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Review by tooch See Profile

  • Location: Tuckahoe, Westchester, NY, USA
  • Cost: $120 per month
  • Install: about 7 days
Good Value
Possible torrent throttling
Was a great service (Boost) until they started throttling torrents (09/08)
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

My Other Reviews

·Comcast Business
My service with Cablevision/Optimum:

'Family Cable'/iO Digital Cable (no premium packages)
Optimum Online + Boost (30Mbps/5Mbps) with Scientific Atlanta Webstar DPX2203
iO Voice

Price around $120/mo (inc. taxes)

Ordered service on 9/10/07, installed on 9/17/07. Installer did a decent job, but left the house messy where he worked, and almost broke a few things from being careless.

TV - No problems with TV. We have 2 standard digital cable boxes (SA Explorer 4200).

Internet/Boost - On the installation date (Monday), everything ran smoothly. However on the following Tuesday and Wednesday I had to call back every night because the Boost feature kept getting knocked off my account. For instance at night it would work, then sometime overnight it would reset and put me back on the basic 15/2 plan. But whatever was wrong is fixed now and Boost is fantastic. Also the reps that I talked to were all very nice and helpful.

---Boost Speeds
When using Optimum's own speedtest, I can get 30/4.6 of 30/5. When running an external test such as speakeasy, in the daytime and testing the New York City location, I can get 28-30/3 (when testing from my Windows desktop) and 28-30/4.2 (when testing from my MacBook Pro). At night, both speedtests can go up to 32/4.5. They also allow an HTTP server on Port 80 which is nice since I can download shows for my parents as well as have some of our home movies available for them to download right from my computer. (Unfortunately they're in Pennsylvania and have Comcast, so their speeds are pitiful, though that's a different forum).

Downloading/Uploading - From both the Optimum FTP site and other websites, downloads can go up to around 3750KB/s. Uploads vary though can get up to around 500KB/s. Torrents are not throttled. My fastest torrent download to date has been around 1500KB/s. Uploads, like HTTP, peak around 500KB/s, though once for a few seconds jumped up to 600KB/s.

iO Voice - Voice service is clear; voicemail system works great, can get messages online or from a local # if I'm away.

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Update 28 April 2008 - As of the last few weeks Optimum has been throttling torrents for some users. Hopefully it's just a glitch and not a new policy change. It would be a bad idea for them to do that especially in a FiOS wired town (Tuckahoe, NY).

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Update 2: July 2008 - I moved out of a Cablevision area, so I no longer have the service.

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Update 3: January 2011 - I moved to Bradley Beach, New Jersey, and didn't realize my street was wired for FiOS. My plan was: Boost Plus (50/8) and Family Basic with I think some sort of iO promo. $85/mo + tax.

Internet: Right when the installer left my speeds started tanking. My average speed at any time was about 30-35/7.5. I rarely hit 50, I'd hit in the 40s a couple times, but mostly my speeds stayed in the low 30s and this was with good signal levels. I called the number given to me and was told that the 30s are normal. I get the cable company 'up to' wording, but I'm paying extra for a tier and I expect very close to 50Mbps. Reading other reviews from this area, it looks like it's congested.

TV: We don't really watch it be we had it bundled because it was a better value. Some of the SD stations looked pixellated, HD stations ok. Wished EuroNews was on a basic tier.

I only had Cablevision for a week realizing my internet problems were congestion, had FiOS installed and canceled Cablevision the next day. They offered me one year free Boost Plus and $70/mo Triple Play but I declined.

member for 16.5 years, 1818 visits, last login: 38 days ago
updated 12.1 years ago


aannoonn
@optonline.net

aannoonn

Anon

SD pixelation

quote:
Some of the SD stations looked pixellated
I just have an SD TV, and I'm amazed that there is pixelation. Leave it to CV to give us a digital picture that looks worse than analog.

Forsaken7719
@optonline.net

Forsaken7719

Anon

Re: SD pixelation

You obviously have no idea what you're talking about. He, the original poster, has an HDTV connected. You, the replier, do not. When you view SD content on an HDTV the picture is worse than if you have an SD picture on an SDTV. The TV is meant for high definition, so the high resolution screen amplifies the distortion and low resolution pixels of SD. That is why the HD looks good, because it's meant for that tv just like your SDTV looks fine showing SD content. The difference in picture has absolutely ZERO to do with digital/analog making sd look bad on an HDTV.

aannoonn
@optonline.net

aannoonn

Anon

Re: SD pixelation

You obviously have no idea what I'm talking about. I'm saying the SD channels have pixelation when viewed on an SD TV.