Frontier’s fiber service is fast and reliable, but the call center still needs some work.
8 min readIt’s a brand new era for Frontier internet, which is making waves with a fresh strategy to expand its fiber network across the country.
Frontier’s goal is to fully transition into a fiber-only provider, although there are a few locations that still have DSL. Fiber is always our top pick for internet connection type, but customers tell Reviews.org that they especially love Frontier for its solid network and rare occurrence of outages.
“I love it. To me, the price is fair," says Sherwin Kamyab, a Frontier customer in Plano, Texas, who credits the provider for delivering consistent performance under all circumstances. "Even with the storms, no hiccups.”
Read our review to see whether it’s worth signing up for Frontier.
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Our breakdown of Frontier Internet features
For all our internet reviews, we give a rating based on three main criteria—speed and reliability, dollar value, and customer experience—which we then average to make an overall score.
Want to know how Frontier stacks up? See our full take below.
Overall score: 4.4/5
Speed and reliability
4.8/5
Frontier fiber customers are having a great time with their service. Since it’s a fiber connection, you get symmetrical internet speeds. This makes it a significantly more reliable experience than cable, DSL, or 5G plans, which have lower upload speeds. Symmetrical internet is especially great for content creators who upload 4K videos, avid photographers saving their photos to the cloud, or remote workers who have back-to-back Zoom meetings.
The 200Mbps plan is the lowest speed available and is suitable for day-to-day internet browsing and video calls. If you upgrade your speed, the service becomes increasingly more robust. That means no need to argue over what show to put on the TV—your sister can binge watch Love Island while you ugly cry over My Octopus Teacher. You don’t even have to find something to fill your time while downloading a large game file.
Frontier makes it onto our Fastest Internet Providers list, but doesn't beat top providers like Xfinity. Our results show that the average Frontier customer who runs our speed test gets 213Mbps download speeds and 185Mbps upload speeds. This is still a decent speed that most solo-dwellers or couples will find works for them.
If you can get Frontier DSL, speed works differently. Frontier doesn’t promise that you can perform any particular internet activity or get any level of speed on its DSL, which is lowkey admitting that the service is unreliable. At least they’re honest? A customer service representative did tell Reviews.org that if you sign up for DSL, a technician first comes to your home, installs the service, and then runs a speed test. If you’re happy with the speed, you finish signing up for the service and pay for installation. If you’re not satisfied, you can decline the service and don’t have to pay a dime.
Dollar value
4.0/5.0
Frontier offers several affordable internet plans and deals. All plans begin with a one-year price guarantee. After the year ends, plans can increase by $10–$25 per month according to Frontier’s website. Despite the price increase, you still get fast, reliable internet out of your plan. You could also reduce your speed for a cheaper monthly fee and see if it makes a noticeable difference.
There are a few additional fees, but nothing too crazy. Installation can cost $100, but it’s currently free—so get on that while you can. A nice Eero router is also included with your service, and you get a $10 credit every month if you opt for paperless billing. There is a fee of $3.49 per month for paper bills, so make sure you double check you’re enrolled in paperless billing through My Bills online or Billing in the app (unless of course, you prefer mailed bills). You will also have to pay an early termination fee if you cancel before your first year of service is over, up to $200.00, depending on how many months you have left.
On the other hand, you don’t get a good deal with Frontier DSL. DSL is an older technology that requires more resources to maintain, hence the hefty monthly fee that is on par with Frontier’s (far superior) 1 Gig fiber internet plan. In our opinion, you’d be better off searching for a cable or 5G internet provider if only Frontier’s DSL plan is offered in your location.
Customer experience
4.3/5.0
Frontier gets an average score in HighSpeedInternet.com’s Customer Satisfaction Survey, as a result of 7,000 online customer survey responses about various internet providers. This is a good sign that the provider is meeting expectations of price, speed and reliability, and customer service. In the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI), Frontier fiber is on par with other fiber internet service providers. Frontier’s DSL service performs poorly, scoring well below expectations for non-fiber providers.
Frontier’s fiber installation is similar to other fiber providers. “Setting it up was easy. I requested service, they came the next day and installed the ONT in the garage. Ever since then, no downtime,” explains Sherwin Kamyab, a Frontier customer in Texas. The provider has announced an option for self-installation for fiber plans, though eligibility depends on your location.
Frontier’s customer service call center is the one aspect of the service that lacks efficiency. “It took a really long time just to talk to a real person,” says Kamyab, who was on the phone with Frontier for an hour and a half trying to get technical support. “Luckily I called after work. I know Frontier better than to try to call them during my work hours.”
When we called customer service, the agents were straightforward and not too pushy. We did, however, have to wait between three to seven minutes, which is a long time to listen to an advertising loop about Frontier. You can also chat with Frontier’s “AI-driven” chatbot, Giga, if picking up the phone gives you the ick. However, Giga seems to operate based on a limited selection of prompts before connecting to a live agent—basically the same as a phone tree when you call customer service.
How long it took to get a real human on the phone: Three to seven minutes
How the chat service is: Once you get through a troubleshooting menu, the chatbot diverts you to a live agent, who is helpful and prompt.
Overall quality
4.4/5.0
Frontier fiber plans provide high-quality internet service. Prices are reasonable for the great reliability and fast speeds, and pricing is fairly transparent and straightforward. Customer service isn’t outstanding, but the internet service itself is reliable, so hopefully you don’t need to call too often. If DSL is all you can get, find another provider because it’s an expensive plan for a potentially unusable service.
What makes this review legit?
Our fact-based research process centers on interviews with internet customers across the country, helping us understand how internet services hold up against diverse needs and challenges.
Frontier Internet has coverage in 25 states, but to put together this review, we mostly interviewed Frontier customers in Texas and chatted with a dozen other customers via Reddit who shared the pros and cons they’ve experienced while being a customer. We let their experiences guide our research and shape our conclusions. We also called (and waited for) Frontier customer service at different times throughout the week to ask about the provider’s price increases and extra fees. To make sure we understood what customers were really getting themselves into, we pored over the fine print on Frontier’s website and read through the latest internet customer-satisfaction reports.
Frontier vs. the competition
Frontier’s fiber plans make it a solid internet provider that’s faster and more reliable than cable companies Spectrum or Xfinity. “While [Spectrum] has really good customer service, their speeds just aren’t what I need them to be, especially for multiple devices in the house,” says Sherwin Kamyab, a current Frontier customer who previously used Spectrum.
It also gets the same ASCI customer satisfaction score as other popular fiber providers, with Frontier matching scores from Google Fiber. T-Mobile 5G is also a worthy alternative to Frontier with decent fixed-wireless speeds for users who can't get Frontier Fiber or don't want DSL or cable.
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What do customers think of Frontier?
Customers are happy with Frontier’s fiber service itself but frustrated with customer service agents. Here's the overall gist of what customers are saying:
- Frontier's fiber internet service offers superior speeds that support multiple users in a household
- Frontier is affordable and you get a solid plan for the cost
- Frontier's customer service isn't as easy to work with
Fiber internet usually outshines other connection types because of its newer technology and symmetrical speeds. “No complaints. It's been rock solid,” says user Neatfeek83, who chatted with Reviews.org over Reddit about their experience working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Asynchronous speeds were a non-starter for me,” they explain. “A lot of my co-workers who didn't realize the difference between [synchronous/symmetrical and asynchronous speeds] quickly found themselves bottlenecked, waiting for files to upload at substandard speeds.”
They were originally on the 500Mbps service, and upgraded to 1Gbps plan during the pandemic. “It became clear that we needed more bandwidth for two adults working from home and two kids schooling at home.” Price-wise, they feel like they’re getting a good deal for $75 per month for 1Gbps of speed.
“With work-from-home, it’s not really an option to just have my internet go out for a full day,” –Mitch Jaben, current Frontier customer, referring to a time where he experienced a full-day outage on his Spectrum plan.
Mitch Jaben, another Frontier fiber customer, also feels like his internet is reliable for remote work. “I don’t notice any issues with speeds that make me feel like I’m not getting the speeds I pay for.” Jaben switched to Frontier after experiencing a full-day outage on his Spectrum plan, which forced him to work from the local library. “With work-from-home, it’s not really an option to just have my internet go out for a full day,” he explains. His current Frontier plan is more affordable than Spectrum, but even if it was more expensive, he wouldn’t switch back. “Unreliable service is worthless in my opinion.”
Frontier’s customer service
Despite rave reviews on the actual internet service, customers tell Reviews.org that Frontier’s customer service isn’t helpful. This isn’t a surprise, as call center satisfaction is the lowest-rated area of internet service providers according to the ACSI.
Neatfeek83, Reddit user, explains that their ONT went out after a storm, and Frontier originally said that it would take a full week before a technician could come to fix it. “That wasn’t going to fly with two working adults and two kids doing remote school,” they explain. They were determined to get the internet back up and running, so emailed the office of the President of Frontier, and within three hours, a tech was at their door.
“It’s easier to herd cats than it is to get in contact with their customer support sometimes.” —Sherwin Kamyab, Frontier customer in Texas
Sherwin Kamyab, another Frontier customer, has also struggled with customer service when trying to order a MoCa adapter for his 10,000 square feet home he shared with his family of four. On the main floor, he was getting 2Gbps speeds, but upstairs he was only getting 300Mbps wirelessly. He decided to order a MoCa adapter through Frontier because he read on Reddit forums that MoCa adapters could improve a home internet network by piggy-backing off of existing coaxial wiring in a home.
Kamyab was transferred multiple times on the phone before he got to someone who could help. “It’s easier to herd cats than it is to get in contact with their customer support sometimes,” he remarks. Instead of receiving a MoCa adapter, Kamyab was sent a router. When he reached out again, Frontier realized its mistake and sent him a MoCa adapter. However, when he opened the package, he realized that the cable they sent was incompatible with his network. “Don’t get me wrong. Their network service is great. It’s just customer service.” He eventually gave up and set up his own mesh network.
Need to contact Frontier customer service or tech support?
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Get customer support from Frontier’s chatbot, Giga.
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Call Frontier’s technical support at +1-800-921-8106.
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Download the MyFrontier app on the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Frontier FAQs
While both Spectrum and Frontier offer high-speed internet plans with a large coverage area, Frontier's fiber plans are a better deal for speed and price. However, if Frontier's DSL service is all that's available in your area, Spectrum Internet is a solid second choice.
If your Frontier Internet bill seems higher than usual, your promotional pricing has ended. Frontier's introductory prices are locked in for 12 months before increasing by $10 to $25 monthly. To save some money each month, you can downsize your plan or consider switching to a cheaper alternative.
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