the $10/month router fee whether you use their router or not (I do not use it). There was also a partial month charge for 2 days for $2.67 ("FiOS Internet 08/21-08/22") + $0.67 ("WiFi Router 08/21-08/22"). Finally there was also $11.91 worth of "State Taxes and Other Charges" ($0.59 for "Denton Local Sales Tax", $7.33 for "TX State Sales Tax" and $3.99 for an "Internet Infrastructure Surcharge"). The Amazon Prime offer and $100 gift card offer were also mentioned on the bill so that is good. "Frontier Secure Computer Security" is also included and suppose to be free through 2020-07-30 but I don't plan on using it and plan to cancel it before they start charging me for it (I think it will be $5.99/month if they start charging for it). The bill mentions a $10 discount through 2021-07-30 which makes the 500/500 plan $39.99/month. That price is suppose to be locked in for 2 years (although 2021-07-30 is slightly less than two years from my install date). After 2 years I think the price goes to $49.99/month which is still not bad at all for 500/500 but I'm sure the price could change in the next two years.
- UPDATE 2019-08-24: I haven't had the service long but so far I'm very pleased with the Internet service, the speed, and the low latency. I'm still waiting for my first bill and hoping it's what I expect. I can now log into their billing/payment system and see my bills but there are none yet. I know the first bill is going to be a "big one" with installation, a full month of service, and a partial month of service.
- UPDATE 2019-08-04: I contacted Frontier on the Frontier Direct forum on DSLReports and asked them to remove the router rental fee (because I will be using my own) and the "Frontier Secure Computer Security" that I don't want. Someone named Matt replied a few hours later and told me that the "WiFi Router Rental Fee is not optional" (as expected). They said they could have an account manager look at the other item and requested more information about my account so I provided it.
Pre-Install Notes/Thoughts
- Will they get it right? This scares me the most. Frontier is not known for good customer service and billing. I'm hoping that the billing problems will be greatly reduced if I just stick to Internet and nothing else (which is what I usually get anyway since I cut the cord many years ago and use Ooma for phone service).
- From my research, the $39.99/month is deceptive and turns into $39.99 + $10 mandatory router fee (even if you use your own router) + $3.99 "Internet Infrastructure Surcharge" fee + local taxes ($53.98 + tax). Only the $39.99 part is locked in. When all is said and done I think it turns into just less than $60/month, which is still less than what I'm paying for Grande (now Astound) gigabit (but remember the upload speed is only 50 Mbps with Grande but 500 Mbps with FiOS - 10 times faster). I do find it deceptive that they can get away with advertising $39.99 when it turns into almost $60 after they add required fees and taxes.
- There's also a one-time $75 installation fee and $9.99 equipment delivery/handling fee (total of $84.99). I already have an ONT box on my house from years ago when I had Verizon FiOS but it will need to be upgraded/replaced to a new box to support 500/500 because it only has a 100 Mbps ethernet port on it (per my understanding). I already have an ethernet cable attached to the old ONT box that should still work and will be used to connect the ONT box straight to my pfSense router.
- It might also be worth mentioning here that there's a $9.99 disconnection fee when you cancel service.
- I plan to sign-up for the 2 year contract to lock the price in and get one your of Amazon Prime (a $119 value) and a $100 Visa Reward Card. Signing up for this adds a $200 termination fee which is unfortunate but understandable. They do give you the choice to not sign a 2 year contract but I'm going to take the chance. I do believe the service will be really good if I can get it set up properly and the billing correct. If not then I can cancel and go back to Grande (now Astound) cable Internet. If I keep the service for 3 months then I should get the Amazon Prime and $100 reward card which will more than cover the termination fee. Note that you should be able to extend a current Amazon Prime subscription with their offer (I currently subscribe to Amazon Prime so that is worth $120 right there). Of course this presents another potential problem if the reward card and Amazon Prime membership never come.
- It looks like there is a "Frontier Secure Computer Security" product that is free for 12 months and that you can cancel. I don't want this. When I talked to someone at Frontier about this on July 30th, they said they took it off the order but... surprise surprise (sarcasm)... it doesn't seem like it was taken off. It looks like I will be trying to cancel it in the future before they start charging for it. I wish they had asked or confirmed if I wanted this. It looks like just another opportunity to add another service/fee.
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