WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission and six states filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday alleging internet-service provider Frontier Communications misled consumers by providing slower internet speeds than promised.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in California, seeks changes to Frontier’s alleged practices and money on behalf of customers who paid for speeds the company allegedly didn’t deliver.
Since at least 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,” FTC and state officials alleged.
Frontier denied the claims, saying the suit “includes baseless allegations, overstates any possible monetary harm to Frontier’s customers and disregards important facts.”
A company spokesman said Frontier offered internet service in some of the country’s most rural areas “that often have challenging terrain, are more sparsely populated and are the most difficult to serve.”
