Review by UnnDunn 
UPDATED: 137 days ago
member for 3.8 years, 215 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Brooklyn,Kings,NY
 $69 per month
 about 14 days
 "Consistently as fast as advertised; no filtering, caps or restrictions"
 "Increasingly unreliable with massive packet-loss issues and responsive but ultimately ineffective customer service."
 "A great service that is worth the cost, marred by lackluster customer service"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
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Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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On my particular street in Brooklyn, NY, Optimum Online is the ONLY choice for broadband internet access; I am too far from the local exchange for DSL service, and FiOS has not been deployed here yet.
Fortunately, Cablevision does a pretty decent job. Real-world speeds are consistently in line with advertised data rates both up and down, and there are no caps or restrictions. Call quality is also excellent. I have the Optimum Triple Play package with Boost, which advertises--and delivers--30Mbps down and 5Mbps up. I have gone from a Motorola SURFboard voice modem to now using a SciATL WebSTAR unit.
Now the bad news: I have recently began experiencing random, intermittent and sometimes prolonged periods of extremely high packet-loss, often as high as 70, 80 or even 100%. Customer service has been responsive, but largely ineffective in solving the problem. I don't necessarily blame them, because the problem is so hard to get a handle on, but it's also clear that they do not have any mechanism for dealing with problems like mine, that require more in-depth investigation rather than a simple tech visit. I've been living with it since the packet-loss issues are infrequent, but it is highly frustrating.
Another problem I have had is somewhat more damning: I can't seem to get an original copy of my bill. I use their eBill service to pay my bill online, so I don't regularly get Optimum bills in the mail. However, I needed an original paper bill as proof of address. Numerous requests through customer service for a copy of my bill yielded no results, and when I finally contacted the city about this issue, I received a PHOTOCOPY of an original paper bill.
I use those examples to illustrate the main problem with Optimum: namely, the customer service, and specifically its complete inability to handle non-standard problems. If your problem cannot be solved by either resetting your equipment or having a technician do a line test, they seem unable to help you.
When the service works (and for a very long time, it DID work 100% of the time) it is fantastic. But now it works 85% of the time, and they don't seem to be set up to figure out the problems for the other 15%. If I were a business, I would have dropped them a long time ago, but as a resident, it's tolerable. Barely.
Full disclosure: I used to work for Madison Square Garden, which is owned by Cablevision.
Followup comments:  BKConnection
join:2007-02-19
Brooklyn, NY
| From Bushwick OOL customer with Empathy I can definitely see where you're coming from.
Get this - I to live in a neighborhood where Optimum is the only choice for Cable, Internet and what have you.
I decided to opt for the Optimum Boost package since it gave me the bang for my buck that i have been looking for, especially since it give me the flexibility that i need when it comes to its web space.
I have been having the same problems as you with a high amount of packet loss - and from time to time - a complete loss of everything. Here's the catch: my Cable TV works just fine.
I've dealt with their customer service and I have had 3 technicians come out to take a look at the problem and each one of them have came back with the same result: a high signal but something wrong at the poll.
According to Optimum's rocket scientist team of customer service reps, the problem that was supposedly at the poll was fixed approximately 9 days prior to this post. Problems still persist and right now, my speed as of the last speed test has dwindled down to 8 M/s down, 3 Mb/s up.
Moreover, a customer service representative says that the minimum speed we are supposed to get over the boost package is 5 Mb/s down. I find this very, very hard to believe especially when - for almost 3 years - we have never, ever had this problem.
I feel sorry for the techs that come out here and refer to a supervisor only to have to come back out there again.
Regards,
Josh
Brooklyn, NY OOL Customer | |
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