Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has reached a settlement agreement with Frontier Communications to increase the quality of internet coverage to underserved areas of Ohio and to stop overbilling customers for unreliable service.
The settlement comes after an investigation into Frontier’s sales and advertising practices related to the internet services offered and sold to Ohio consumers. In conjunction with outside counsel, Yost’s Consumer Protection Section negotiated the settlement after finding the internet provider, based in Norwalk, Conn., was charging customers prices for certain levels of internet speeds that the company knew could not be reached.
“Reliability is something all Ohioans need particularly when it comes to their internet,” Yost said. “It’s also just as important that they are getting what they pay for, and this agreement rectifies both and is a big win for Frontier’s customers.”
Frontier provides services to more than 84,000 residential customers in Ohio. As part of the agreement, Frontier is funding upgrades to its internet infrastructure to provide or enhance existing services in Ohio and for Ohio consumers.
Frontier must also cease advertisements that were found to be deceptive in terms of the levels of internet speeds it can deliver in certain pricing tiers of its products and must offer certain customers the option to continue with their current plan, discontinue with no fee or move to a different lower cost service package with a lower service speed, if available.