# Any downside to DirecTV + Frontier?



## TheFigurehead (Mar 29, 2009)

I had to call Frontier Communications last week about a billing question... while I was on the phone, the CSR asked if I was a DirecTV customer, and I said yes. He then said I could combine my DirecTV monthly charges on my Frontier landline/DSL bill. I told them OK go ahead and put all the charges together. Today, I got a letter from DirecTV basically saying "Thanks for your order"... "Description: Request to OPT-IN to a single bill with Frontier".

Currently, I have Choice Plus with 4 DVR's, unsupported MRV and a $10.00 per month credit for auto-paying. I am not under any programming commitment with DirecTV.

Will this single billing setup with Frontier affect my current credit for auto-pay? Also, will this enter me into a 2 year programming commitment? The letter says I have 90 days to respond.

Thanks in advance for any info.


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## Tisby (Jun 4, 2010)

Call and ask. Twice. Forever and ever keep the date & times of the conversations along with the Reps' #. Email as well to try and get it in writing. Good luck!


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## SamC (Jan 20, 2003)

I had Verizon which sold out to Frontier. Already bundled with DirecTV for years at the time of the take over. Normally Frontier bundles with DISH (the only major phone company that does that) but they said I was "grandfathered" with DirecTV and continue to send a bill. Its just one bill with a small discount for "bundling". It does not increase your commitment. 

You call DirecTV for service issues and Frontier for billing issues.


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## TheFigurehead (Mar 29, 2009)

I think I am regretting it already... I logged into my Frontier account and noticed my circuit was reprovisioned from 7.1 mb to 3.0 mb service. I called Frontier a few minutes ago to get them to put it back and was told that my area (Central IL) had a cap on the 7.1 service! System was not allowing any orders above 3.0/mb. Brutal... they are 'looking into getting my circuit re-certified' for the 7.1 speed. 

The slower speed was really noticable when I used the VOD for History Channel show (DTV channel number 1269, How the States Got Thier Shape). Seemed to take forever...


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## dsw2112 (Jun 13, 2009)

TheFigurehead said:


> ...Also, will this enter me into a 2 year programming commitment?


If I remember correctly combining AT&T and D* bills adds a 12 month D* extension. It would not surprise me if the same were true for Frontier.


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## TheFigurehead (Mar 29, 2009)

I guess I would not mind a 1 year commitment extention if it included something like a new WHDVR Deca setup or a new HDTivo. What I really want is my 7.1 mb service back. I don't think I can take the 3.0 mb cap. I am prety sure our local Comcast is in the 10 mb download ranges now...


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

For some reason, this doesn't surprise me. This is the same ISP that defined acceptable use as 5 GB a month for DSL.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

TheFigurehead said:


> I guess I would not mind a 1 year commitment extention if it included something like a new WHDVR Deca setup or a new HDTivo. What I really want is my 7.1 mb service back. I don't think I can take the 3.0 mb cap. I am prety sure our local Comcast is in the 10 mb download ranges now...


I'm in southern Illinois and Verizon was offering 10Mb service but when Frontier came in all that was available was 3Mb service. No equipment changes at either end were changed out, they just made up some stories about why.

I made up my own story and switched to cable modem...


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## matthew999 (May 23, 2007)

I live in the MN area that Frontier serves. I've had Dtv for 10+ years. Had no idea they could bundle with Frontier.

I used to engineer the DSL equipment so I know what all those boxes are capable of and they have me stuck at 6M. They don't offer anything higher at a reasonable price.

Get it in writing. So send a email to Frontier.


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## rrdirectsr (Jan 30, 2011)

TheFigurehead said:


> I had to call Frontier Communications last week about a billing question... while I was on the phone, the CSR asked if I was a DirecTV customer, and I said yes. He then said I could combine my DirecTV monthly charges on my Frontier landline/DSL bill. I told them OK go ahead and put all the charges together. Today, I got a letter from DirecTV basically saying "Thanks for your order"... "Description: Request to OPT-IN to a single bill with Frontier".
> 
> Currently, I have Choice Plus with 4 DVR's, unsupported MRV and a $10.00 per month credit for auto-paying. I am not under any programming commitment with DirecTV.
> 
> ...


The only issues i've observed as a tech CSR for D** is if you don't pay your bill the telephone company can shut off services and you must go thru them to get them reinstated. If you don't get home until 7 PM and you have that happen you may not get services back until 9 AM the next morning.


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## jaxtoo (May 6, 2011)

The real problem seems to come in if and when you should decide, for any reason, that you want to UNbundle the service. We've just spent days on the phone trying to get a finalized bill. And because Directv is one month behind Frontiers billing, when you unbundle it you suddenly owe an extra month of Directv. Which they demand immediately or they will cancel your service.

It was a real headache. I will never bundle a service again that belongs to different providers. But during the time we were bundled, we didn't experience any problems.

That is really interesting about the speed caps. I wonder if that is why we were suddenly unhappy with DSL after all those years, because Frontier dropped our speed? I never thought to check, for some stupid reason. Anyway, we are on cable now and much happier with that, the speed is amazing compared to Frontier DSL.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

jaxtoo said:


> The real problem seems to come in if and when you should decide, for any reason, that you want to UNbundle the service. We've just spent days on the phone trying to get a finalized bill. And because Directv is one month behind Frontiers billing, when you unbundle it you suddenly owe an extra month of Directv. Which they demand immediately or they will cancel your service.
> 
> It was a real headache. I will never bundle a service again that belongs to different providers. But during the time we were bundled, we didn't experience any problems.


My parents just went through this exact situation (they dropped their land line and needed to unbundle as a result). Same exact problem and due to the way things are billed my dad thought that there was an extra charge in there. At the end of the day we were able to figure out where all of the dollars went/came from, but it took a couple of phone calls to finally get the right answer to everything.

In his case, DIRECTV was not paid immediately by Frontier (which was the normal expectation). As time previous bill became over due and a new bill was issued from DIRECTV (he didn't know this until the call). Frontier had already been paid for the service .. They just didn't pay DIRECTV due to the timing of everything.

Now, at the end of the day, Frontier issued the correct credit, including the original payment for the DIRECTV service. So there wasn't really a double pay at all, but the money was tied up in credits/re-bills (between the two companies) for one billing cycle. It's certainly not the end of the world as, like I said, things worked out in the end. However, there was an unneeded amount of stress as a result of the unbundling.

As long as you keep this in mind if you ever reach that point of unbundling, things should go just fine along the normal course of the program.


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## jaxtoo (May 6, 2011)

Oh we did receive the appropriate credits from Frontier. But we did still have to pay double to Directv for one month. No, not the end of the world, but it was 90 bucks we were not expecting to pay.

My biggest gripe with the whole thing was that nobody was able to explain to us what the extra charge was for. It took about 6 phone calls before anyone could explain it. And it was a Frontier person, not a Directv person, who finally explained it.

Seems to me that both companies CSRs should have know immediately what the extra charge was for and should have been able to explain it to us instead of us just receiving threatening phone calls from Directv saying they were going to cancel our service if we did not give them a credit card number immediately. We actually thought it was a scam at first, but come to find out it was not. Even a Directv CSR told us it must be a scam, that they would never call us like that. But indeed they did.


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

TheFigurehead said:


> I think I am regretting it already... I logged into my Frontier account and noticed my circuit was reprovisioned from 7.1 mb to 3.0 mb service. I called Frontier a few minutes ago to get them to put it back and was told that my area (Central IL) had a cap on the 7.1 service! System was not allowing any orders above 3.0/mb.


Went through the same thing with them. I had 7.1 with Verizon, but when Frontier took over, I called them to make a change to my account. Frontier gives you your second line for free, so I wanted that. In all the changes, I lost my 7.1 (I am about 5,000' from the RT and had a rock solid connection). Well 3.0, which was closer to 2.5, just didn't cut it for DOD.

So I switched to Comcast and Vonage. Switched my parents to Suddenlink and am now almost Frontier free. I kept my fax line with them on a minimum charge so I have an emergency phone if Comcast goes out or we lose power for longer than the battery back lasts.


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## grassfeeder (Jan 25, 2011)

Frontier's billing is an absolute nightmare. I had verizon FiOS for both TV and internet and absolutely loved the service. Not a single issue the entire time. The sold out to Frontier and all down hill from there. I ended up ditching the Frontier TV and am now obviously with DirecTV but I have kept my Frontier FiOS internet which is 15/5 at the slowest. I keep my bills separate - and for a reason. With all the Direct credits every month, I have absolute zero faith in Frontier being able to get things right on a consistent basis as they couldn't even handle their own services correctly. Bundles are always great, but unless there is financial incentive and unless they're with an established provider.....I don't see the value add.


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## TheFigurehead (Mar 29, 2009)

It took a few weeks, but Frontier finally did restore my DSL circuit to 7.1 mb. Their csr's were really nice, but not very helpful. It took a call to the local area field manager to finally get the service restored. 

Now I just hope my next billing statement isn't completely messed up. I am going to wait a few weeks before I decide whether or not to combine my DirecTV billing with my Frontier charges.


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