Frontier Communications customer service representatives are now telling Frontier customers calling to inquire about the usage cap and/or to cancel service that:

• “I don’t know anything about that.   Where did you hear this?”
• “We aren’t actually doing that.”
• “Oh, that is just a guideline. We are not enforcing any cap at this time.”
• “I think you are talking about Road Runner, not our service.”

These are actual responses from customer service representatives at Frontier when queried about the 5GB usage cap being implemented across all of Frontier’s service areas.

It comes as no surprise that many Frontier representatives know nothing about the usage cap.   A lot of people working at Frontier had no idea.    An insider  tells me many of the technical support people learned about it only when customers asked, and they discovered the web page with the change.

In a new development today, I have learned that Frontier may also have a bandwidth problem created by lack of capacity.   Some service areas have experienced slow connections not due to line quality, but because there is a growing bottleneck in Frontier’s backbone.   As I reported earlier, Frontier’s investment in its infrastructure has not exactly been breathtaking in real dollars.   When a company is unwilling to make suitable investments to grow its business, the only other alternative is to reduce demand for the resources that exist today.   A 5GB cap does that.

In urban areas where competition exists, Frontier will lose a considerable number of customers once they discover the cap.   But in many rural areas where cable television is not available, it’s DSL from Frontier or a satellite company’s broadband service, which  can be expensive and  have not seen positive reviews.

Regardless of whether Frontier is currently enforcing their 5GB cap, as long as that change in language exists in their terms and conditions, it is your responsibility as a customer to take the steps mentioned in an earlier article to opt-out or cancel service within the 30 day window of opportunity provided under their contract.   If you simply trust their word they are not enforcing the cap, and that 30 days expires, if you are under one of those multi-year contracts, you will have no recourse to terminate service without incurring a cancellation fee because you will  have accepted the cap by default by not protecting your rights and opting out.

In another matter, I have invited Frontier to respond to several questions posed to them about the 5GB usage cap and its reasoning.   As of now, they have chosen not to respond.   I will be happy to provide their side of the story, in their own words, if it is forthcoming.