Verizon-Frontier Acquisition: How Will It Affect Customers?

If you get internet from Frontier, you may be on the way to becoming a Verizon customer. The two internet providers announced last week that Verizon is in the process of acquiring Frontier for $20 billion.

The deal is expected to be finalized within the next 18 months, and it could have big impacts on internet users across the country. Verizon already offers cellular services and 5G home internet nationwide, but its top-rated Fios fiber service (which currently serves 7.4 million customers) is only available on the East Coast. When we did the math, we found that absorbing Frontier’s 2.2 million fiber customers would make Verizon one of the largest fiber internet providers in the country.

So what does that mean for you—the customer? Of course, you can always expect some changes to happen when your internet provider or cellular carrier gets swallowed up by a larger company or vice versa. Let’s dive into the details to see what you should expect.

Verizon is interested in buying Frontier to gain an advantage in a nationwide race to build up fiber-optic internet networks. Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg made that clear in a statement about the acquisition, calling the deal a “strategic fit” that provides “an opportunity to become more competitive in more markets throughout the United States.” Interestingly, the deal includes broadband and cellular operations that Verizon originally sold to Frontier for $10.5 billion in 2015.

Fiber is the fastest and most reliable internet you can get, and it’s gotten extremely popular in the wake of the pandemic. Our writers at Reviews.org recommend fiber internet over anything else pretty much as a matter of policy—it’s fast, reliable, and gives you excellent value, which is why it’s often called “fantastic fiber.” (Just kidding, no one calls it that.)

Fiber access has been limited until now because building up fiber networks is an extremely costly endeavor for a telecom company. While cable or DSL internet use preexisting phone and cable TV networks to get you internet, fiber requires brand new infrastructure, including miles of fiber-optic cabling buried underground and optical network terminals set up at hundreds or even thousands of homes in any given service area.

Why go through all that trouble when you can buy a company that already did? By acquiring Frontier, Verizon will get a much larger fiber footprint nationwide and an edge on competitors like AT&T and Google Fiber. It will also allow for a greater integration between Verizon’s fiber and cellular services as more telecom companies push internet and phone bundles.

Frontier’s fiber and DSL internet is available in 25 states, and as a Verizon press release suggests, this acquisition means all of those customers could be “immediately and seamlessly integrated” under Verizon’s purview.

The two telecom companies are going to take at least a year and a half to iron out the deal. After that, Fios will become a lot more widely available across the country—a big advantage to current Verizon phone and 5G home internet customers, who will have a fast fiber option to choose from and can also get discounted rates with a phone and Fios bundle package. But Frontier customers could end up seeing changes on their monthly bills, including potentially higher rates as well as bundle options with mobile services.

Although it’s too early to say how things will go down, it’s possible that Frontier’s fiber customers could see higher prices on their internet when they get moved under the Verizon name. Frontier’s current fiber plans are much cheaper than Verizon’s, starting at just $29.99 a month compared to the Fios base price of $49.99 a month. New Frontier customers can also get $10 a month off YouTube TV for a year.

Telecom consultant Doug Dawson writes in a blog post that Frontier customers might not see changes on their internet bills at first—but that could change: “Prices usually stay the same for a while after a merger, but eventually are brought into sync.” Sherwin Kamyab, a Frontier customer in Plano, Texas, told us in a phone call that he worries his monthly prices will go up due to the acquisition.

“That’s always going to be in the back of my mind," Kamyab says. "I know Verizon is going to do that, but they're not going to do that right off the bat." He pays $84.99 per month for 2,000Mbps symmetrical speeds. Verizon also offers a 2,000Mbps internet plan, but it costs $25 more per month. (We reached out to spokespeople for Verizon and Frontier for comment and will update if they get back to us.)

Right now, you can’t go wrong with Frontier or Verizon—they both offer fantastic fiber, after all. But Frontier’s plans are cheaper and include options for faster, multi-gigabit speeds. On the other hand, Verizon gets better ratings overall, earning a very respectable 4.1 out of 5 rating in our Fios review. “Everything has been smooth,” one Verizon customer tells Reviews.org writer Kelly Huh.

Kamyab, the Frontier customer, suggests that while he’s worried about prices potentially going up, the change wouldn’t be totally unfamiliar. He's been a Verizon internet customer in the past and says their customer service was much better than what he has experienced with Frontier. "It's easier to herd cats than it is to speak with [Frontier’s] customer service line," he says.