Recent Headlines
October 2, 2009
Be Sure to Read Part One: Astroturf Overload — Broadband for America = One Giant Industry Front Group for an important introduction to what this super-sized industry front group is all about. Members of Broadband for America Red: A company or group actively engaging in anti-consumer lobbying, opposes Net Neutrality, supports Internet Overcharging, belongs to […]
October 2, 2009
Astroturf: One of the underhanded tactics increasingly being used by telecom companies is “Astroturf lobbying” – creating front groups that try to mimic true grassroots, but that are all about corporate money, not citizen power. Astroturf lobbying is hardly a new approach. Senator Lloyd Bentsen is credited with coining the term in the 1980s to […]
September 27, 2009
Hong Kong remains bullish on broadband. Despite the economic downturn, City Telecom continues to invest millions in constructing one of Hong Kong’s largest fiber optic broadband networks, providing fiber to the home connections to residents. City Telecom’s HK Broadband service relies on an all-fiber optic network, and has been dubbed “the Verizon FiOS of Hong […]
September 23, 2009
BendBroadband, a small provider serving central Oregon, breathlessly announced the imminent launch of new higher speed broadband service for its customers after completing an upgrade to DOCSIS 3. Along with the launch announcement came a new logo of a sprinting dog the company attaches its new tagline to: “We’re the local dog. We better be […]
September 23, 2009
Stop the Cap! reader Rick has been educating me about some of the new-found aggression by Shaw Communications, one of western Canada’s largest telecommunications companies, in expanding its business reach across Canada. Woe to those who get in the way. Novus Entertainment is already familiar with this story. As Stop the Cap! reported previously, Shaw […]
September 22, 2009
The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, the Canadian equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, may be forced to consider American broadband policy before defining Net Neutrality and its role in Canadian broadband, according to an article published today in The Globe & Mail. [FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s] proposal – to codify and enforce some […]
September 21, 2009
In March 2000, two cable magnates sat down for the cable industry equivalent of My Dinner With Andre. Fine wine, beautiful table linens, an exquisite meal, and a Monopoly board with pieces swapped back and forth representing hundreds of thousands of Canadian consumers. Ted Rogers and Jim Shaw drew a line on the western Ontario […]
September 11, 2009
Just like FairPoint Communications, the Towering Inferno of phone companies haunting New England, Frontier Communications is making a whole lot of promises to state regulators and consumers, if they’ll only support the deal to transfer ownership of phone service from Verizon to them. This time, Frontier is issuing a self-serving press release touting their investment […]
September 7, 2009
I see it took all of five minutes for George Ou and his friends at Digital Society to be swayed by the tunnel vision myopia of last week’s latest effort to justify Internet Overcharging schemes. Until recently, I’ve always rationalized my distain for smaller usage caps by ignoring the fact that I’m being subsidized by […]
September 1, 2009
In 2007, we took our first major trip away from western New York in 20 years and spent two weeks an hour away from Calgary, Alberta. After two weeks in Kananaskis Country, Banff, Calgary, and other spots all over southern Alberta, we came away with the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Good Alberta […]
August 31, 2009
A federal appeals court in Washington has struck down, for a second time, a rulemaking by the Federal Communications Commission to limit the size of the nation’s largest cable operators to 30% of the nation’s pay television marketplace, calling the rule “arbitrary and capricious.” The 30% rule, designed to keep no single company from controlling […]
August 27, 2009
Less than half of Americans surveyed by PC Magazine report they are very satisfied with the broadband speed delivered by their Internet service provider. PC Magazine released a comprehensive study this month on speed, provider satisfaction, and consumer opinions about the state of broadband in their community. The publisher sampled more than 17,000 participants, checking […]
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Netflix today released statistics showing Frontier Communications was America’s worst ranked wired Internet Service Provider, ranking at the bottom for quality and speed when using Netflix’s streamed content.
I had to laugh to myself when I looked at the chart for Netflix rankings on these ISPs. With Xplornet, I could never even consider subscribing to Netflix. It’s not even as good as the lowest ranked US provider. Even though I subscribe to a 1.5 Mbps service, I average less than half of that most of the time. At least I will never be affected by UBB on this ISP (although they’ll probably find a way; like charging for every burst peak). Wireless “broadband”. Uh huh. It’s also interesting that the Eastern Ontario Regional Broadband Network, set to roll… Read more »
I have xplornet and netflix and the I have no problem it works great normally about 10 secs in it loads for about 10-30 secs then it plays fine the rest of the way. Try the free trail you might be suprised!
If you are a customer of Frontier communications, Netflix is the least of your problems. I have trouble watching youtube videos or simple movie trailers. My current download speed is 0.66 mbps. Upload speed is 0.13mbps. While customer service is friendly by phone, be prepared to spend a WEEK OR TWO awaiting a repair to your line or DSL connection.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY! DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY AND GET TIED INTO A CONTRACT WITH THESE PEOPLE, YOU WILL REGRET IT.
Yes, we’ve well-covered the many challenges of Frontier Communications. We live in their largest service area, and I finally said buh-bye in February to my landline with them. Frontier needs to pay more attention to investing in a robust broadband network than worrying about their dividend payout every quarter. If your customers are going elsewhere, and they are, everyone knows where the slow bleed eventually takes you.
You decide: Was switched from Verizon to Frontier a few months ago. Service for dsl just randomly cuts out, and we are kicked off internet. Phoned Frontier and they sent a rep who told us our modem is fine, hardware is fine, but we have our internet service bandwidth set at too high a speed, and we would have to request to change our plan to a lessor speed. Never heard of such a thing, but sounds like a bogus way to get us to renew a contract. Not going to do it, and moving soon. After, will not ever… Read more »
if you log into your front….durrr supplied modem 192.168.2.1 , and have a look at stats/system logging and look for line, 0000-00-00 00:01:47 E |DSL Link up 1 US 448 DS 3712 ). Upload speed/US 448kbps my Download Speed/DS 3.7mbps/3712kbps. When I first got internet they had me capped at 2.4mbps. I believe they have capped a whole town at 2.4mbps and charge $$ for 3mbps as they don’t offer a 2.4mbps service. The above log line is a speed cap set by front….durrr no amount of new lines or old encrusted lines matter, they have capped you to that… Read more »
I believe such things because all my neighbors have the same 2.4mbps cap.