Frontier Communications Verizon Takeover: Problems Persist

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Frontier Communications entered the Florida market with a bang on April Fools’ Friday, taking over all accounts formerly owned by Verizon.

Shortly after the planned switch over, widespread outages in the Tampa Bay area were reported by AT&T customers. That issue, several media outlets reported, was caused by Frontier when a piece of equipment related to the fiber-optic network being improperly set.

AT&T did not implicate Frontier in information it released related to the Friday morning outage, but did say the problem centered on “a local service provider issue.”

That large AT&T outage aside, Friday’s change to Frontier also resulted in widespread reports of issues related to lost phone service, downed internet service, missing on demand channels, customer inability to set up accounts with their new service provider and more.

Those problems continued in some parts of the Tampa Bay area on Monday. The Frontier Communications’ Facebook page has been inundated with more than 3,000 comments related to the takeover, which occurred simultaneously in Florida, California and Texas.

See Also:

• Frontier's Verizon Takeover: What Tampa Bay Needs To Know

Monday’s comments alone numbered in the hundreds by early afternoon.

“Curious question Frontier Communications will you be sending out all new remotes to the new customers,” one person asked. “LOL Mine say Verizon, you know the company that actually delivered the product we pay for.”

Specific complaints included the loss of movies formerly purchased from Verizon, a total loss of all services for one customer since Friday, missing on demand channels and lengthy wait times for those attempting to get through to customer service.

Frontier Communications’ media relations department responded to Patch with the following statement:

On April 1, Frontier acquired Verizon’s wireline operations in California, Florida, and Texas. This included approximately 3.3 million voice connections, 2.1 million broadband connections, and 1.2 million FiOS video subscribers. Given the size and scope of this transaction, some of our customers experienced service disruptions. This is not the result we intended and we apologize to our customers experiencing any problems. We are devoting significant time and resources to successfully resolving any and all issues because we understand and appreciate that consumers rely on our products and services to conduct business, communicate with friends and family, and access entertainment. We are also aware that some customers are experiencing issues viewing some of the previously available Video on Demand (VOD) content as well as with registering for a Frontier ID. VOD content is now available and we are continuing to add more titles each day, including those movies and TV shows previously purchased by customers. We are also devoting resources to resolving outstanding issues related to Frontier ID. We want to assure our customers that they do not need to be concerned if their bill was due during this transition period because no late fees will be applied to their account for the first month. Our intent is to address all customer needs and concerns and customers with questions should contact Frontier Customer Service at (800) 921-8101 or go to meetfrontier.com.

Customer service representatives were busy on Facebook Monday trying to address concerns.

In response to one person’s complaints about on demand services not working right, a company representative apologized. “There may be a period of time where some titles aren’t available,” the company representative wrote. “Please check daily to refresh your Video on Demand library. We aim to have this service back as soon as possible.”

Frontier has also updated its residential frequently asked questions section on its website with new information since the takeover. They can be viewed on the Frontier website.

Have you experienced problems since the Frontier Communications takeover in Tampa Bay? Tell us about them by commenting below.

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