It’s been a while since I’ve had Frontier fiber internet. I lived in an entirely different city at the time, and I was actually pretty happy with the service. This was far enough back, though, that gigabit internet wasn’t really a thing yet, so I had 75 mbit internet.
When I was leaving my last apartment and looking for a house, I specifically looked for a house with fiber internet. The one I chose has access to Frontier fiber as well as AT&T fiber. So I checked them both out, looking at their business internet options, and decided on AT&T because it was half the price of Frontier with slightly better advertised speeds and similar policies.
Last year, a Frontier door-to-door salesman came to my door. This was before I put the NO SOLICITING sign on my door, so no excuses for me there. I told the guy I was happy with my AT&T fiber and he tried to tell me Frontier runs their fiber and was just informing me they were doing upgrades in the area and wanted to go over things to make sure I got everything I needed.
Woops, he didn’t realize I’m not ignorant of technology, internet, specifications, etc. He also didn’t realize I worked in telecom in the past.
The guy was lying. AT&T owns their fiber, and Frontier owns their fiber, formerly owned by Verizon in my area. Frontier and AT&T are not comingling. They are competitors.
I shoo’ed him away.
Fast forward to today, almost exaclty a year later, and a new Frontier sales guy shows up. Now, I have a NO SOLICITING sign up. It keeps most sales people away (I can’t buy most of what they’re selling, things like energy efficient windows, new roof, etc, because I don’t own the house). But a few people still think they’re better than that sign and believe they can sell through it.
So I entertain it for a moment.
This Frontier guy told me they sell fiber to the home, not just to the premises, unlike AT&T. This is not true. AT&T has fiber all the way to the room where my modem lives.
Despite the fact I told this guy repeatedly that I have business class internet, he kept insisting I was overpaying and that Frontier was cheaper. I kept reminding him he’s selling residential service. Eventually, he finally asked what that even means, so I explained to him the difference. He persisted that I was overpaying. Bear in mind, Frontier business fiber is more than twice as expensive than AT&T fiber unless I go on a 2 year contract, where it’s still more expensive than AT&T without such terms.
He insisted Frontier is 1 gbit up and 1 gbit down, unlike AT&T, implying AT&T is assymmetrical. This is untrue. I have a 1 gbit symmetrical connection with access to 2 gbit if I choose to upgrade. Considering most people aren’t spending hundreds to thousands of dollars on networking equipment to support faster than 1 gbit speed, almost no one needs faster (those that need it know that they need it).
He insisted Frontier is true 1 gbit, while AT&T is not. In the past, the marketing reflected the opposite. AT&T marketed 1 gbit while Frontier marketed 940 mbit. It appears they’re calling it “Gig Service” now, but that could just be rounding. What I do know is I easily get my 1 gbit speeds up and down when I run a speed test, and it almost never falters.
He insisted Frontier doesn’t use a shared infrastructure, so all customers get a dedicated 1 gbit connection. What he’s describing is how the fiber is split. The reality is there will always be a point where all connections are shared. However, it’s possible they use different methods of splitting the fiber connection. But it MUST be noted that on Frontier, not everyone home has a direct fiber connection to the CO. Unless that’s how they justify charging twice what AT&T charges, though at that point, perhaps Frontier is cheap!
I have an SLA though. I have guaranteed minimum speeds with my business internet connection and I’ve never fallen below that. In fact, every test from the router connection has been above 900 mbit. I would have to purchase Frontier’s business class to get something similar. I also have an uptime SLA with the connection itself, something residential service does not have. I have access to business class support and reps. My business class installer was super awesome to work with, and ensured that I had the best quality fiber connection all the way to my router that AT&T could provide (it took a bit of work as he had to remake the connection at the junction box on the house). This is why I have business class internet. I work from home and I need this reliability. And when I don’t have it, I have someone who will make sure it’s made right (like the time there was failed hardware at the CO).
Frontier uses door-to-door sales and preys on people who don’t know any better. The two that have visited me, so far, have actually lied to me. The crazy thing is, this is actually illegal. It’s false advertising. You can say you’re better than your competitor, but you can’t lie about their capabilities. That’s straight up defamation with intent to cause harm.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m no AT&T fanboy. I gave Frontier a chance when I purchased my internet. I also gave Spectrum a chance. AT&T came out on top. For my current situation, AT&T is the best choice, and will remain my provider until that changes.
Frontier is making a strong case for why I should NEVER do business with them. On top of the lies from their door-to-door sales, the guy ignored my NO SOLICITING sign and I made it a point to him that I specifically DO NOT do business with people who do that. He may believe that he was just an annoyance at worst, but it’s highly disrespectful. It’s also disrespectful to prey on the less knowledgeable to sell your product.
Frontier has no respect for their customers, including those who might, potentially, spend extra for a better quality service. As of now, they are on my DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH list, and I will recommend against their services to people I know should they have other options.
One might argue that Frontier, itself, isn’t misrepresenting this information, that it’s the fault of the sales guy. He’s the one responsible for what he says and what lies he chooses to tell people. The thing is, he’s a representative of Frontier. While he’s at my door trying to sell to me, he is the face of Frontier. For all intents and purposes, he is Frontier. If Frontier doesn’t approve of this, then they would not train their sales people to spread these lies. Well what if he wasn’t trained this way? Someone told him these talking points. He didn’t make them up. Whoever trained him, his manager, whoever is responsible, also representing Frontier, did this. That’s even worse! So yeah, this isn’t “this guy lied to me trying to make a sale” but rather Frontier lied to me to try to make the sale, and showed a great deal of disrespect in the process.