For the past few months, I’ve watched Frontier Fiber crews mark utility lines, bury conduit, and install utility pedestal boxes throughout my neighborhood. The promise of symmetrical speeds up to 7Gbps is tempting on paper — that’s nearly six times faster than my current 1,200Mbps Xfinity connection.
After spending serious time and money building out my home network with Ubiquiti gear, though, I’ve learned that raw speed numbers don’t tell the whole story. My current setup handles everything my household throws at it without breaking a sweat. While the fiber Internet is being rolled out on my street, here’s why I’m staying put.
My current setup already exceeds my needs
1,200Mbps handles a house full of devices
My home runs on smart technology. Ring cameras cover the exterior. Echo devices sit in nearly every room. Philips Hue bulbs handle the lighting. I’ve got smart thermostats on our zoned HVAC, myQ on both garage doors, and then all the normal stuff — laptops, a couple tablets, phones, the Xbox & PS5, and too many smart TVs. Last time I checked my Ubiquiti dashboard, we had well over 70 devices connected.
None of it struggles. Wired speed tests usually come back between 700 and 850Mbps. That’s plenty. My wife can be streaming something in the living room while I’m on a video call in my office and downloading a PS5 game to play later — neither of us notices any slowdown. I learned early on that verifying your Ethernet cable ratings matters just as much as the plan you’re paying for — one bad or old cable can bottleneck your devices regardless of what the ISP delivers to your modem.
Frontier’s 2Gbps or 5Gbps plans sound impressive, but they wouldn’t change my daily experience. I’m not waiting on downloads. Streams don’t buffer. Video calls stay crisp. If nothing’s actually slow, why pay more just to see a bigger number on a speed test?
Xfinity has been surprisingly reliable
Three and a half years with minimal issues
At my last house, we were stuck with AT&T Internet. 100 Mbps was the best they could do. The connection dropped all the time, speeds were inconsistent, and I lost count of how many evenings I wasted power cycling the modem. When we built our current home 3.5 years ago, I switched to Xfinity, bought a 2.5Gbps Motorola modem, and expected more of the same frustration from a different company.
That hasn’t been my experience here. We’ve had maybe five outages total in 3.5 years, and none of them lasted more than an hour. No throttling during peak evening hours and no surprise fees showing up on bills. The service just works, which is all I really wanted after years of AT&T headaches.
Here’s the ironic part: about a month ago, Frontier crews were burying fiber conduit on my street and accidentally cut a buried Xfinity line. My entire block lost Internet for six to eight hours. So the longest I’ve been without Internet since moving in was directly caused by the company that wants my business. It was a great first impression — I’ll try not to hold it against them.
I’d rather have a connection that works than one that’s theoretically faster but flaky. After putting real effort into proper cable management and getting my network dialed in, the last thing I want is to start over with a new provider and hope everything goes smoothly.
The bundle pricing keeps me locked in
Streaming discounts add up fast
I bundle my Xfinity Internet with streaming services at a discounted rate, and the monthly savings actually matter when you do the math over a full year. Frontier does throw in $10 off YouTube TV, but only for the first year.
Their fiber pricing looks decent at first glance — 500 Mbps runs about $49.99 a month, 1 Gig is $69.99, and 2 Gig hits $99.99 with its current promotional rates. You get symmetrical upload and download speeds with all of them. But switching would mean recalculating my entire entertainment budget. You have to add installation, any equipment fees, and the price hike that kicks in once the promo period ends. Once I run those numbers against what I’m actually paying with my Xfinity bundle, the supposed savings don’t really exist.
I’ve already invested in infrastructure that maximizes my connection
The network hardware matters more than ISP speed
My Ubiquiti Dream Machine Pro handles routing for the entire house, feeding into a managed switch that connects over 15 Ethernet runs. Four hardwired access points cover every zone — east side for the kids’ rooms, west side for the bedroom and great room, one in the basement, and another in the garage for the workshop and outdoor smart home gear.
I crimped all those Ethernet cables myself during the basement finishing project, which saved hundreds of dollars and gave me exactly the lengths I needed for clean runs through the floor joists. That infrastructure would work just as well with Frontier, but nothing about my current setup is begging for faster service.
Here’s the thing most people overlook: upgrading your ISP speed without upgrading your end devices is pointless. Most laptops, smart TVs, and phones can’t even use 2+ Gbps. My Ring cameras don’t need gigabit speeds — they need consistent, low-latency connections, which my current network delivers without issue. The limiting factor for most households isn’t ISP speed. It’s internal network quality. I’ve already optimized that part.
I’ll revisit the numbers next year
Frontier Fiber isn’t a bad choice. For someone building a new network from scratch or escaping slow DSL service, their plans, ranging from 500Mbps to 7Gbps with symmetrical uploads, are genuinely compelling. No data caps and straightforward pricing are nice perks, too.
My ISP has been solid, my home network is already built out, and nothing about my Internet frustrates me. There’s no compelling reason to switch today. That could change — pricing shifts, new promotions show up, or maybe I’ll need something my current setup can’t handle. I’ll take another look in a year. For now, I’ll hold off on getting fiber.
