Spectrum vs. Frontier: Which Internet Provider Is Best for You?

Compare Spectrum and Frontier head to head

You can get faster internet with better reliability and lower latency with Frontier Fiber internet, but Spectrum’s cable internet has a better reputation for customer service. Both companies pull hijinks with promotional rates that go up after a year, but Frontier offers Wi-Fi equipment that’s truly free while Spectrum charges $10 per month for what it calls “Wi-Fi service.”

We recommend Frontier’s Fiber 200 or Fiber 500 plans for most households because fiber internet is much better than cable internet, but go with Spectrum’s Internet Premier plans if you can’t get Frontier Fiber (or if you happen to live in one of the few areas where Spectrum offers a fiber-to-the-home connection).

Spectrum primarily provides cable internet, with a tiny footprint of fiber internet. Frontier offers fiber internet in about two-thirds of its footprint and DSL internet in the other third. If you have a choice between Spectrum and Frontier DSL, we always recommend Spectrum.

Jump to: Plans and pricing | Extra fees | Customer ratings | Bundles | Internet connection types | Data caps | Contracts | Installation | Availability

Jump to:

• Plans and pricing
• Extra fees
• Customer ratings
• Bundles
• Internet connection types
• Data caps
• Contracts
• Installation
• Availability

Plans and pricing: Spectrum vs. Frontier

Spectrum plans and pricing

When we compare Spectrum’s base cable internet plan with Frontier’s DSL, Spectrum gives you more speed at the same price. But here’s the catch: you can get Frontier’s DSL service in areas where Spectrum’s cable internet doesn’t reach. In some areas, Frontier may be your only option of the two.

Meanwhile, Spectrum’s Internet Premier and Internet Gig plans compete with Frontier’s Fiber 500 and Fiber 1 Gig plans. Even if you can get fiber internet from Spectrum, we recommend going with Frontier.

Both providers may sign you up on promotional prices but hike prices after a year. Those increases can be as low as $10 more per month or as high as $50 per month, but it depends on where you live and when you sign up. Read all the fine print carefully, and be ready to compare your internet service options again in about a year.

Frontier plans and pricing

Shop with Frontier for Frontier

Frontier is growing its fiber footprint rapidly, but still offers only DSL internet to about a third of its customers. In rural areas, Frontier DSL may be your only landline option.

You can find fiber internet from Frontier in several states, including California, Texas, Illinois, and West Virginia.

Of the two providers, Frontier has the fastest plan with its Fiber 7 Gig service, giving you speeds of up to 7,000Mbps for both downloads and uploads. The fiber is inherently more reliable than cable internet, and has much better latency.

Spectrum’s maximum speed is 1,000Mbps both ways if you have access to its fiber internet, but far more people can get only cable internet from Spectrum. For them, download speeds of a gig or more are possible, but upload speeds max out at 35Mbps.

Extra fees: Spectrum vs. Frontier

There’s no way around it—Spectrum charges a $10 monthly fee if you rent the company’s router or gateway, but calls it a “Wi-Fi Service Fee” rather than and equipment rental fee. You can get out of it if you use your own router, and there’s no fee for a modem. It’s weird, but not egregious. Other than that, Spectrum charges a fee of either $30 for a self-installation or a $65 installation fee if you need a pro to come in and do the work.

Lucky for you, though, there are no early termination fees with Spectrum. Even if you cancel your service before the 12- or 24-month promotional pricing period ends, Spectrum lets you off the hook.

Frontier charges even fewer fees, but watch out for hijinks. If you agree to free installation or rewards credit card, you’ll be locked into a one-year contract with an early termination fee of up to $100, pro-rated based on the length of time remaining in the contract.

Customer ratings: Spectrum vs. Frontier

Spectrum takes the seventh spot for overall satisfaction out of 15 internet providers in our latest customer satisfaction survey. Its best ranking is in speed satisfaction, with a score slightly above the national average (3.8) when it comes to meeting the advertised speeds. Its weakest link is price satisfaction, which is understandable given prices go up dramatically after promo periods expire. Still, Spectrum has some of the cheapest post-promo prices you’ll find for cable (and fiber) internet service.

Frontier ranks in the bottom half in four out of five categories. Its best ranking is in price satisfaction, placing it seventh out of 15 and just above Spectrum. It makes sense, because Frontier prices are some of the lowest you’ll find anywhere. Complaints also make sense, though, considering that many of Frontier’s customers still have to deal with DSL service.

Regardless, Verizon is planning to purchase Frontier’s entire network and rebrand the offerings top to bottom. If that happens, our surveys show Frontier customers will probably be happier with Verizon’s service than they had been with Frontier’s.

Best TV and internet bundles

Frontier doesn’t offer its own TV service, but it partners with YouTube TV to provide TV bundles. Customers get a $10 monthly discount for an entire year when they sign up for a qualifying internet plan. That’s not a great deal, to be honest, but you might appreciate that you have to pay only one bill for both services.

Spectrum doesn’t have discounted bundles. Instead, you can pair its TV services with any of its internet plans. Both services have a discount for the first 12 months, but all premium channels cost extra.

Internet types: Spectrum vs. Frontier

Both Spectrum and Frontier use a mix of technologies to deliver high-speed internet to homes. Most of Spectrum’s network is a hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) system, which means it’s mostly fiber until the “last mile,” where Spectrum uses existing coaxial cables to deliver residential internet. Spectrum also has fiber-to-the-home internet, but it’s far less available than its cable internet.

Frontier’s primary service is fiber internet, which means you get fiber-optic cable all the way to your front door. Frontier also offers digital subscriber line (DSL) internet lines that deliver the internet over a network of copper telephone wires. It may be your only landline option in rural areas.

Data caps: Spectrum vs. Frontier

With Spectrum and Frontier, you won’t see data caps like other internet providers. You get unlimited data, which translates to no monthly overage fees and no monthly charges for unrestricted access. They also don’t intentionally throttle your connection, no matter how much you download—the data spigot remains wide open every month.

Contracts: Spectrum vs. Frontier

Spectrum doesn’t enforce a contract. Instead, it offers a discount for the first 12 months. But even though prices go up after that, customers can cancel internet service after one month without penalty.

Frontier goes back and forth with contracts. Sometimes, it advertises no-contract plans. However, you must sign a one-year agreement if you accept certain reward cards or agree to free installation. This info doesn’t show up in the broadband nutrition labels, though, so read all your disclaimers and fine print carefully.

Installation: Spectrum vs. Frontier

Spectrum charges $30 to self-install but doesn’t charge a monthly fee for the modem. Frontier doesn’t have a monthly equipment rental fee and Frontier also offers self-install for some fiber plans.

For now, Spectrum encourages new customers to use the self-install kit if they’re already wired for cable TV or internet. The pro install option is still available for new installations, rewiring, moving the router, and similar scenarios.

Verizon set to buy Frontier in 2025

Verizon and Frontier shareholders agreed in 2024 that Verizon would take over Frontier and all its assets for a price tag of $20 billion, but the deal is waiting on final details and regulatory approval. It is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025.

Learn what customers can expect if the Frontier sale goes through.

Availability: Spectrum vs. Frontier

Most of Spectrum’s footprint is in North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, New York, and Maine. There are scattered chunks of coverage in California, Texas, Florida, and several other states. Overall, Spectrum commands a decent market in the Eastern and Central time zones.

Frontier’s primary target is in rural areas. Its DSL service is available in 25 states, mainly in the Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest. Its Frontier Fiber Internet is big in portions of California, Florida, Indiana, and Texas. 

Final call: Spectrum vs. Frontier

Spectrum and Frontier both have fiber internet, but you’ll probably have better luck finding Frontier’s fiber. It mostly competes with Spectrum’s cable internet, which costs more in the long run and doesn’t have the symmetrical speeds of fiber. Even more, Spectrum simply can’t compete with Frontier’s superfast 5Gbps and 7Gbps download speeds. If your choice is between fiber and cable from either company, get fiber. But if it’s a choice between cable internet and DSL, go with cable internet.

But here’s the caveat: Spectrum fares far better in our latest customer satisfaction survey than Frontier in four out of five categories. It’s something to consider if you find Frontier and Spectrum in your area and you’re not sure which to choose.

View Spectrum Plans

View Frontier Plans

Methodology

Our HighSpeedInternet.com editorial team bases our analyses on customer input from our annual customer satisfaction survey, results from our speed test tool, and proprietary internet provider data on speeds and pricing. To strengthen our research, we look closely at provider contracts to get hard-to-find information on price hikes, data caps, and extra fees, and we keep tabs on the latest news reports and online reviews. When applicable, we also rely on our personal experiences testing these services.

Additional resources

• AT&T vs. Spectrum
• DSL vs. Fiber Internet: Which One Is Right for You?
• DSL vs. Cable: Which Is Right for You?
• Xfinity vs. Spectrum
• Xfinity vs. Frontier

Disclaimers