Recall friend might be your friend in this matter.
It's all a range issue, put Jack Frost in melee and he'll use the sword.
The trick to getting Jack Frost into melee, where he really shines, is to let him get attacked, somehow this switchs him from range mode to melee mode. Once he gets attacked he will run in and swing that sword around like theres no tomorrow.
Jack has a little AI problem which causes him to hang back at range. Like Lady Darkforce mentioned, he runs into melee if he gets attacked. One way is to use a stealth power to lure him close enough to a spawn to aggro them, another is recall friend and yet another is teleporting foe next to him. I've tried all three and I think I prefer stealth, although teleport foe is quite nice as well. I found recall friend to have a bit too short range and it's a bit slow too. They all work though so I'd just pick whatever power you find otherwise most useful.
If you can't afford any of those powers, you can probably do pretty well by not controlling whatever mob he's attacking. Once he switches to melee mode he tends to stay there. It's worthwhile to maneuver a little because he really is pretty good in melee.
Brilliant, thanks for the tips guys. This kind of explains everything as I have been running steamy mist, so he never gets the aggro.
I will have to rebuild my troller now I think 
@Electronuts
He does use block of ice at range, which is quite a useful extra hold. His Ice Sword does formidable damage though. You can always summon him on top of the mob.
I really should do something about this signature.
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He does use block of ice at range, which is quite a useful extra hold.
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Never, ever in all my days playing my Ice/Storm have I seen Jack use Ice Block from range, as his hold is Freezing Touch*, the tanker/blaster single target melee hold.
*which, might I add, does nice DoT.
Well my Jack Frost definately uses a ranged hold. I really can't see the dominator version being diffent?
I really should do something about this signature.
I've really enjoyed playing my Ice/Storm controller to 33. Even though its low on damage at the moment it has great control and the big cloud at 38
. However, I got Jack Frost a level ago and he is so disappointing.
), so why does he insist on standing way behind me firing those crappy little ice bolts 99% of the time?
I have grav and ill trollers and a fire dom and all the pets seem to work normally, i.e. do what I expect them to. So what is going on with Jack Frost? He is described as a melee pet, and I know he has an ice sword (I saw him use it when he thought I wasn't looking
He doesn't recharge fast enough to re-cast him toe to toe with foes every mob, and I find that sometimes even when I do this he sticks to that ice bolt. So what am I doing wrong?
Am I expecting too much after playing the illusion and fire sets or is there a trick to getting him to actually do something?
@Electronuts