Verizon selling CA, FL, TX Services to Frontier

[bbinnard]

When I read about Verizon agreeing to sell it's "wireline" customers, service, and equipment  in California, Texas, and Florida to Frontier I took that to mean they were selling their copper wire services only.  But apparently this is not the case.  This WSJ article says the sale includes FIOS as well:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/verizon-to-sell-certain-wireline-assets-for-10-billion-1423171649

In today's LA Times Fontier had a full page ad saying they were looking forward to expanding their network by absorbing all Verizon accounts (phone, TV, Internet, FIOS) in these 3 states.

So how is this going to work?  Will Frontier take over the Verizon servers that provide our service?  Will we have to se up all new billing accounts? What about VOD service? The whole thing seems rather mysterious.

There are several postings about bad problems in previous Frontier takeovers:

http://www.courant.com/consumer/bottom-line/hc-bottom-line-frontier-att-takeover-20141204-column.htm...

As of right now I do not have a very good feeling about this.  Fortunately I live in an area where there is an alternative provider (Cox) but I know most people won't have this luxury.

[db909 · Accepted solution]

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@bbinnard wrote:

As of right now I do not have a very good feeling about this.  Fortunately I live in an area where there is an alternative provider (Cox) but I know most people won't have this luxury.

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Huh?  Most people on FIOS do have a cable option.

[ThorntonE]

I just received a letter from Frontier Communications indicating that beginning in March 2016, they will be taking over the wired home telephone service in my area (Tampa, Florida).

Since Verizon has established extensive bundling of services (Home Telephone, FIOS internet, FIOS TV, and for some folks WIreless), what does this mean?

Are we going to receive separate phone bills now?  What will happen with the bundled deal discounts we are currently receiving (supposedly a 2 year deal)?

Since Verizon has apparently terminated our contractual obligation to them, are we allowed to select another home phone service besides Frontier?

[ElizabethS]

The Frontier site should answer most of your questions, either in the FAQ or by searching for a topic.   http://www.meetfrontier.com/

[ThorntonE]

I looked there, and everything is confused.

The letter states Frontier is taking over Verizon wired services, but doesn't clarify if that means phone, TV and internet as well.  The FAQ doesn't specify.

Quite frankly, the whole deal seems shady.

[tns2]

Yes they are taking over all services except wireless in California, Florida, and Texas.  Phone, Internet, and TV.

[bbinnard]

April 1 is only 2 weeks away and I have heard nothing from Frontier about the cutover. Are they simply going to surprise us?

[Justin46]

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@bbinnard wrote:

April 1 is only 2 weeks away and I have heard nothing from Frontier about the cutover. Are they simply going to surprise us?

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What are you looking for? Frontier has pretty much said that we will not see any real changes in the beginning - hope that is true, but all we can do is wait and see I think.

There are some threads here in the Verizon Forums on the subject, particularly a sticky one in the Email Forum here by Nilsa with a link, if you go to the Frontier website you will find a fair amount of information (Q&A, etc.), and finally there is a Frontier forum at dslreports.com with an onging discussion on the changeover. You might check those out to see if any concerns you have are addressed.

One thing that will be different is that Frontier apparently does not host (or sponsor) any forums of their own, unlike these Verizon forums. So our choices for help will be phone or email, or help from other users at dslreports.com. Some of us are trying to get dslreports.com to expand their forum support for Frontier, and add a Frontier Direct forum similar to the one they have there for Verizon, but no action yet, at least that I know of.

Maybe there are other information sources that I am not aware of, hopefully some others will chime in.

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV: Extreme HD, Internet: 50/50, Digital Voice
VMS Enhanced Service: 1 server, 2 clients
Keller, TX 76248 (VHO 1)
Soon to be a Frontier FiOS customer

[tns2]

They have their site FOR the conversion.  Hopefully it will show some updates.  http://meetfrontier.com/

I have started to see local Frontier ads mentioning they are coming.

AOL , rather than Frontier, is handling the email switch over.  Hopefully you have already successfully switched over as have most of us.  We are hearing some people who had big problems with the switchover of email.

[bbinnard]

I've been cjecking the meetfrontier site every few days for updates. Now I see that starting 23 Mar 2016 it will be possible to set up a Frontier ID and account. It will be interesting to see how they manage transferring the billing information. I am also curious about what will happen to our IP addresses, and if they change what sort of service interruption there will be when that happens.

I don't use Verizon email so that change will not affect me. Here in the Los Angeles area I have not seen any ads about Frontier but my guess is they basically say "Don't worry; keep smiling".