u/Some-Plankton1989

The whole fiber install thing defeated me. I've been trying since May to get it here, because Frontier insists it's available at my rural property. By the way, I'm typing on DSL internet that just conveniently came back up after days being out.

The fiber was NOT properly installed at my road and NOT ready for install to my house but Frontier agents and social media insisted it was. When my DSL started acting up last week and cutting out completely on Friday night they indicated they would not troubleshoot it or fix it because fiber was available to me and I didn't take advantage of that.

Six field technicians, over 20 calls and messages to Frontier trying to resolve the issue. Yesterday was the end. The last field tech said that he couldn't even access the pole that the fiber was supposedly on at the road and that to him it looked looped but not connected to where it needed to be.

Not one of these calls, or tech visits resulted in the issue getting to the department where it needed to go - to alert engineering that the service was indeed not ready.

The last sub-contractor field tech was the only one of the field techs to listen to me and to understand what the problem was. He sympathized but said the communication within Frontier for these sorts of things was completely baffling. He took photos and would report to his supervisor but that's all he could do. He said to try to get Frontier to get my DSL working while I was waiting for them to resolve the fiber problem but three different Frontier agents refused.

So - after 36 years with Frontier phone, dial up and DSL I'm done. It's too bad, because the internet is affordable for me and the other provider is not, but I work from home and that job was in jeopardy because of this whole schmegegie.

Edit: Update as of today. Frontier texts that technician will be out on Monday. I reply CANCEL to the text because sending another person in a van with a ladder is just silly. I get told via text that I cannot cancel via text and that an agent would call me. Three hours later and there is the agent calling. She wants to know when I want to reschedule. I say one last time that I'm canceling because there is no line to install. Silence on the other line, then, "Oh...I see that there is a communication issue and that the infrastructure has not been put in place. I'll cancel this order and we'll call you when it's ready to install".

Any bets on how many years that will take? haha

Original Post: This is long and I'll apologize ahead for this.

I live in a rural area of NY. Frontier strung fiber along the road but I didn't know it. I'm still on DSL.

I start to get calls from Florida and Illinois telling me that Frontier is ready to install my new fiber, as if I had ordered it. Then the persistent people start saying that my DSL will be shut off and/or if there is a problem with it that "no technician will be sent out".

I contact Frontier via their Facebook messenger and I'm told that the calls are legitimate and that yes, fiber is available to me and that I should order it. OK - person on there has a local to me sales rep call and they set up a time for installation.

At this point I wasn't sure what Frontier needed to do for install so the day arrives, a man with a truck and a ladder shows up and he's amused and tells me the fiber line isn't spliced at the road but that he will kick the order back and that will get done and they will call me to set up another appointment.

About a week later I get a call. We're ready to schedule your appointment. I say, "Really? Because I haven't seen any workers here".

"Oh yes, it's ready to go".

Two technicians arrive at the appointment date with a truck and a ladder. I tell them they aren't going to be able to install the fiber line with a truck and a ladder.

I've explained to two different Frontier people at this point that the fiber lines haven't been run from a pole across the street to the right-of-way pole at the edge of my property (estimated 100 feet by the first technician) and no one has run the line from that pole to my transformer pole (another approximately 300 feet) and then the additional fifty or so feet from that pole to my home.

These two installers do their very best to tell me to choose another Internet company, that the install is impossible and so on. It's not impossible because 36 years ago Frontier strung a phone line to my property and then DSL was installed when that became available. These techs tell me that someone from Frontier will call and they leave. Meanwhile, since the install was supposed to take place between eight and noon my DSL was shut off.

I work from home. I don't get paid if I don't work. It took two calls to Frontier and much explaining that they need to turn my DSL back on and that no, it wasn't a repair it was that they turned it off! This took 24 hours. A tech calls me all confused the next day because he had a ticket without any explanation. I told him what was going on and he said that of course an install of the type I need can be done, they do them all the time.

So I wait one month for the telephone call from Frontier that the two technicians said would happen. It didn't happen.

I call again and explain the situation IN DETAIL and the customer service person says, "Of course we can install your fiber. I will schedule the appointment". I repeat that there is no fiber to install and are they sending bucket truck crews and pole climbers to install that? "Oh yes, ma'am, the technician will install your fiber".

Guess what? Yet another person comes out with a ladder and a van. I PLEAD with him to please tell someone at Frontier that infrastructure needs to be set up! He says yes, he will tell someone. He takes the time to look over the situation and checks the poles and so on, so I had high hopes.

I get a text about an hour after he's left that the install will occur on this new date between 1 and 5. It's only five days out from the day he was there.

Guess what again? Man with a truck and a ladder shows up.

In the meantime, I had talked to no less than 12 people in customer service, either on the phone or via messenger. Not one person relayed the situation to the right department and one of the people I spoke to is notorious for adding services I don't want. She says her name is Arya, and TWICE she has added services that I then have to get off my bill. Well, she did it again and added wifi security to my "new order" of fiber.

Finally, I try once more to call and get that wifi security off the order and to try to get someone to understands what needs to be done. This customer service person indicates, "oh, yes you need a different part of the tech team for this". I will put the order in and you will get a call in three to five days".

How many days has this been? Eleven working days.

And the install from the woman who adds things is still on schedule for this Monday as far as I know.

There is no way to contact anyone in a managerial capacity. None of the techs will forward to their bosses, and none of the customer service people will pass me to a manager.

It's absolute insanity. I make sure that I am pleasant and polite with all of the customer service people, even with that woman that adds things without my permission, but I'm at my wit's end with this situation and ready to contact the FCC or the Department of Public Service Office of Consumer Services to report it.