Borderland Internet Review 2022

We like Frontier's Cobweb plans and unlimited data, but its client service and random fees are difficult pills to swallow

Frontier Fiber Internet

3.8 out of 5 stars

3.75

Data effective 02/24/22. Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change.

* per month for 12 mos. One-year agreement, early termination fee, and 1-time charge utilize. Max speeds are wired. Wi-Fi, actual & average speeds vary.

per calendar month for 36 mos. One-twelvemonth understanding, early termination fee, and quondam accuse use. Max wired speed 940/880 Mbps. Wi-Fi, actual & average speeds vary.

Frontier has some good things going for information technology—namely, no data caps, no contracts, and a fiber-optic network.

Between Frontier's Fiber net service and its DSL service, we think Cobweb is the better deal. But we know not everyone has access to fiber cyberspace. That said, Frontier's DSL cyberspace isn't a bad bargain, though we wish it offered faster speeds than a max of up to 25 Mbps.

And so should you get Frontier cyberspace? Let's dig into the details and find out if Borderland'due south prices, net speeds, and data caps make the cutting.

Pros

  • Frontier has cracking prices for fiber cyberspace plans

  • There are DSL internet options for rural areas

  • You get unlimited data for all net plans

Cons

  • The DSL speeds max out at 25 Mbps

Find Frontier internet plans in your expanse.

Is Frontier Internet right for yous?

Frontier cyberspace is perfect for those who desire cobweb internet, a type of net that is fast and reliable simply non available everywhere. And if y'all live in a rural area, Frontier offers DSL internet for a low price.

Borderland's Fiber internet plans gives you plenty download speed for multiple people in the family unit to use at the same time without seeing a lag in your Netflix pic or your son's Xbox game. Also, Borderland's net service won't break the banking company!

Borderland internet is available across more than than half of the US, but y'all'll mainly find it in W Virginia, Connecticut, and Illinois.

Frontier internet prices and plans

Prices for Frontier's Fiber plans are limbo low, but you may find better deals when it comes to its DSL plans

If yous're lucky enough to alive where Frontier's Fiber internet is available, then we recommend getting it.

Cobweb net like this is faster and nearly often more than reliable than cable or DSL cyberspace. And Frontier's fiber internet comes at some of the lowest prices for the speeds you get.

Borderland Fiber internet prices

Information constructive 02/24/22. Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change.

* per month for 12 mos. I-year understanding, early termination fee, and one-time charge apply. Max speeds are wired. Wi-Fi, actual & average speeds vary.

per calendar month for 36 mos. One-year agreement, early termination fee, and old accuse use. Max wired speed 940/880 Mbps. Wi-Fi, actual & average speeds vary.

per month. One-year agreement, early termination fee, and one-time charge apply. Max speeds are wired. Wi-Fi, actual & boilerplate speeds vary.

The fastest Frontier fiber plan with 2,000 Mbps speeds rings in at about $150 a month. That's a pretty average cost for gig internet when compared to other net providers. And if you want the fastest internet possible, then those speeds will certainly do the trick.

Do yous need gigabit speeds?

Info Box

Chances are you don't need gig download speeds—unless you've got a large family or a lot of roommates using your cyberspace connection to stream, game, upload YouTube videos, and piece of work from home.

We'll help you effigy out which speed is right for y'all in our guide to download speeds.

That said, you may non need gigabit internet speeds if you're a smaller family who just streams an Hard disk drive movie or two on the weekend. And the prices for Frontier Fiber Internet 500/500 Mbps plan is fifty-fifty ameliorate than the price for its gigabit program. So, nosotros'd say yous're looking at a win-win if you get for either of these plans.

Simply if you don't live in an area where Frontier Fiber internet is available, y'all're not out of luck. Frontier also has DSL options that come at adequately low prices—but its DSL speeds max out at up to 25 Mbps.

Borderland DSL internet prices

Data effective eleven/eleven/21. Offers and availability vary by location and are bailiwick to alter.

^ per month for 12 mos. Prices may vary. One-time charges use. Maximum speeds are wired speeds. Wi-Fi, bodily and average speeds vary. Service performance details at frontier.com/internetdisclosures.

Notwithstanding, if Borderland DSL is all y'all've got, know that it'southward all right. For nigh $40 a month, you get upwards to 25 Mbps download speeds and unlimited information.

Simply we wouldn't recommend download speeds a slow equally Frontier'south up to vi and up to 25 Mbps plans for anyone doing some serious online activities. (Think working from habitation, gaming, or streaming a lot of YouTube videos.) And if you've got more than two people using the internet in your home, you'll likely need more speed.

That said, we know that Frontier DSL net might be one of your only—if non the but—choice in your surface area. Still, we recommend checking out these other rural internet options to see if yous have any alternatives.

Where can you get Borderland net service?

Frontier net is available across near of the United states, but you'll mainly find it in W Virginia, Connecticut, and Illinois.

A map showing Frontier internet availability, mostly in the Midwest, Northeast, and Southwest

How does Frontier compare to Xfinity, CenturyLink, and others?

To be honest with you, Borderland doesn't have a identify in our peak 8 cyberspace service providers.

Compared to these providers, Frontier'south availability is limited and the client service rating is low.

But we must warn you: Frontier has a bad reputation for non delivering on its advertised download and upload speeds and its DSL service is pretty bad, according to client reviews.

Check out our top Internet service provider's if yous'd rather order from a reliable internet company (hard pick, we know).

Frontier net comparing

Provider

Monthly toll

Download speeds

Data cap

Acquire more

Frontier $49.99 $149.99 ° 500 2000 Mbps Unlimited
Xfinity $39.99 $79.99 ** 300 1200 Mbps 1.ii TB
Verizon Authorized Dealer $39.99 $89.99 †† 300 940 Mbps Unlimited
CenturyLink $50 $65 ‡‡ 100 940 Mbps Unlimited

Data effective eleven/xi/21. Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change.

° for 24 months with 2-year agreement. Actual speeds may vary. Installation, equipment fees, Internet Infrastructure Surcharge, early on term, taxes & other fees apply. Services subject to availability and all applicable terms and conditions.

** For the offset 12 months. Some packages require a ane- or 2-year contract.

†† w/ Auto Pay + taxes & equip. charges.

‡‡ New customers only. Rate requires paperless billing and excludes taxes. Additional fees utilise.

And if yous mostly use the internet for your home business, freelancing, or streaming on YouTube, yous might want to consider the Gig Service plan. With 940 Mbps download speeds, you won't have to worry that your hour-long Zoom coming together will put a damper on your kiddos' Disney+ time.

Frontier cyberspace speed

Frontier maintains fast internet speeds, earning 12th place out of 38 ISPs nosotros analyzed

Frontier'south Fiber internet service comes in 500 and 940 Mbps download speeds, which pretty much suits any need you could have.

The 500 Mbps plan offers neat speeds for medium- to large-sized families—or homes full of roommates. These download speeds should support more than a few people streaming, gaming, and working from home all at the same time. (Especially since it'south a fiber connexion, which gives y'all reliably fast upload speeds too.)

Frontier Fiber cyberspace download and upload speeds

And if you by and large use the net for your home business, freelancing, or streaming on YouTube, yous might want to consider the Gig Service plan. With 940 Mbps download speeds, yous won't have to worry that your hour-long Zoom coming together volition put a damper on your kiddos' Disney+ time.

Do I demand fast upload speeds?

Pin

Y'all likely won't need to worry about upload speeds unless you upload a lot of large files to the cyberspace. This includes attaching PDFs and giant spreadsheets to your email and so y'all can go them to your boss for the borderline.

With 50 to 880 Mbps upload speeds, Frontier's Fiber internet plan upload speeds should keep things running smoothly no thing what you're uploading. That's the magic of cobweb internet.

But its DSL internet plans may struggle to get your newest YouTube video or photo gallery uploaded in a timely fashion. Frontier doesn't listing upload speeds for these plans, but we'd imagine they're ten Mbps or lower.

On the other end of the Frontier speed spectrum is its DSL plans. Its fastest programme can achieve up to 25 Mbps speeds, but DSL tends to be less reliable in terms of speed operation. That's mainly because it's an older technology.

We wouldn't recommend grabbing annihilation slower than Frontier'south upward to 25 Mbps DSL program if you can avoid information technology.

Even 25 Mbps is pretty ho-hum—specially if you have more than than one person or multiple devices using your internet at the same fourth dimension. That's because the more people or devices that utilize your internet, the more speed y'all need to continue everyone's net connection running smoothly.

Frontier DSL internet download speeds

How fast is Borderland internet?

But how does Frontier'southward internet speed stack up? Not too bad, actually.

In our latest assay of the fastest internet providers in the US, Frontier ranked 12th out of 38 ISPs. That puts it alee of other well-known internet providers like Spectrum, AT&T, and Cox.

Frontier net speed scorei

One thing to note is that this weighted score isn't representative of whatever download speeds y'all'll get from Frontier. Instead, it's a combination of the boilerplate download and upload speeds, plus latency.

That said, Frontier's score is a lot lower than nosotros expected. Other cobweb internet providers scored much higher: Google Fiber topped our list with 75.six out of 100, and Verizon Fios Home Internet was a close 2d with 65.one out of 100.

Frontier'due south depression score is probable due to its slow DSL cyberspace service. So we can run a risk a guess that Borderland Fiber net speeds will be skilful, but its DSL speeds will be lackluster.

Borderland internet data caps

A big selling signal for Frontier is that information technology doesn't put any information caps on its plans. That's right: cipher caps—even on its DSL plans.

Frontier doesn't even do that sneaky thing some internet providers do where their data is "technically" unlimited, only there are actually soft data caps—after which your speed slows downwards to a slow crawl. (We're looking at you, satellite cyberspace providers.)

Unlimited data is especially important in today'due south day and age equally virtually of united states go along to work, written report, and play at domicile. If yous're like us, you lot've found that your information usage spiked over the concluding few years. And then not paying for extra information is definitely a blessing.

Frontier contracts, equipment, and fees

Frontier recently did away with a handful of disruptive fees, making it easier to get a handle on your monthly nib

We're pleased equally punch to non run across any mention of contracts on both Borderland Fiber and DSL plans. That doesn't mean your monthly bill won't become upwards after the 12-month promotional menstruum, but information technology gives you the freedom to change things upward without paying a penalty.

Frontier equipment

The Frontier Fiber Gateway Router is an Arris NVG468MQ wireless gateway. That means it tin be used every bit a modem and a router, and comes with Wi-Fi already set up. And it comes included with any Fiber internet program. *fist pump*

The gateway used to toll $ten a month to rent, and Frontier used to accuse you the rental fee even if you brought your own modem and router. In belatedly 2020, a law was passed that at present bans ISPs like Frontier from charging y'all a rental fee for your own router.ane

Frontier service fees

Only like whatever other internet provider, Frontier's service comes with a few fees. Though we're excited to say information technology recently trimmed these fees down. So, aside from taxes, which change based on your location, here's what you can expect to pay in terms of Borderland fees:

  • Activation fee: $85 one-time fee
  • Disconnect fee: $10 i-time fee when your service is disconnected
  • Installation fee: None
  • Equipment rental fee: None, equipment is included with your Fiber cyberspace plan

Frontier customer service

Co-ordinate to the scores, Frontier has the worst client service out of all internet providers

No Internet service provider gets amazing marks for customer service, only even among the bad, Frontier is expressionless terminal. The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) gives Frontier'due south customer service a low score of 57, which ranks information technology below ten other ISPs—and an eleventh catch-all category of "All Others."

Frontier internet ACSI score 2021ii

Like with most ISPs, we recommend using online chat instead of phone calls. Simply lookout man out—Borderland's live conversation feature can be a footling unreliable. Information technology'due south non available 24/7 and it can have some long look times that make you lot wish yous'd just called.

So if you lot don't hear back on chat, schedule a call up or pick upwardly the telephone and requite Frontier a telephone call.

  • Frontier customer service phone number: ane-800-921-8101
  • Frontier tech back up: 1-800-239-4430
  • Pay your Frontier bill: i-800-801-6652
  • Frontier online chat
  • Schedule a call back
  • Facebook: @FrontierCorp
  • Twitter: @AskFrontier

Epitomize: Is Frontier cyberspace expert?

  • Pricing: We think Borderland'southward Fiber net service is the better deal, but we like that it also offers DSL service to country-dwelling folks out there.
  • Information limits: Borderland likewise lets its customers live the unlimited information dream—fifty-fifty if they have its DSL net.
  • Fees and contracts: We're thankful that Frontier recently trimmed down its fees and swapped to no contracts.
  • Equipment: Oh, and your equipment is now included with your net plan.
  • Customer service: Still, information technology has some piece of work to do in the customer service surface area.

Expect for Frontier internet plans in your area.

Methodology

We base our ratings and reviews off of these five criteria:

  • Prices
  • Availability
  • Speed scores
  • Customer service scores
  • Connection type

Later comparison the criteria, we give you lot our honest recommendation and let you know if this internet service provider is worth your money compared to the others ISPs in the industry.

FAQs

Why does Frontier have a bad reputation?

To put information technology only, Frontier has a bad reputation for not delivering on its advertised download speeds and its DSL service is pretty bad, according to customer reviews.

Unfortunately, Frontier alleged defalcation in 2020, only they're on a mission to proceeds consumers' trust back.

Is Frontier internet skilful for streaming?

For streaming your favorite movies and Goggle box shows, nosotros'd actually recommend Xfinity internet, CenturyLink net, or Verizon cyberspace.

They're more than reliable, speedy, and fairly priced. No one likes to see the give-and-take "buffering" in the center of an intense activity scene.

Catherine McNally

Written by

Catherine McNally

Catherine has a degree in journalism and an MBA, and has spent the final 10+ years writing everything from Okinawa travel guides to stories on Medium. She's been online since AOL CDs were a thing and is an unapologetic PC gamer. She believes the internet is a necessity, not a luxury, and writes reviews and guides to help everyone stay connected. You tin can likewise observe her on Twitter: @CMReviewsIt.

Related Articles