Frontier Communications should cease mendacity to customers and charging them high-speed costs for sluggish web service, the Federal Commerce Fee stated Thursday.
Beneath a proposed order by the company and two California legislation enforcement businesses, the Norwalk, Connecticut-based web service supplier will likely be prohibited from deceptive customers about its sluggish web service and required to help its advertising and marketing claims.
"Frontier lied about its speeds and ripped off prospects by charging high-speed costs for sluggish service," Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's Bureau of Client Safety, stated in a assertion. "Right this moment's proposed order requires Frontier to again up its high-speed claims. It additionally arms prospects lured in by Frontier's lies with free, straightforward choices for dropping their sluggish service."
Frontier should additionally make it straightforward for purchasers to cancel their service freed from cost when it fails to ship the promised advantages, the FTC said.
The corporate advertises and sells digital subscriber line (DSL) web service in a number of plans, based mostly on obtain velocity. The FTC alleged in a Could 2021 criticism that Frontier did not ship on promised web speeds.
The FTC's criticism in opposition to the corporate included "baseless allegations and disregarded vital details," a Frontier spokesperson stated in an announcement despatched to CBS MoneyWatch.
"Moreover, the March 2022 settlement stipulates that we admit no wrongdoing. We settled the lawsuit in good religion to place it behind us so we might concentrate on our enterprise — that is in the most effective curiosity of all our stakeholders, and particularly our prospects," the spokesperson said. "Our dedication is to our prospects and offering them with entry to high-speed web and bettering our service in rural and underserved areas."
Hundreds of complaints
Since a minimum of January 2015, hundreds of customers have complained to Frontier and authorities businesses about their broadband service being slower than marketed, based on the FTC's criticism, which described Frontier as offering DSL service to about 1.3 million individuals in 25 states, many in rural areas.
Frontier should now substantiate its claims for brand spanking new and current prospects and notify them when it's unable to take action, in addition to notify individuals getting slower-than-advertised web speeds, letting them change or cancel their service at no cost.
The corporate would even be prohibited from signing up new prospects for its DSL web service in areas the place the excessive variety of customers sharing the identical networking tools ends in slower service, the FTC stated.
Frontier will likely be required to pay $8.5 million in civil penalties and prices to the Los Angeles County and Riverside County district attorneys' workplaces on behalf of California customers. It must pay $250,000 to be distributed to its California prospects harmed by the corporate's practices, the FTC stated.
The corporate can also be being ordered to put in fiber-optic web service — typically far quicker than DSL — in 60,000 California properties over 4 years, at an estimated price of $50 million to $60 million, based on the company.