Frontier Communications' failure to provide adequate DSL internet speeds has led the US Federal Trade Commission to require that the ISP spend at least $50 million to install high-speed fiber for affected residents in California.
The FTC made the demand as part of a 2021 lawsuit against Frontier that accused the company of lying about its DSL internet speeds to subscribers in several states.
The lawsuit was originally going to enter its bench trial phase this September. But the FTC and the district attorney of Riverside, California, announced they had reached a settlement with Frontier on the case, which will bring fiber-optic internet to residents in the state.
According to the proposed order from the FTC, Frontier must pay an estimated $50 million to $60 million to deploy the fiber to 60,000 additional residential locations in California over the next four years. These 60,000 locations currently only have access to the company’s slower DSL network, which the FTC claims often failed to reach the advertised speeds of 6Mbps, 12Mbps, 18Mbps, 24Mbps, or higher, depending on the plan.
The order also forces Frontier to reform its practices nationwide, according to the FTC. For example, the company can only offer its DSL service to new customers if it can actually do so at the advertised speed. Another requirement is how Frontier is barred from signing up new DSL subscribers in areas where congestion is already high due to too many existing users.
For existing customers, Frontier must notify them if their DSL internet speeds are running slower than advertised and allow them to change or cancel the service at no additional charge.
“Today’s proposed order requires Frontier to back up its high-speed claims. It also arms customers lured in by Frontier’s lies with free, easy options for dropping their slow service,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Frontier did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the FTC said the proposed order will “have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.”
FTC added that the proposed order forces Frontier to prepare a $250,000 fund to reimburse consumers in California harmed by the company’s practices.
Several other states, including Indiana, Michigan, and North Carolina, were originally named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Frontier. But the FTC told us the judge dismissed these states from the lawsuit, which was filed in a California district court. A US Supreme Court ruling made last year also prevents the FTC from seeking nationwide monetary relief.
UPDATE: Frontier sent PCMag the following about why it settled the lawsuit.
"As we noted in May 2021, we believe the complaint included baseless allegations and disregarded important facts. Furthermore, the March 2022 settlement stipulates that we admit no wrongdoing. We settled the lawsuit in good faith to put it behind us so we could focus on our business — that’s in the best interest of all our stakeholders, and especially our customers. Our commitment is to our customers and providing them with access to high-speed internet and improving our service in rural and underserved areas," the company said.