Search results for

#Frontier

#1 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/02/2010

Everybody here at the Legel house now has a new email address. #Verizon evidently sold out or changed their name to #Frontier —— so did our email. So from now on our email address is frontier.com. I will have to send out emails to everybody and hope I don’t miss anybody. Rats! This is really going to be a pain in the ass because we have had this email address for years now. This is NOT progress.

MjL

#2 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/30/2010

I’ve been here at the Pekin #BobEvans since 6 a.m. Our telephone service went out yesterday at noon. No telephone, No Internets. A&B have been lost. The idiot phone system at #Frontier (used to be Verizon) took me forever to get a person to argue with about whether the problem is in my house (my problem) or outside my house. Finally I am told by this cretin that it will be fixed by 1 p.m. today AFTER they ascertain the problem is not mine.

So I am trying to put the #Blog together here at Bob’s. We shall see what I can get done before they throw me out!

MjL

#3 Click this link to see Blog page --> 04/01/2011

We got our phone and Internet back! The #Frontier repair guy showed up at our door a little after 6 last evening. He explained there is a break in a wire somewhere along Toepher Rd. that will take at least two days to get repaired.

There are something like 18 people without service but he had enough spare connections to fix some of them. Since I was among the first to call ours got fixed. So sometimes it pays to complain?

I can’t complain about our repair guy though —— he had us up and running within 15 minutes after putting a tracer on our wire so he knew which one to splice over on Toepher. I sort of feel bad for the other people who won’t have a phone for a couple more days, but A&B were very happy I was an early complainer.

They would never survive two days without Internet.
Neither would I.

MjL

#4 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/02/2011

We experienced an “isolated intermittent network outage” yesterday from early afternoon until some time early this morning. Translated: That means our Internet didn’t work. Aaron talked me into calling #Frontier tech support and that was the answer I was given. The “tech” couldn’t tell me where it was or when it would be fixed so I guess I waited on hold for 20 minutes for nothing. Well, not quite nothing I guess —— Aaron was glad I at least tried.

So this morning I have all of yesterday’s emails to sort through (most of it is spam) and then get caught up on the blog. (Sorry Tammy & Noah, you had to keep the blog going without me!)

MjL

#5 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/09/2011

I’m still having issues with my DSL —— it seems #Frontier is rerouting all their customers away from #Verizon and screwing things up as they go.

I am currently on hold with the “technician” who is “documenting” “my” (as opposed to “their") problem.

MjL

#6 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/17/2011

I sent an email to the #Frontier DSL people yesterday explaining my connection problems still persist after two weeks. I also explained I was sending the email because after spending more than a half-hour on three different occasions I couldn’t get through on the telephone. The lady who answered my email apologized and gave me a phone number to call. The same number I told her I couldn’t get through on. Surprise! So I called and waited. They are aware of “my” problem and are working on it. Sounds like a “The check is in the mail” jokes, right?

MjL

#7 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/23/2011

Okay —— you know how I gripe, moan, groan and complain about my lousy #Frontier Internet speed or my screwed up #Blog server? Well I must say it is fantastic today! It is lightning fast and everything seems to be working. At the risk of jinxing everything I feel it is only fair to say good things about this. “GOOD THINGS!”

MjL

#8 Click this link to see Blog page --> 03/03/2012

I just got off the phone with #Frontier (or Verizon or whatever the phone company is calling themselves today) and it would appear we will have Internet connection problems for the rest of today and possibly until Monday. I’m not even sure how many tries it will take to get this comment to load. They probably “fixed” something, or “improved” my service. Things usually go bad around here when they do that.

MjL

#9 Click this link to see Blog page --> 03/05/2012

I got a call from the #Frontier repairman around 1 p.m. yesterday and he insisted on coming to the house. After I showed him what the numbers were on my modem, the same numbers I quoted over the phone to everyone I talked to; he decided he could fix it with a phone call.

I knew the problem was NOT at our house but nobody listens. I did find out that they made changes to the system last Thursday, as I suspected, but nobody would admit to it. The repair guy was surprised nobody told me.

I also found out that from now on when you get a new modem from the phone company instead of buying it outright they lease it to you. I’m not sure I like that any better. The guy was going to swap ours out until he found out I just bought it. He left it the way it is so we won’t have a monthly fee for a new one we don’t really need yet.

Mostly I’m just glad we got our Internet service working properly again so I don’t have to wait so long for simple web browsing, uploads, downloads, etc.

MjL

#10 Click this link to see Blog page --> 03/26/2012

Update: You may recall my recent Curmudgeon on the bright but blurry new bill design from the #Frontier phone company. I had sent them an email stressing my dissatisfaction with their nearly unreadable online bill version.
You need to get a better PDF printer or go back to the old electronic bill format. This new pdf format sucks and is hard to read. This poorly printed PDF doesn’t look good for a technology company. Fix it.
Here is the reply I received:

Dear M.Legel

Thank you for contacting the Frontier Customer Support Center. I have received your email dated Mar 24, 2012 8:18AM regarding PDF. My name is Condolita and I will be happy to assist you.

We are sorry to hear that our services are not meeting your needs.
We have a team of specialists who can assist you with your request. Please contact Frontier directly at (800)-921-8101. A representative will be happy to assist you.
Thank you for using the New Frontier. We appreciate your business

Sincerely,

Condolita Nelson
Frontier Offline Customer Support
Durham, NC 27703

They don’t need to assist ME —— they need to redesign their crappy web design. No amount of helping ME will change the amount of awful exhibited by that mess!

MjL

#11 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/03/2012

We have had some sporadic connection problems with our Internet so I called #Frontier tech support this morning. We have a “ticket” and they are “going to look into it” but “preliminary diagnosis may be we have problems with moisture in the line”. HELLO!? It hasn’t rained for a month!

MjL

#12 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/05/2012

Aaron and Ben were REALLY not happy yesterday afternoon with the Internet continually disconnecting and dropping out. I finally called the #Frontier tech support people and was told they would send somebody out again Monday. That won’t do much for us for the weekend but all I can do is call them.

I really, really, wish we had some better alternative (I guess affordable is really the word) but we are pretty much stuck with DSL that isn’t very good.

MjL

#13 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/11/2012

We started yesterday morning out with a problem to fix. Tracey noticed she hadn’t been receiving email from her #Frontier account. So I started researching the problem and we discovered her last email was from Frontier announcing the “migration” of her email to their new system. And they did migrate all her old email to the new inbox, but nothing new from that date forward. So there were a couple days of email unaccounted for.
After some looking through menus, help screens, etc. I soon discovered their screw-up. There is a setting to forward email and we had it set to forward her email to a Gmail account. Under the old system it forwarded a copy to Gmail and saved a copy in the Frontier inbox. The NEW Frontier system was just forwarding it and not saving one in the Frontier account.

Whomever set up this wonderful new mail system evidently doesn’t really understand how email is supposed to work. We got things all straightened out and I didn’t have to talk to any Tech Support. Tracey agrees that could have gotten ugly.

MjL

#14 Click this link to see Blog page --> 01/18/2013

Our Internet connection died yesterday afternoon. I called tech support and the guy immediately started the routine to tell me to “cycle” my modem, reboot my computer, etc.

I interrupted him and told him the only reason I called was to tell him that #Frontier had an Internet service outage and I hung up.

I called back about a half-hour later and they had a recorded message announcing that customers in Illinois were experiencing problems. The whole state? Figures. It started working again in the late evening.

Pretty bad when I got to call them to let them know they lost service to the entire state of Illinois?

MjL

#15 Click this link to see Blog page --> 07/14/2013

We have had some serious DSL connection issues since last Thursday when it was completely down for a few hours. They told me then it was because of lightning damage. I finally called #Frontier’s so-called “Tech Support” again this afternoon —— I was told they were making enhancements and improvements. Evidently a lightning strike turned into an enhancement? I told them to stop because my service couldn’t take any more “enhancing” since it has been down more than it works since last Thursday. They have an odd way of making improvements. I asked if I could got back to the unimproved version that used to work —— no sense of humor there. They “are aware of my problem” —— to which I replied they were the problem and I was just a customer who is sick of Frontier’s problems.

MjL

#16 Click this link to see Blog page --> 07/20/2013

I called #Frontier tech support again yesterday to complain about our horrible DSL Internet connection again. We had to get past the usual nonsense of her wanting me to reboot the modem. What is your model number? Are you running Windows? Etc. I wasn’t very cooperative. She finally gave up on trying to blame it on our system and decided to actually check the line and she saw that it was dropping out I guess. Now I’m supposed to stay home all day today and wait for a repairman. Not going to happen. If I happen to be home then fine, but I’m not wasting a Saturday on them. The problem is with their network settings. Not once have they found anything that wasn’t their fault and I seriously doubt this is any different.

MjL

#17 Click this link to see Blog page --> 07/21/2013

The #Frontier DSL repair guy showed up yesterday morning. The Internet and phone service were shut down for about an hour while he rewired a connection box over on Toepher Rd. to put us on a different circuit. The speed hasn’t been any better but at least the connection stays up for a few hours at a time before resetting. The repair guy and I talked a bit and he made a lot of technical sounding excuses about why the heat makes our connection act up but all I heard was that the phone company is too damn cheap to replace the worn out wires. Not his fault I realize, but it disturbed me to hear him making excuses and trying to cover for their greed.

MjL

#18 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/25/2013

Our Internet is dead again and no telling how long before the incompetents at #Frontier will get it working again. This is becoming a regular weekend problem. They probably think we are too stupid to tell it is not a coincidence this happens on the weekend. Usually on Sunday.

MjL

#19 Click this link to see Blog page --> 04/19/2014

Our phone bill went up $1.13 this month. #Frontier seems to be the very definition of “nickel and dime you to death”. I had to check the fees against last month’s bill and found they had raised the price of an “unlisted” number by a dollar and then added 13¢ in tax for that one dollar.

I have never figured out why NOT listing my phone number should cost money. Logically it should cost less to NOT have to print it into the phone book? Just another of those small little jabs the money makers love using to mess with you.

MjL

#20 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/08/2014

Our Internet died yesterday afternoon for a couple hours. I called #Frontier and spoke to a pleasant lady in Georgia. The connection was terrible. Very strange to speak with a telephone company customer support that had such a crappy phone system with crackling, popping and cutting out. The nice lady couldn’t seem to find bupkis with our phone so put in a ticket for somebody to come check it out some time today between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. It miraculously fixed itself a while later. So I wonder if somebody is still coming out to fix it? How come they didn’t know somebody was already working on it? Or did it truly just fix itself? Bet I never find out.

MjL

#21 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/09/2014

Our Internet dropped out for a while again yesterday and shortly after I got a call from the #Frontier technician. He said that new wires had been installed on a section of Toepher Rd. and that we had good wire and signal up to the pedestal across the lane from our house —— but the section from our house to the pedestal didn’t test very good. We are supposed to be getting new wire installed to make that better some time in the next seven to ten days. I’m not going to hold my breath hoping our Internet will get much better but it can’t hurt.

MjL

#22 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/15/2014

We have lots of red flags in our yard. The guy from JULIE came by the other day to mark where our underground electric lines run. Now we wait for #Frontier to come out and put in the telephone wire. I’m not holding my breath that this will fix our DSL Internet problems but it shouldn’t hurt.

MjL

#23 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/16/2014

#Frontier
We now have a wire buried underground from the back of our house running across the NE corner of the property to the edge of the road across from the phone pendant across the lane. It isn’t hooked up yet, but it is a start. Next somebody is supposed to come today, Monday or Tuesday at the latest to bore a hole under the lane. Love how specific they are about that —— and no word at all about when the wire will actually be connected. Still, it is progress of a sort.

MjL

#24 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/19/2014

The new phone wire is finally all connected. Our #Frontier Internet DSL connection seems to do pretty well but it still drops out. In fact it dropped out within ten minutes after they finished hooking it up. It has also has some changes in upload speed that are not so too good.

I called the tech support line and they are supposed to take another look at the “line noise”. I think no matter the outcome this time I will lay off for a while as they may eventually decide the best way to fix the problem is to drop our service altogether.

MjL

#25 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/20/2014

Interesting phone calls to #Frontier yesterday morning. First I called to see if we could upgrade our DSL speed and was told we are already paying for 7 Mps and only get 1.5 Mps because the wires won’t handle any faster speeds. And I got our phone dropped by about $30 a month because we no longer need to pay for phone service to get DSL.

I don’t know when that changed but I wish I had called sooner! We haven’t used the land line to talk to anyone in years. I also talked with the maintenance supervisor for our area and he said they hope to upgrade the wiring locally so that we could eventually get faster speeds.

Hurry up and wait yet again.

MjL

#26 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/08/2014

Another story of malfeasance by business. I called #Frontier Communications on August 19th and had them discontinue our telephone service. The bill came while we were on vacation and it did NOT reflect the discontinued service.

I called and the lady tells me the phone wasn’t disconnected until August 27th. She couldn’t seem to understand that I shouldn’t have to pay for any service beyond the day I called. Finally she says they will reimburse me for the amount after August 27th.

First of all I shouldn’t have had to pay for the week it took them to get around to “schedule” the disconnect.

And I certainly shouldn’t have to wait to get reimbursed for payment of service I never received.

Sadly it is the way of America anymore that these outfits can treat their customers like this and your only recourse is to drop them.

Since there aren’t too many choices for Internet service I am stuck with them. I guess I should just be glad I no longer have to pay for phone service I don’t use just to have an Internet connection.

I’ll bet it doesn’t take them a week to discontinue service when someone doesn’t pay the bill?

MjL

#27 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/23/2014

DSL died last evening. After a phone call and two “chats” finally convinced #Frontier that there is indeed an “outage in my area” since I don’t have a connection. They gave me a “trouble ticket”. I plan to call Harvey, the engineer guy I spoke with last time, and see what he knows about it. Fortunately we can use Tracey’s iPad as a wifi hot spot so I can connect but I don’t want to use it too much because she only gets 2G a month. So no YouTube or movies, etc. I had really hoped all the new wires would fix our DSL problems but I was too optimistic. I’m thinking somebody snagged a phone box with a farm implement while harvesting corn.

MjL

#28 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/23/2014

#Frontier
Hi Tammy,
Nothing so far but it is early —— I decided to wait until 8:00 to call Harvey —— give him a chance to get his morning coffee!

MjL

#29 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/23/2014

#Frontier
I called Harvey about 45 minutes ago and left a message —— he just called back. He says it appears somebody cut the line and he thinks it is probably a combine that ran over one of the plastic pedestals you see along the road near farm fields. I should have service back in a couple hours. He also said that if it was a farmer who cut the line they will be billed for the costs of repair. Ouch. I bet Harvey isn’t very popular with the farmers at harvest time.

MjL

#30 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/23/2014

#Frontier
Another update from Harvey: The county did it. They mowed over a connection box full of cable over on Toepher Rd. This happens about once a year. Should be fixed by noon. Keeping my fingers crossed. I am so glad Harvey shared his number with me and encourages customer contact —— this is something new from past practice and I have to say Harvey seems to be on the ball. Nothing to complain about from him.

MjL

#31 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/24/2014

The #Frontier DSL seems to be working great so far —— it started working again around 11:30 or so yesterday morning.

MjL

#32 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/29/2014

I thought we had all our #Frontier DSL troubles settled but it started acting up again over the weekend and was down for a couple hours yesterday. I noticed it was dropping out again this morning so I called Harvey the maintenance engineer and left a message. He just called back and said he would like to have us try a new modem as that might help and that he would look at the numbers on our connection again. I honestly think he is trying to get this solved but I suspect there is only so much he can do with the equipment he has to work with.

MjL

#33 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/30/2014

Around 11 a.m. our DSL died completely. Nothing. Nada. Zip. I puttered around the house doing this or that and kept checking back and around 1 p.m. I noticed it was working again. And very shortly after that a #Frontier repair truck arrived in our driveway and we got a new modem installed.

So, again, our DSL is working pretty good! I can’t say enough about Harvey the maintenance engineer. I don’t know what was done besides the new modem but we have had a connection that has stayed active for the past 16 hours straight and it has been a while since we have had that.

It has been so long since we have had good customer service I am not sure how I feel. I am so used to being cranky about it that actually getting customer satisfaction feels somehow odd. But I think I could get used to it!

MjL

#34 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/14/2014

Our #Frontier Internet service went down for a short while yesterday morning. I called our local guy since I still had his cell phone number from last time this happened. They had me running again in less than a half-hour. In the meantime I used the hotspot on Tracey’s iPad to keep me from going into withdrawal. It was only down maybe an hour altogether anyway.

MjL

#35 Click this link to see Blog page --> 12/04/2014

Aarrghh! The Internet is down at our house. (#Frontier)
All that will work right now is my phone. Withdrawal!

MjL

#36 Click this link to see Blog page --> 12/04/2014

Still no Internet on our DSL but I am using Tracey’s #iPad as a hotspot. That’s the only time I don’t make fun of it. I guess I will have to call the #Frontier maintenance people —— again.

MjL

#37 Click this link to see Blog page --> 05/13/2015

Life almost wasn’t worth living at our house yesterday. The Internet was down! I called Harvey, our local #Frontier DSL maintenance engineer, and he said the entire system was down from Bloomington west and south. I think maybe Harvey regrets giving me his cell phone number. We had no service until late yesterday afternoon. On the upside, with no Internet A&B decided to clean the basement. When the Internet did come back on Tracey told me not to tell them until they were finished cleaning. I thought that was kind of mean, but I agreed.

MjL

#38 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/22/2015

#Frontier
I had some Internet connection issues last night and then some trouble connecting to my FTP site on the Blog this morning but all seems to be well again. Odd when these problems seem to cure themselves without any clues. But that is better than waiting on hold with technical support.

MjL

#39 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/22/2015

#Frontier
Looks like I spoke too soon. My DSL just went to dial-up speeds and that totally sucks. I called Harvey only to find out he’s been transferred to Bloomington so now I have to track down the person who took his place in this area. The Blog may not get any new updates for a while.

MjL

#40 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/22/2015

#Frontier
I finally got a phone number for the new maintenance engineer for our area but she didn’t answer. I left a message an hour ago but no reply. So I just called the national toll free number and spoke to a very pleasant young lady who concurs there is some obviously bad line interference and she put in a “ticket”. Somebody should be here at noon tomorrow to check it out. Within five minutes after that conversation it suddenly fixed itself again.

Stay tuned I guess?

MjL

#41 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/23/2015

My Internet connection speed keeps bobbing up and down every couple hours but it is still better than it was for a few hours yesterday morning. I’m curious to see IF the repair guy ever calls me or if he just closes the ticket out without doing anything like he has the last two times. IF you have a choice, avoid #Frontier.

MjL

#42 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/24/2015

The DSL saga continues. The #Frontier repair guy showed up yesterday and saw that our connections are indeed unreliable but couldn’t find the problem since it insisted on working perfectly while he was checking it.

It worked absolutely fine until about 7 p.m. yesterday when it went completely dead for about 3 hours. I called in another ticket to tech. support and within 15 minutes it started working fine again. It has dropped dead already this morning and then came back again about 15 minutes later. Whatever the problem is I wish it would stay broke long enough for them to find it and fix it.

MjL

#43 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/24/2015

Another weird chapter in the #Frontier DSL saga. I have had no connection since this morning and nobody has been out to work on it as I was told would happen today. (So much for expedited service?) A few minutes ago I called the 800 number to ask if anyone would be out today or not. The woman said she would do a line test and immediately the modem connected and has been connected since. She told me she wanted me to “power cycle” the modem and I told her no. It is working and I don’t want to take a chance on breaking it again. Now we see how long it works and IF the repair guy ever shows up this month.

MjL

#44 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/25/2015

I waited around all day yesterday for the #Frontier tech who never showed. I called once again last night and again the DSL started working again when they did a line test. I told the lady to put that in the growing pages of notes on “my problem” (it is NEVER their problem) and maybe the tech will know what that means (if he ever shows up to fix “my problem"). Meanwhile I am using up the bandwidth on Tracey’s iPad to do my meager posting on the Blog and to check on Facebook.

MjL

#45 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/26/2015

I went for a grocery run first thing yesterday morning and the #Frontier repair truck was in the driveway when I returned home. The repair guy had already replaced the connection plug in our phone box outside the house and then he replaced our DSL modem too. Great connections and great speed. Life was good. Was. At about 7 p.m. our DSL connection died again. I called tech support and put in the third ticket in three days. Maybe I will see the repair guy again today or maybe Monday. As aggravated as all this makes me I can’t get too upset with the Frontier repair people —— they all seem to be trying to do their best to get this figured out.

MjL

#46 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/28/2015

I called the Tech Support line at #Frontier at about 5 a.m. yesterday morning and once again the “line test” rebooted our DSL modem. The tech lady said she could see that our connections were still not quite right but now that it was running properly after the line test all she could do was put in another ticket.

Somebody is supposed to come check it out this coming Thursday. So far it has been working fine so it has made 24 hours of operation without dropping out. Somehow this does not fill me with confidence.

MjL

#47 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/29/2015

I was amazed that I had a #Frontier Internet connection this morning when I got up. The speed was about half of what it should be but that’s better than a sharp stick in the eye. I was expecting I would have to call tech support again like I did yesterday morning to get it jump started with a “line test”.

Unfortunately I only had Internet for about three hours yesterday morning and then briefly last night around ten o’clock I had dial-up speeds for about fifteen minutes.

The last person I spoke to yesterday reminded me that I would get a survey in my email and would I please be kind enough to give her good marks. I reminded her I didn’t have Internet so I wouldn’t be getting any email. Duh? I still fill the silly things out when I get them (at least two a day here lately). I tell them all I hope they get a raise.

So far I have never talked to the same tech twice on the phone.

MjL

#48 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/30/2015

Surprise, surprise —— still have an Internet connection! It has been over 24 hours now and I am amazed. There is still a ticket for a #Frontier tech to come out tomorrow and I’m not cancelling it. I am not convinced that if I lose this connection it will reconnect. Time will tell I guess.

MjL

#49 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/01/2015

I rebooted the DSL modem this morning just to see what would happen. We still have Internet. So I don’t know if somebody at #Frontier actually fixed the problem or if it fixed itself? I was scheduled to have a technician visit —— will that still happen. Life is a mystery.

MjL

#50 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/02/2015

I got a call from the #Frontier tech support guy yesterday. He said he had spent over an hour checking our DSL connections and circuits and couldn’t find anything wrong. Since he couldn’t find anything broken he couldn’t fix it and was closing out the ticket.

Another problem fixed all by itself and nobody knows how or why. I am happy I have Internet again but still disappointed that they never seem to be able to figure out what is going on.

MjL

#51 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/08/2015

Internet issues again this morning. I am using Tracey’s iPad again as a connection hotspot. I’ve made two calls to #Frontier tech support already and there is supposed to be a “ticket” that says somebody “should” show up late tomorrow or Saturday. Maybe. I sure wish they would figure out what is going on.

MjL

#52 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/11/2015

Internet is busted again. I called #Frontier yesterday and found out they had “fixed it” last Thursday shortly after I called and closed out that ticket without calling me. It wasn’t fixed. Not even close. Now I have another ticket. Makes me feel so confident. I’m calling again in a few minutes.

MjL

#53 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/21/2015

Tracey noticed a few days ago that she had no connection to #Verizon cell service with her iPad.

She called yesterday morning and spoke with a young man with a very foreign accent. She had the conversation on speaker phone and I was very impressed with her ability to translate what he was saying —— I could hardly understand a word he said.

Eventually they got her #iPad reset and she was getting a connection again. He even added 300 meg of data to her plan which was nice since I used up most of her data because our #Frontier DSL still isn’t working correctly.

Just another day in the life ——

MjL

#54 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/22/2015

I continue to duel with #Frontier about our DSL service. It bombed again at 9 o’clock last night. I called when I got up at 3 a.m. this morning and I supposedly have another “ticket” in the works. The last two were closed out without any improvement or phone call. I will be greatly surprised if I ever get a phone call back or anything gets fixed.

I called about a week ago to get a credit on my bill for all the service I haven’t been getting for my money. I was told I would get a $99.04 credit on my next bill. I got the next bill and I did get the credit, but I also got billed $85 for technical support. So I called again and we argued about that a bit before they agreed to take that off my bill too. We shall see. So not only have they not fixed THEIR problem they want to bill ME for it.

The saga continues.

MjL

#55 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/26/2015

The struggle continues with #Frontier for the past five or six weeks trying to get a reliable DSL connection.

The past two weeks a specific pattern has emerged. I will have a good connection that lasts anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Then it drops out and reconnects at terribly slow speeds —— approximately the speed of dial-up.

I call the tech support number. They ask a lot of questions, most of them having no bearing on the problem. I politely listen and comply with unplugging the modem, plugging it back in, giving them the model number of the modem, my birth date, etc. Eventually they do a line test and agree there is a problem and during the line test the modem reboots to good speed again.

They tell me there is no way a line test will make it work by itself, despite the fact that I tell them this has happened at least a dozen times over the past six weeks. At this point they either tell me it is fixed and goodbye or they put in a trouble ticket. The last three trouble tickets were closed out with no call back or resolve.

It happened again last night at 6 p.m. No Netflix for another evening. I call at 4 a.m. and endure a person who gets fixated on the fact I am using wireless instead of a wire connection to the modem. I finally give up and hang up after 45 minutes of rude and ridiculous discussion with this person who has no understanding of DSL function.

I keep rebooting the modem and after about twenty tries I suddenly have a good connection again. Who knows for how long. Rinse and repeat.

I used to call Harvey, the local technical engineer for our area. He had always fixed these problems immediately without problems. When this all started a little over a month ago I called Harvey and he told me he couldn’t help me. He had been transferred to Bloomington. He gave me the phone number of his replacement.

I have called at least six times. She never answers the phone and never returns my calls.

I’m going to start calling customer support I guess because I can’t get out of this fruitless runaround with the technicians. If anybody has any connections with Frontier Communications I would appreciate any advice you could give me.

MjL

#56 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/27/2015

My discussions with #Frontier Communications turned decidedly ugly yesterday morning. I called to see what could be done about the DSL problem and was transferred to the “Escalation Department”. It sure got escalated —— I got connected to a very rude woman who wouldn’t let me get a word in edgewise.

She immediately started in on the $85 they had charged me last month (which had subsequently been removed from my bill) and would not let me tell her that wasn’t what I was calling about. Every time I tried to talk about the technical problems she would interrupt and say the technicians had determined “there is nothing wrong with your service” and that I would be billed for any future tickets I generated for service.

Evidently she jumped to the conclusion I was calling to complain about my bill and would not leave it be.

I tried repeatedly to explain I wouldn’t be calling if there wasn’t a problem and that I didn’t care where the problem was I just wanted someone to identify it.

She just kept going back to the service charges I would generate if I didn’t desist in calling because “our technicians have years of experience and they know what they are doing and they have determined there is no problem with your service.” I hung up in mid rant.

So I’ve got a local tech engineer who never answers her phone and never calls back. I finally got the phone number of her boss. He didn’t answer his phone yesterday morning so I left a message. He hasn’t called back.

I also called the billing department to see if there had been any new charges on my bill but they didn’t know from nothing. I will have to wait until my next bill is “generated”.

MjL

#57 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/28/2015

DSL Follow-up ——> I got a call from the local #Frontier maintenance engineer yesterday afternoon. We talked for a bit about all the trouble they are having with my DSL service.

I tried my best to assure her that there was indeed a problem and that all I wanted was some advice as to how WE could figure out how to fix it. I realize it is difficult for them to find a problem if it is working fine when they check it.

I would like to know if there is some other option for me other than calling the national tech support line, getting a repair ticket, etc. Because that is obviously not working and is wasting time for everybody.

I could sense her frustration and I suspect there is still some doubt that there really is a problem. She said she would consult her best IT people and get back with me. I thanked her for calling me because I do appreciate that she hasn’t abandoned me.

Getting the problem fixed is not yet in our grasp but maybe we can start reaching for the answers together.

MjL

#58 Click this link to see Blog page --> 10/30/2015

DSL dead against this morning. Called #Frontier tech support. Line test makes it work again. Everyone still clueless. Last connection lasted 3 days. And so it goes.

MjL

#59 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/02/2015

The #Frontier DSL repair guy showed up Saturday afternoon and I think he may have finally realized what I have been saying all along —— the line test can and does reset our connection.

After all these weeks maybe now they won’t just think we don’t have a problem because he finally saw it was not right just before the line test made it boot up again. We’ve had a good connection since but I know it will go sour again.

MjL

#60 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/07/2015

#Frontier
The DSL was dead again this morning. I think this may have been a record! We made it almost a week since our local repair guy, Rory, got it working last Saturday with a line test. Not a good thing to be on a first name basis with the local DSL repair guy. I will put him on our Christmas card list if he can ever really fix this problem.

I called the national tech support line at 4:23 a.m. this morning (according to my phone). As soon as the guy ran the line test the modem rebooted to faster speeds. Again I told him to write EVERYTHING down including his name and employee ID number. This is what Rory told me to tell him. So we shall see if anything comes of all this note taking. I just hope the connection holds through the weekend. It usually doesn’t.

MjL

#61 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/14/2015

The #Frontier DSL connection was dead again this morning. We almost made it a week this time.

Another call to tech support, another line test and again it is working. Not as fast as it should be but fast enough we can use it. And so it continues.

It is obvious by now they have no intention of finding or fixing the root cause of this problem. I just wish we had an affordable alternative.

MjL

#62 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/21/2015

Downloaded the electronic version of my #Frontier Internet bill last evening. Once again they have charged me $85 for “Tech Isolation —— first hour”. Whatever that means. My DSL still doesn’t work properly.

I was charged this same amount last month too and they gave me a credit after I called billing. And then charged it again this month. I’ll make another call this Monday. This is just getting more ridiculous.

MjL

#63 Click this link to see Blog page --> 12/01/2015

I hesitate to say anything for fear I will jinx things but my DSL has been working flawlessly for almost two weeks. I will never know what happened but IF it is indeed fixed for good I would love to get together with everyone from #Frontier who was involved and buy them all a few drinks. After months of bitching to them about this it would be nice to thank them for FINALLY fixing it!

MjL

#64 Click this link to see Blog page --> 12/21/2015

I am currently on hold with #Frontier Tech Support. It appears I was premature in my celebration that the connection problem had been fixed. Such is life. I sure hope we can get it working again before Christmas or the boys will be VERY disappointed.

MjL

#65 Click this link to see Blog page --> 12/21/2015

#Frontier
DSL suddenly started working again. Fingers crossed hoping it was just a temporary glitch. Afraid it is not. Tech support was no help that I was aware of —— said that due to “extraordinary work load and the holidays the repair technician won’t be out until a week from today”. That’s just swell.

MjL

#66 Click this link to see Blog page --> 12/31/2015

I have called #Frontier every day this past week except Tues (no power) and each time I have been told a technician will fix our dead DSL connection today. We shall see. I am NOT holding my breath. This saga has been going on for months now.

MjL

#67 Click this link to see Blog page --> 01/01/2016

The #Frontier technician arrived yesterday as promised.
And once again our DSL works like it is supposed to. This time he fixed a broken connection at a junction box across the lane and about 550 feet from our house.

He says he thinks *this time* he has found the problem that has been plaguing us for all these many weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed.

MjL

#68 Click this link to see Blog page --> 03/10/2016

I think I may have finally closed the case on my #Frontier DSL speed problems. At least I hope so anyway. The problems with bad connections started toward the end of last September. The first thing Frontier did was to cut my speed in half from three meg download speeds. This didn’t fix the problem. After numerous calls and technician visits the connection was fixed on December 31st.

I tried to get my speeds returned to what they were but the technician was adamant that was part of the problem. Since then I have been calling every week to ten days trying to get the cap removed so I could get maximum speed again.

Yesterday I finally talked to a lady at Frontier who didn’t argue with me. She had the speed cap removed and said she couldn’t find any reason that it had ever been capped in the first place.

Now we wait to see how long that lasts, but it is great to have decent speed again so I don’t have to wait for every page to load.

MjL

#69 Click this link to see Blog page --> 03/11/2016

Around 9 a.m. yesterday my DSL dropped to ½ speed again. Frustrating. I called #Frontier up and spent another ½ hour on hold while they looked into it. I was just about to hang up when the guy came back on the line and said it had been corrected. Again. He said the setting hadn’t been locked in.

I wondered if it somebody here locally reset it slower but I didn’t say anything. The speed has been good again up until now but I am still more than a little nervous it will get cut again. Again.

MjL

#70 Click this link to see Blog page --> 06/15/2016

I had a ton of problems again this morning with our #Frontier DSL connection. I was beginning to think there was something wrong with my computer so I turned on the hot spot on my cell phone. Connected right up and worked fine.

So I called the DSL people. My first try didn’t go too well. I was connected with somebody in a foreign country who insisted on lecturing me about not being promised any certain speeds. I hung up.

I called again a few minutes later and got somebody who was more interested in fixing the problem. He ran a line test, agreed there was a problem and put in a “ticket”. I then called Rory, our local maintenance tech, and told him about my problem and the ticket status. Basically the lights are on but nobody is home with the DSL service.

Rory called me back a while ago and said he had worked for an hour or so to fix the problem. It is going great now! Thanks to Rory! I know I give the repair people a hard time on occasion but today I am all smiles for a change.

MjL

#71 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/06/2016

Every few weeks I fire off another email to #Frontier asking them to please (yes PLEASE!) fix my DSL service. I rarely even get a reply. I got a reply yesterday in response to an email I sent a month ago.

“We are applying improvements to the network in your area. We are working to have these completed as quickly as possible. During this time customers will experience slow speeds and connectivity issues when there is an area of high demand on the network.”

Imagine that —— my DSL sucks because they are “applying improvements”. I could do without this kind of improvement. How does this even make any sense? We have to break it so we can fix it?

MjL

#72 Click this link to see Blog page --> 04/06/2017

I got an email from #Frontier.com with dire warnings about how my password is insecure and within the next month I have to change to yet another password security “protocol” they have dreamed up. I really do get tired of all the password mania. We have the hardware technology to use fingerprint scanners and the scanners are getting fairly affordable.

I wish they would explore that as an option because I’m tired of playing security theater with the failed #Password game.

MjL

#73 Click this link to see Blog page --> 04/27/2017

For the past couple weeks we have had increasing problems with #Frontier Internet disconnects. I called tech support Tuesday and convinced them to put in a trouble ticket.

Yesterday I got a call from Rory the local repair guy. He said he was going to change some connections at the Tremont office and he brought out another new modem.

I hooked up the new modem and everything was great for a while then the connection started dropping out again until about 6 last evening. It has been running great since then. Keeping my fingers crossed but not holding my breath.

The technicians seem to be doing what they can but I sense the real problem is that the company just won’t spend the money for better wire and equipment maintenance.

MjL

#74 Click this link to see Blog page --> 05/10/2017

Spent some time talking with Rory, our #Frontier DSL repair guy, and a technician on the so-called Internet Help Desk. I seem to have stumbled into a turf war between the local guy and the desk jockeys. I tend to believe our local guy has done all he can to fix the problem and the help desk people just thumb through the book and pass the buck on down. Regardless, it would seem I won’t be getting our busted DSL fixed any time soon.

It seems to work just fine until about 8 a.m. Then it is mostly off until around 6 p.m. Odd how that seems to be peak usage time?

MjL

#75 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/09/2017

Our DSL was down most of yesterday morning. I called #Frontier and, of course, immediately regretted it because it was clear the woman on the other end was completely clueless. She eventually agreed to put in a “ticket”. Lucky me.

Later in the morning I got an automated call announcing they were having a “network problem”. They finally had it back working just before noon.

It’s down again this morning.

I’m using my cell phone as a WiFi connection but I hate using up that data. Especially since I don’t have much left at the end of the month.

MjL

#76 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/22/2017

We have been having a lot of #Frontier DSL trouble lately. I just wish all the other options weren’t so expensive because it would be so nice to have a reliable connection. It dropped out so much last evening it took us almost three hours to watch 1.5 hours of Netflix.

MjL

#77 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/23/2017

I see the #Frontier Communications repair truck is at my neighbor’s house. This could mean one of three possible outcomes for me ——

1.) Nothing.
(This is probably the best I can hope for.)

2.) They fix something for him and it helps me too.
(Not very likely but we can hope can’t we?)

3.) They fix his problem by swapping out wires, our service disappears. (Very likely. This happens all too often.)

MjL

#78 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/23/2017

Well, it has been 11/2 hours and no change so far in the #Frontier DSL connection so I am going with #1 as the final outcome.

Hope I haven’t jinxed myself here!

MjL

#79 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/25/2017

#Frontier
I am currently enjoying really fast DSL speeds. This happens very rarely, probably once a month or less, and it simultaneously fills me with joy and anger.

Joy obviously because it is a pleasure to surf the web without having to wait for pages to load and I can upload and download files so much faster.

Anger because this proves it is possible to attain such bandwidth and absolutely negates all of my provider’s excuses to the contrary. The favorite excuse being I live too far from town and the physical length of the wires makes it “impossible” to get faster speeds.

Oh Well. I guess I should just enjoy it while I have it. In the past I have dreamed this speed would remain but I know it won’t.

I returned home briefly before venturing into town to buy some groceries. After getting that done and everything loaded into the house I should have gone out to work in the yard but ended up being a lazy bum. Again. As usual.

MjL

#80 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/26/2017

My blazing fast Internet connection yesterday morning didn’t last long. As predicted my #Frontier DSL connection dropped out completely just before noon yesterday. After about an hour of short connections or none at all we have now reverted to the same sadistically slow speeds and drop outs every half-hour or so. Aggravation.

MjL

#81 Click this link to see Blog page --> 11/21/2017

#Frontier Our Internet connection died yesterday afternoon. I waited an hour or so and called tech support. I was informed there was no local outage reported and a repair ticket was put in the system. I could expect the repairman to arrive in two days.

Last evening I received an automated phone call telling me it was an area wide outage and would be fixed soon. About a half-hour later all was well. So if the thing is going to break hope that a lot of people are involved so it will get fixed sooner.

MjL

#82 Click this link to see Blog page --> 05/15/2018

The #Frontier repair truck just pulled into my neighbor’s driveway. That always worries me a little because it could mean they will swap his bad connection for my good connection. Again. I think they have several bad wires that simply get passed around among us when we complain.

MjL

#83 Click this link to see Blog page --> 06/01/2018

There will be no Twitter Roundup today because I have been shut off by #Frontier DSL. Service was supposed to be switched over to the trailer later today but they must have disconnected service here already. I am using my phone for an Internet connection and have limited bandwidth.


Things went from bad to worse. Shortly after activating the hot spot on my phone it locked up and the Internet connection died. So no Internet and no phone.

The #Blog will be greatly delayed in updates until I get this sorted out. I am using Tracey’s #iPad to connect for now.

It is always something.

MjL

#84 Click this link to see Blog page --> 06/02/2018

#TheBigMove
#Frontier got us again. After waiting for hours and hours for a technician to show up we finally hooked up the modem ourselves. It works but the speed is very bad. Tracey called tech support and the call got passed around between tech support and customer support until we were told somebody would be out to fix it Monday. So we don’t have Internet at either house now.

The #DirecTV guy showed up on time and connected our service in less than an hour. Very prompt and professional. Frontier could learn a lot from them.

Now we have TV service at the trailer with a dinky TV and nothing to sit on but kitchen chairs and I’m using my cell phone to connect to the Internet. There won’t be much Internet use before I use up all the bandwidth.


I forgot to mention that Tracey used her #iPad as a hot spot for me yesterday long enough to Google the problem with my phone lock up and I managed to push and hold for 7 to 10 seconds the proper sequence of buttons to reboot it. So far it has been working fine.

MjL

#85 Click this link to see Blog page --> 05/16/2019

I spent the last hour on the phone cancelling our #Frontier DSL, changing our cell phone plan to remove the Unlimited Data Plan, and #DirecTV (ATT) to cancel that service.

It all went pretty well. ATT was the worst. The guy tried every angle possible to get us to keep a discounted service. He finally relented and LET us cancel. We will take our old equipment to the UPS store in Pekin and have it shipped back.

Our DSL modem is so old Frontier doesn’t even want it back.

MjL

#86 Click this link to see Blog page --> 05/23/2019

In the same vein, I got a bill from #Frontier for $9.99.

It was billed as a “Broadband processing fee”. Ten bucks to close your account. America has become a sad place to live.

MjL

#87 Click this link to see Blog page --> 08/30/2019

Tracey’s email quite working a couple days ago so I tried to access it with the webmail page. I got a network error and after a couple tries I got a #Frontier email warning page with a toll free number to call.

So I called and a nice young lady answered. English is NOT her first language and we had to repeat things quite a few times. She kept telling me to login to the Yahoo.com page and check if it worked. I tried to convince her there is no Yahoo page that is connected to Tracey’s email.

Finally she tried resetting the #Password and it started working. We couldn’t get the password the same as it has been for almost twenty years because she has to change it to something that has never been used before. I have no idea why, but she was adamant.

I am also a bit miffed that there is no way WE can change the password. The only way is to call Frontier and have them do it. Doesn’t seem very secure to me?

Update 08/30/24
Frontier has completely moved all mail services to Yahoo
and it is much more reliable and easier to manage.

MjL

#88 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/17/2019

Once again my #Frontier email server has died. Hopefully it won’t take several days or more for them to get it fixed. Last time it was Tracey’s email and I had to call them to get them to fix it. She had to change her email #Password because they wouldn’t let her keep her old one.

MjL

#89 Click this link to see Blog page --> 09/17/2019

I spent about an hour getting the email situation fixed. I called #Frontier and got a nice lady with a heavy Spanish accent. It took a while to get my account working again (had to change the password). Once again I didn’t get the #Password I wanted but it works so there is that.

I had the most trouble updating my #Microsoft Outlook account. I finally backed up the account, deleted it, and then reconnected with the new password. There were some tense moments when I thought I had deleted this year’s emails but I finally got it synced up again. What a pain.

In their efforts to fool proof the program Msoft has made it virtually impossible to manually change server settings.

MjL

#90 Click this link to see Assorted Stuff page --> 09/18/2019 #4

Yesterday it was waiting on #Frontier to fix my email access.

MjL

#91 Click this link to see Twitter Roundup page --> 10/03/2021 #1

Reminds me of the time the #Frontier DSL repair guy pulled up in my driveway in a brand new van and told me they couldn’t fix our Internet problems because they didn’t have the money for new equipment. I raised an eyebrow and pointed at his brand new van and asked if that wasn’t “new equipment”.

MjL

#92 Click this link to see Cartoons page --> 12/06/2022 #29

Heard this often from #Frontier when we were in Tremont.

MjL