Throttling
Frontier has admittedly throttled its buyers. These actions were not done so because a given person violated the (surprisingly restrictive) policies of the company that nevertheless do not affect VPN. Those cases usually result in denying internet access altogether. Rather, Frontier throttles its users to reduce the congestion of their networks. The general quality of service has received complaints over the years in this matter. Frontier’s throttling should not be understood as a constant reduction. Rather, there are periodical declines in quality, especially during peak hours of internet usage.
In the context of VPN, this is bad news. Even if you use it, Frontier can identify you as the user, since VPN works with IP address swapping, but the other type of device identification – the DNS address is untouched. Therefore, to at least partially mitigate Frontier’s throttling (which can also happen based on area, since more vast, rural distances are covered) we suggest investing in a VPN provider that also offers smart DNS services.
Frontier blocking websites and streaming services
Frontier was most often observed to be blocking select websites when people were not using the company’s services with the setup assigned to them. For example, accessing the internet from a DNS server other than Frontier’s own usually resulted in less available content. Because of this, we do not recommend using a smart DNS service alone. However, utilizing both at the same time has better effects. Since a VPN hides your presence online, it will negate the possible blocks from Frontier if you change your DNS address as well. It is a tough rock to climb, but better freedom online is a worthy cause against the increasing amount of internet restrictions today.
Using a VPN with Frontier
In light of the above, we thus suggest that you use a VPN service and a smart DNS service in unison if your aim is online freedom. To spare a few words for encryptions, we would like to emphasize that not one of them (or any online safety protocol) gives you 100% protection. Still, some of them, like OpenVPN or L2TP are strong enough that it makes the attempt at cracking the encryption not worth it at all. We would like to dissuade you from using PPTP though, since it is unsafe.
The USA is the most supported country for almost all VPN companies. So much so that there are servers placed in different corners of the country, as opposed to just one each elsewhere. Therefore if you choose the right company you will most probably find a node that is within close geographic proximity to you (e.g. 1-2 states away in the worst case). A smart DNS service is necessary in our opinion as well, since DNS address monitoring is a primary basis for Frontier’s website blocking activities. The combination of the two should result in a better overall online experience.
Lastly, we would like to highlight two companies that have both VPN and smart DNS products, and in both cases you can purchase them in one pack. These are PureVPN and ibVPN – depending on the type of plan you end up having, the smart DNS can also be a free addition. It is worth giving them a look, or signing up for their respective free trials.
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