Subscribe
Faster
Frontier Communications customers in selected communities will be able to receive faster Internet speeds by the end of the year because of network upgrades.
In late July, Frontier president and chief operating officer Daniel J. McCarthy announced the company was refocusing investment on improving the broadband experience for its customers, mostly serviced by ADSL.
Frontier’s rural customers primarily receive broadband service at real-world speeds of 768kbps-3Mbps. At least 74% of those customers will be able to sign up for speeds of 6Mbps by the end of the year. In more urban areas, 51% of customers will be able to sign up for 12Mbps, 42% for 20Mbps. Business customers in selected areas can qualify for speeds up to 40Mbps.
The upgrades will not come for free, however. Customers will pay more for higher speeds.
McCarthy
Frontier Max (3Mbps in rural areas, 6Mbps in urban areas) starts at $34.99 per month. Customers can move up to the next speed tier for an additional $10 per month. For example, a Frontier Max customer can move up to Ultra service (10-12Mbps) for $44.99, or Frontier Ultimate (20-25Mbps) for $55.99 per month. Once customers upgrade to a premium speed level, the modem rental fee (up to $6.99 a month) is reportedly eliminated.
Frontier’s upgrades are based on adopting more advanced forms of DSL technology. Most Frontier customers currently receive ADSL service — one of the oldest and slowest forms of DSL. Frontier is managing to boost speeds by bonding multiple DSL connections together, switching to ADSL 2+, or upgrading to VDSL technology. The company is also broadening its fiber middle mile network, which can reduce the length of copper wiring between the company’s central offices and customer homes, improving potential speeds.
Customers who do not change their level of service may still receive some benefits from area upgrades, as actual speeds come closer to matching those advertised by the company.
In some areas, customers will receive telemarketing calls announcing newly available speed options. But customers can also call 1-800-921-81o1 to find out what is currently available.
Stop the Cap! recommends proceeding carefully when considering a plan change. Be sure to ask about all terms and conditions, including installation/upgrade fees, modem rental fee (if any), contract terms, and whether any additional services are required (Frontier may attempt to sell an added-cost online backup service, home networking equipment, or technical support services you may not need).
Other stories of interest:
- Ex-Verizon Customers: Beware of Frontier “Upgrades” That Bring Slower Speeds
- Exclusive: Frontier Communications Has Plans for AT&T U-verse for Landline Customers
- Frontier’s Modem Rental Fee: $7/Month; Wireless Router Fee Now $14.99/Month
- Frontier Communications Boosts DSL Modem Rental Fee to $6.99 Per Month
- Angry Frontier Customers Launch Facebook Group: Fix Frontier DSL Now
The prices and speeds sound good especially to us, who pay $49.99 per month + $6.99 modem fee for 1Mbps service? According to the modem settings, the Max. Theoretical Speed (bits/sec) is 1344000. Actual speed tests from Frontier servers usually range from 400 to 1000. All too often, webpages simply stop loading – in fact, I had to reset the modem to get this website to fully load – the page data download just stops!
A speed test as I write this is as follows:
Download Speed: 458 kbps (57.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 47 kbps (5.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
Tuesday, September 04, 2012 9:42:07 PM
We’re supposed to be happy with this speed, especially since we didn’t have internet access for 56+ hours. Access was restored at approx. 5pm with comparable speeds to this test.
The CEO doesn’t have a clue as to what the broadband speeds rural customers have to put up with and we pay a much higher price than those shown in the article! E-mail complaints to Frontier only result in getting a call from “support” who lead us through the steps to reset the modem. So Frontier’s press releases don’t really excite me much because I’m helping to pay for upgrades to other areas while I don’t even get what I actually pay for. I’ll believe it when I actually see the “ugrade” and resulting speed increases.
P.S.
I have screenshots of Frontier speed tests for nearly every day since January 1, 2012. I might upload them to my Frontier website so others can see the widely the speed varies.
Great posts 1 and all especially Simon. I know it’s pafluinly slow, I moved from 8Mb to 6.5Mb to 2Mb and down to my current 0.90Mb in the space of about 3 years. I moved in to Claydon Road in May 2010Middlemore is stuck in the 90 s regarding broadband speed but to be honest, being a pretty new estate (my part anyhoo), I wasn’t expecting stellar speeds and am willing to forego the FTTC and wait for FTTP. This is not easy as i too work from home but it’ll be worth the wait remember when we all went from 56Kbps up to Broadband, that was worth the wait too.
It would make sense IF a COMMUNICATION COMPANY TOLD ITS CUSTOMERS ABOUT ALL THEIR COMMUNICATION CHOICES WITH THEIR COMPANY!
However, Frontier must not be a Communication company!!
I have never seen a personalized communication on what DSL speeds(and their costs) are possible for my home.
Wouldn’t that be a good first step for Frontier to do?