WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and several states filed a lawsuit against Frontier Communications on Wednesday alleging it misrepresented internet speeds offered to consumers, according to a court filing.
In the complaint, the agency and state attorneys general said Frontier advertised to consumers certain internet speeds but then failed to deliver those speeds.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The FTC was joined on the lawsuit by attorneys general from Arizona, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin. District attorneys’ offices from two California counties also joined the complaint to represent California.
A spokesman for Frontier, which is emerging from bankruptcy protection, had no immediate comment.
The complaint said Frontier has more than 3 million U.S. internet service subscribers, offering internet via a digital subscriber line (DSL) to some 1.3 million consumers in 25 states, many in rural areas.
Frontier has advertised different tiers of speeds to consumers, including an August 2018 mailer that offered download speeds of 12 Megabits per second for $12, the complaint said.
“Since at least January 1, 2015, Frontier has in numerous instances advertised, marketed, offered, or sold DSL Internet service at tiers corresponding to speeds that Frontier did not, and often could not, provide to consumers,” the complaint said.
“Indeed, network limits imposed by Frontier prevent numerous
consumers from receiving DSL Internet service at speeds corresponding to the tiers of service they pay for,” the complaint said.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
