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More Details on Frontier’s Internet Overcharging Experiment in Mound, Minnesota

Phillip Dampier April 14, 2010 Consumer News, Editorial & Site News, Frontier 12 Comments

Karl Bode over at Broadband Reports offers an additional detail on Frontier’s Internet Overcharging experiment which is now being tested in Minnesota:

Late last week, someone familiar with business operations at Frontier Communications indicated to Broadband Reports that the company was going to begin testing a new capping scheme for heavy users. “Just wanted to let you know that Frontier is sending out letters to the top 50 bandwidth users in Mound Minnesota,” said the individual.

The city of Mound, a suburb located 19 miles to the west of Minneapolis/St. Paul, is home to 9,800 residents.  Mound is the birthplace of the Tonka truck, named after Lake Minnetonka, which surrounds Mound.  Residents of Hennepin County have watched their local phone company change hands several times over the years from Contel to GTE of Minnesota to Verizon to Citizens Telecommunications Company of Minnesota, which does business as Frontier Communications. Frontier has served this part of Minnesota since the end of August, 2000.

Hanus

For a community aggressively pursuing a downtown revitalization and redevelopment program designed to make the community attractive to new residents and businesses, news that the local DSL provider is now going to limit broadband usage and overcharge those who exceed their arbitrary limits is not good.

Among city officials, Mayor Mark Hanus and councilman David Osmek are both Frontier broadband customers.  The city is proud to stream its regular city council meetings online, something Frontier DSL customers will now have to avoid if they want to preserve as much of their 5GB monthly usage allowance as possible.

Action Alert and Alternatives for Mound, Minnesota

Mound City Hall (courtesy: City of Mound)

For Mound residents who do not want to be forced to limit their broadband activities to the ridiculously low 5GB allowance Frontier is now enforcing, we recommend these actions:

1) Call Frontier Communications at 1-800-921-8101 and tell them you will not keep your Frontier broadband service with a usage cap and you are prepared to take your business elsewhere immediately if they do not rescind their “experiment.”  If they attempt to charge you an early termination fee or cancellation fee if you do decide to cancel, let us know through the Contact link at the top of the page or in the comments attached to this article.

2) Contact your local media — the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Lakeshore Weekly News, The Laker, local news radio and television stations and let them know you think they should be covering this story and its potential impact on the local economy in Mound.

3) Your best alternative broadband provider is cable operator Mediacom which does not have a usage limitation on their broadband accounts.  Their speeds and pricing are also much better, based on Frontier’s advertised pricing of  “as low as” $49.99 a month for Frontier High-Speed Internet Max 3Mbps service or “prices starting at” $39.99 a month for Frontier High-Speed Internet Lite 768kps service.

Mediacom offers 3, 12 and 20Mbps broadband service in Mound.  Here are the details:

For New Mediacom customers:

Mediacom offers soon-to-be-ex Frontier customers free standard installation and a 12-month introductory offer for 12/1Mbps service for $49.95 a month.  Telephone service is also available through Mediacom with a bundled service discount.  Customers looking for a budget broadband alternative can sign up for 3Mbps service for $29.95 a month if they also take digital cable or digital phone.  For customers looking for the highest speeds, Mediacom offers 20/2Mbps service for $59.95 a month if you also get digital cable or phone service.

Mediacom is Mound's incumbent cable company

For Current Mediacom Non-Broadband customers:

If you have cable from Mediacom but use Frontier for broadband, you can switch to Mediacom cable modem service and obtain special discounts.  Add Mediacom’s 12/1Mbps service to your existing cable TV account for $19.95 a month for 12 months, or 20/2Mbps service for $59.95 a month for 12 months.  Installation is done by the customer.

Questions about Mediacom service in Mound can be directed to 1-800-332-0245.  Mediacom’s local offices in and around Mound are at:

Waseca 1504 2nd St SE Waseca, MN 56093 800-332-0245 8:00AM TO 5:00PM / MONDAY – FRIDAY / (CLOSED EVERY WEDNESDAY 9-10AM)
Mound 2381 Wilshire Blvd Mound, MN 55364 800-332-0245 8:00AM to 5:00PM / Monday – Friday (Closed 12 – 1PM Daily & Every Wednesday 9-10AM)
Chanhassen 1670 Lake Drive West Chanhassen, MN 55317 800-332-0245 8:00AM to 5:00PM Monday-Friday *Closed Noon – 1:00PM (Closed Every Wednesday 9-10AM)

4) Customers who are absolutely stuck with Frontier broadband who anticipate approaching or exceeding the 100/250GB usage levels should explore a business broadband account with Frontier.  Although pricing may vary from city to city, residents of Rochester who confronted the original effort to impose a 5GB usage cap in western New York found business account DSL service was not much more expensive than residential service, and carried no usage limitations.  Pricing is likely to be less than the punitive rates Frontier wants to charge residential customers for exceeding their allowances.

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Ian L
14 years ago

FYI, Frontier doesn’t have a 5GB cap in this case per se. It’s just what the average user uses. Below are their pricing tiers:

0-100 GB – $50
101-250 GB – $100
251+ GB (unlimited) – $250

So pricing varies on the limited-tier accounts between 40¢ and $1 per GB.

Frontier’s pricing is a bad deal all around, but if you didn’t read the article closely you’d think that Frontier wanted $100 for users between 5GB and 100GB, though that isn’t the case.

Ian L
14 years ago

DIdn’t mean to insinuate that either article did. However some people are for whatever reason getting the idea.

The fact is that currently nothing happens after you hit 5GB.

Smith6612
Smith6612
14 years ago

We all saw this coming, right? Of course, it seems as though Frontier didn’t learn about what happened in Rochester with Time Warner and the little experiment they tried to run.

PreventCAPS
PreventCAPS
14 years ago
Reply to  Smith6612

Note that they appear to be targeting Minnesota, not Rochester, NY. Some exec somewhere likely thought that Rochester’s reaction was an abnormality and so they should try it elsewhere with great optimisim.

Smith6612
Smith6612
14 years ago
Reply to  PreventCAPS

I figured that. I’m well aware of that fact of course 🙂 .

Jason
Jason
14 years ago

How is this not even illegal or considered deceptive advertising? As far as I can see their website service offers don’t mention any limits other than the lowest flat monthly fee.

Even after you get signed up, assuming you read the user agreement, has it even been updated with their “trial” to clearly state the $100 and $250 monthly charges if you exceed the 5GB limit now?

Tim
Tim
14 years ago

Seriously, what kind of stuff are these guys smoking? Must be some good stuff…

Michael Chaney
14 years ago

“…Frontier is sending out letters to the top 50 bandwidth users…”

So I guess if you’re #51 on the list, then you’re not an abusive data hog, regardless of how much data #51 uses. Just another arbitrary cutoff point that really does nothing to address any possible congestion.

Bob in Illinois
Bob in Illinois
14 years ago

Frontier’s MyFiTV made me do it!!
http://www.myfitv.com/

Honest, officer!!

Maggie W wanted me to watch MyFiTV(at least in February 2010, she did!!)
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=66508&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1385331&highlight=

Oh, my bad, I was actually being sent by MyFiTV to real video sites like Hulu, CBS, etc…..

crabby user
crabby user
14 years ago

Frontier’s stated pricing is as dishonest as their new pricing experiment. To get that $49.99 internet service, one must also subscribe to a voice line.
Frontier will not sell internet service as a stand alone product.
Total cost including a voice landline, a thing my household has not used since 1999= $87.80 per month.

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