The Federal Trade Commission is suing Frontier Communications for 'misrepresenting' Internet...

[Shawn Knight]

What just happened? The Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general from six states have filed a lawsuit against Frontier Communications, alleging the Internet service provider did not supply some customers with the speeds promised in their chosen Internet packages. Frontier, however, believes the suit is "without merit."

In the complaint, the FTC alleges that since at least January 1, 2015, Frontier in numerous instances “advertised, marketed, offered or sold DLS Internet service at tiers corresponding to speeds that Frontier did not, and often could not, provide to consumers.”

Furthermore, the FTC alleges that Frontier uses network limits like provisioning to set an upper limit on speed at the time of installation. As a general matter, Frontier does not inform customers of their provisioned speeds or provide a way for users to learn their provisioned speeds, the FTC said.

“In numerous instances, Frontier has provided consumers DSL Internet service at speeds consistently slower than even the provisioned limits set for those consumers, preventing these consumers from ever, or for more than de minimis durations, receiving the maximum speeds Frontier represents these consumers can achieve for the speed tiers to which they subscribe.”

According to the complaint, Frontier provides residential DSL service to approximately 1.3 million consumers across 25 states. Those participating in the lawsuit include Arizona, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina and California.

It is further alleged that Frontier engaged in unfair billing practices, which violates various state laws.

A spokesperson for Frontier told Reuters that the lawsuit was “without merit.”

“Frontier’s DSL Internet speeds have been clearly and accurately articulated, defined and described in the company’s marketing materials and disclosures,” the spokesperson added.

Frontier just last month emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. According to a report from Barron's at the time, the company has a new executive team, less debt, and a plan to upgrade from its old copper-based infrastructure to a speedy fiber optic network.

Image credit panch0 aguirre

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https://www.techspot.com/news/89757-federal-trade-commission-suing-frontier-communications-misrepresenting-internet.html

 

[Scrye74]

They might as well sue every provider. When I call to tell my provider I am getting half or less of the speed I am paying for, they always say I could get "up to" that speed. I wonder what they would do if sold a car that should go "up to" 150mph but only every did 5mph.

 

[wiyosaya]

Speaking as a customer who tried their DSL service several years back, it was dismal. I do not remember the exact speeds, but is was something like 500 Kbps and I think that it was supposed to be in excess of 5 Mbps.

One of their techs came down and told us that the reason it was so dismal was that our house was 30,000 feet from Frontier's switch which, if you know your DSL technical capabilities, is way over the 20,000 foot limit for the best possible speeds. Needless to say, I immediately cancelled the service.

Within the past year or so, I called Frontier about their service for our area and they outright told me that they could not provide their advertised speeds to my home. That was an improvement; however, it would not surprise me if there were still customers that were being told their speeds would be great, and in practice, the speeds were/are crap.

Now, its a moot point for me with FTTH from a different provider. And, BTW, I am getting the advertised speed symmetric 500Mbps. I am a happy camper with the fiber provider.

EDIT: FTTH speed should have been symmetric.

 

[fps4ever]

I work for an ISP company that has to deal with Frontier. The horror stores rivaling the worst of them are pretty much true from customer speeds all the way up to getting backend CO help.

 

[DukeJukem]

Just dig the ground up and put cable/fiber lines in already. How many more eons are we going to have to deal with miniscule things like DSL while watching 4g and 5g become more widlely available in a fraction of the time? Just go do it already. Excluding the shovel, it literally costs nothing to dig up the ground. Get on it.

 

[seeprime]

They might as well sue every provider. When I call to tell my provider I am getting half or less of the speed I am paying for, they always say I could get "up to" that speed. I wonder what they would do if sold a car that should go "up to" 150mph but only every did 5mph.

As a former Frontier DSL customer I can state that the speeds we got were better than what we signed up for (24 down 2 up; actual 30 down 3 up). The reason was we live only 3 blocks from their local office. Customers of my computer shop, when I do onsite service, are getting half at best, if they live more than a couple of miles from the office. The primary reason, as told to me by their local tech installer was that some years back Frontier management ordered all amplifiers to be pulled, in order to save money. Scummy move on Frontiers part. They continued to lie for many years about what the real issues were. A new locally owned fiber to the home company stepped in, installing miles of underground fiber, and now provides 100 up 100 down speeds, for only four dollars more than Frontiers "spotty" service.

 

[kissx]

In upper Illinois same price for 3mb download from then what I have now fiber 200 mb