dslreports logo

Review by dleehend See Profile

  • Location: Malvern, Hot Spring, AR, USA
  • Cost: $120 per month
Good service and connectivity for this particular area
Cost is not competitive
No real competition in this location, so only real
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Been using this service for over 10 years. A few years ago the name changed to Optimum, but the service & connection remain the same. I started with much lower speeds and have tried their highest connection, but did not see the benefit for the extra cost.

Connection is better than 95% reliable overall, but does not deserve 'best' rating.

Support has generally been ok. I hate the 'follow the script' and computer switchboard operator, but that is common in this industry. Techs have always been nice and helpful. Service scheduling is a little long, but not too bad.

I have always provided my own equipment and that has lead to a few hiccups in the past, but lately it has not been an issue. I do not use their tv services.

We can watch multiple video streams at the same time and upload/download do not seem to lag noticeably. We do not stream at 4k though, as our screens don't use that resolution anyway.

Overall, I have been please with everything about this service except the price, especially after the "new customer" discount ended a year after changing speed tiers.

member for 22 years, 5332 visits, last login: 74 days ago
updated 143 days ago


Review by pa prowler See Profile

  • Location: Matamoras, Pike, PA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Nothing
Everything
Hope to move to 5G home internet in the future
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Update: 8/26/2023

My wish came true. I am now a happy subscriber of TM 5G Home Internet. Great signal. Getting more than 3 times the downstream speed, and 8 times the upstream speed since switching, and it costs less. Optimum, it was nice knowing you 20 years ago when the Dolans owned the company. Now it's an overpriced wasteland and mishmash of additional fees, surcharges, etc..

I have been a customer since Optimum moved into this area in 2003 after buying the local privately owned Matamoras Video Cable Company, and setting up their small footprint in Pennsylvania.

Things were great back them. For the time, their speeds were about the best you could get via cable modem. Service was fairly priced and very reliable. At that time I also subscribed to TV which was also priced reasonably. I rented the necessary boxes, they provided the modem for free. "Triple Play" was never available in this area due to some state regulation (Pennsylvania), or I would have subscribed to that, too. All in all I was very pleased and felt lucky to have such good service.

Everything was great throughout the 2000s. I bought into a couple of enhanced speed levels which they offered like "Boost, Optimum 60, Optimum 100, Optimum 200". Not being avid television viewers, and no longer having children at home, the wife and I began exploring ways to economize.

We aren't gamers or file sharers, so higher speed wasn't very important to us. The additional fees and surcharges; modem rental fee, premium outlet fee for each box, and the increasing cable box rental fee (despite lackluster performance) drove up the bill far higher than the value we were actually using.

We decided at that point to switch to Broadcast Basic, so we could at least receive the news and whatever else was in that tier. It was fairly priced at the time. We ditched the Optimum boxes and went with Samsung Smart Media boxes which supported Cable Card. We also downgraded our internet package to Optimum 20 (or 25 depending where you saw your service tier listed, on the printed bill it was one thing, on the site it was another).

Not long after this, the company decided to institute a surcharge on Broadcast Basic so it effectively doubled in price. We kept the Broadcast Basic package despite the price gouging. We bought our own modem to remove the $10.00/mo. rental fee.

The next round of gouging is when the price for Optimum 20 more than doubled. It was at this point we decided to cancel the Broadcast Basic package, return the Cable Cards and just rough it without television. Things went swimmingly for a while. Then the other shoe dropped--- Without warning our Optimum 20 plan was taken away, and were slammed into the Optimum 100 tier.

In January 2022 our bill was increased another $10.00. When I got wind of this I spoke to a rep and attempted to get my old level of service restored. I was transferred to a retention rep and she said she would try to get a code to give me back my old service. Then she said she couldn't do it, but being the loyal customer I was, she would drop my bill $20.00 for the year, and that was the best she could do.

Now at that moment I was getting 100/35. I know because I tested it. After accepting the offer my upload speed was dropped to 5 mbps. No mention was made of this decrease when it was offered. I tried for days to get the upload cap rescinded to no avail. I was referred to an Altice Executive Service rep. He was clueless. He needlessly had a truck rolled out to my house because he insisted the loss of upload speed was on my end, and that the tech could restore the upload speed. This tied me up for most of a day. Of course the tech couldn't do anything. My signal levels were perfect, my modem and wiring, too. There are no splitters to my modem. After hearing this the Executive rep just cut me loose telling me I am stuck being capped at 5mbps up. This lopsided speed makes uploading email attachments an abomination in slowness. Even a 1 Mb photo is excruciatingly slow to send.

Altice knows they have us by the short hairs (for the time being, anyway). I'm sick of playing whack-a-mole with this company. As soon as a viable option becomes available I'm gone. 5G home internet service is on the Verizon, er, I mean horizon. If you have any other alternative than using these shysters I urge you jump at it. They treat their longstanding customers like dirt.



member for 20.5 years, 2067 visits, last login: 1 day ago
updated 205 days ago

PX Eliezer
join:2021-08-03
Tranquility, NJ

4 recommendations

PX Eliezer

Member

Altice executive shockingly incompetent.

Thanks for detailing your experiences with this company.

It's AMAZING that one of their troubleshooting employees was so ignorant of the widely-known castration of upload speeds as often discussed in this forum. It is also amazing that anyone working in the business would think that this specific problem was at the customer end.

What a sad (and unnecessary) devolution of this company..

RMinNJ
join:2003-05-06
Oak Ridge, NJ

4 recommendations

RMinNJ

Member

The rise and fall of Optimum

You've pretty much detailed the history of Optimum Online. Really good back in the day with good speeds and fair pricing.
Now any inventement they make I think goes torward TV commercials for their fiber service that few can get.

Review by buschman See Profile

  • Location: Oak Hill, Fayette, WV, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
I have a hard time finding any GOOD
Was Suddenlink, now Optimum no change!
Lately I have had terrible freezing, choppy sound no sound almost everyday.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

My Other Reviews

·Suddenlink
Where I live there is only one cable internet and TV provider. Originally was Charter, then Suddenlink, and now Optimum. Lots of ads about how Optimum would be improving the service and 99 percent reliability, and I used to get emails and text messages saying you may experience some outages due to our service techs are making improvements to your area. I for sure have seen the outages or service interruptions. The improvements are not being seen at my home. Anyone else with these issues?

member for 23.4 years, 1539 visits, last login: 1 year ago
lodged 1 year ago


Review by endlessben See Profile

  • Location: Brooklyn, Kings, NY, USA
  • Cost: $79 per month
  • No Cap
Gigabit packages available
Terrible reliability, constant outages, awful customer service, customer-unfriendly policies
Avoid if possible
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Really dissatisfied with my Optimum service. Initially, I was glad to see that they offered a gigabit package in my neighborhood. The service is quite unreliable though. When the service isn't in a full outage, which happens several times a month, it's in need of constant equipment reboots due to slow speeds, high ping times, and dropped packets. They have a policy of not activating customer modem equipment on the gigabit plan. This, of course, is not a technical limitation, it's simple a business policy that is extremely unfriendly to their customers. Their customer service is absolutely terrible. Technical reps who are absolutely clueless, don't really listen to the customer, and promise call backs that consistently never arrive. I should note, however, that I have had positive experiences with all the on-site techs that have visited the house; they have been on-time, polite, and knowledgable.

member for 1.6 years, 70 visits, last login: 305 days ago
lodged 1.6 years ago

bfh
join:2014-06-05
New York, NY

bfh

Member

Me too

I have outages multiple times a week. I live in PLG Brooklyn. Thankfully, FiOS is currently being installed, so I can get rid of them soon.

Review by dfens42 See Profile

  • Location: Elkins, Randolph, WV, USA
  • Cost: $95 per month
  • No Cap
Well, at least it's not Suddenlink anymore
It's still Altice...
I have no other realistic high speed options, so here we are still
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

So Altice changed our ISP from Suddenlink to Optimum on 8/1/2022.

Nothing actually changed, except the website access for billing, and perhaps some slightly better customer support. We're still stuck with the same old, decrepit infrastructure, with continual promises that fiber to the home is coming soon...maybe if you are in NY/NJ, but not anywhere else.

Ping times are getting higher, I have noticed over the last few months, and my upload speed seems to throttle or choke down every few minutes.

Also, I have to keep home phone service to keep my internet price down, which seems pretty dopey to me.

member for 16.2 years, 1269 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged 1.6 years ago


Anonba115
@99.75.78.x

Anonba115

Anon

changes

Nothing changed- You were already Altice- LMAO. The only thing they did was merge the systems together and retired the Suddenlink brand like they should have done YEARS ago! So you're cable company - never changed. and if you think they're going to rebuild the network over night- then good luck on that happening.

RMinNJ
join:2003-05-06
Oak Ridge, NJ

RMinNJ

Member

review

I would say for the money you pay to keep calling them if you're having outages. Like you I have coax only and was told they have no plans on turning on the fiber on my streets. B

Anonb20b3
@98.28.34.x

Anonb20b3

Anon

Re: review

Because the fiber isn't used to offer consumers services. *face palm*. but you have the option of up to 4 other networks to get service from.

Review by cshilton See Profile

  • Location: Milford, New Haven, CT, USA
  • Cost: $100 per month
Reliability has been good for me and my friends. Internet service is fast with good uploads for cable if you are grandfathered.
No Native IPv6. A hobbiest level static IP option would be nice. TV cost is far too high.
Good service if internet is all you need; TV is very pricey.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

My Other Reviews

·Frontier FiberOp..
·Verizon FiOS
2/6/2022 -- I got the problem fixed. I had to rent a modem; have the rental modem attached to my account; then re-attach my purchased modem to my account. I got no help from customer service here and had to figure this out on my own. Customer service has really suffered under Altice's ownership. The technicians who remain are very good at the mainstream product line but there's a heavy emphasis in their training on replacing equipment. This means the experience for customers who bring their own modem or want to use their own router suffers because the tech's can't fix anything outside of a very small set of problems. For all other problems, the solution seems to be roll a truck to the customer's premise to fix the problem. The issue with that is that you risk an $80.00 service charge for the truck roll. I've experienced this with both the internet and the television products. Connection reliability and television reception remain very good to excellent. I've moved tech support up one notch because I had a tech visit today and the tech was good.

1/12/2022 -- I think I shot myself in the foot here. That said, I'm also an unhappy customer. Please see my reviews of Frontier Fiber and Verizon FiOS. If you have an alternative, you probably want to steer clear of this product. If you need support, it will be difficult and painful to get. Altice has two plants, a Fiber plant where things are generally good to best and a coax plant where things range from bad to very good. Until two days ago, my experience was the very good side. How I shot myself in the foot: I got a new Fiber connection from Frontier and tried to configure things to send my server traffic out Optimum and my web surfing traffic out Frontier. I think I mixed the streams and got put into some group of misbehaving customers at Optimum. I'm an unhappy customer because getting out of purgatory is difficult to impossible. I've been working with tech support for 5 hours. I've been honest with them about what I did. I would have expected a scolding but instead, the techs are just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. My dealings with tech support have made it clear that dropping Optimum is my best option. This is sad because this review is a testament to my history with this service and this service used to be really really good.

10/27/2021 -- Service remains unchanged but only because I'm grandfathered into the older uploads. Altice has promised that If I change my service, this will also change. My latest review reflects Altice's contempt for their HFC customers who are stuck on Coax until the Altice Fiber buildout reached their homes. There was no technical reason for Altice to change upload speeds here as the majority of customers that they were gaining represented churn. For me service during COVID has been good. In two years I may have had a problem with once video conference that turned out to be on my side. Honestly I'd patiently wait and stay with Altice until they get fiber to my house but for the fact that their latest actions are hostile to customers. The Frontier Line crew was out measuring my street fro fiber last week. At this rate, whoever gets fiber to my house first wins.

6/7/2021 -- Service has been good, but not great during Covid-19. More short outages than usual especially in the pass few months. Enough so that I have my Cell connection setup as a backup now.

1/25/2021 -- Updated my modem. The old one had trouble hitting my max speeds. The new one is DOCSIS 3.1 and hits max speeds without trouble.

12/17/2020 -- A good service but Altice has disposed of most of the shine that CableVision gave the OOL product. The TV service is expensive. With the Online product it's difficult to get to customer service which leads to service problems. Under Covid-19 the mode is one of your neighbors conflating their WiFi problems with an OOL issue and then causing a truck roll, then downtime for me. At best this causes momentary issues, at worst, it creates an opportunity to break things that weren't broken.

04/26/2020 -- Upgraded to 400/40 Getting 388/42 ~ 401/42 in the midst of Covid-19. Very happy.

11/09/2018 -- Getting a steady 305/37.5 these days. Smooth sailing.

01/21/2018 -- System upgrades have taken the speed to 300/35. The service works well.

07/16/2016 -- Upgraded modem. Speeds still good but a speed increase would be nice.

03/28/2016 -- Speed test show a small drop in speeds since 09/2015. Service would be better with native IPv6; A hobbyist level static IPv4 address is worth $5 ~ 10/month to me; The web site has become disorganized and a few options are hard to find; Server quality, ping times and jitter, are nice but others are catching up on speed and you can see it in the DSLReports speed tests.

09/11/2015 -- Speed test results have been consistently good for months. Great Service if a a little pricy. Any or all of: Native IPv6; a hobbyist level static IP; Bandwidth bump; Upload bump; would be welcome.

04/29/2015 -- Adding some speed tests dslreports: »[Cable Speed test: 105.37/22.92 18 ms] speedtest.net: »www.speedtest.net/my-res ··· 25044679

04/05/2015 -- Speeds holding steady at 118+ Down / 38+ Up at speedtest.net. QoS and my router are certainly part of the speed ratings for me. I've recently set the router to rate limit at 122 Down, / 42 Up and prioritize certain upstream traffic, (TCP ACKs, etc) based on best condition max speeds. The goal there is to avoid bufferbloat but that's not relevant to my review. Thanks go to Cablevision for great service. Let's hear something about IPv6 though.

01/30/2015 -- Still great speeds. Grandfathering all the original Boost customers into Ultra has been awesome. I measure 118 Mbit/s Down and 38+ Mbit/s up. We are heavy users of streaming video in this house and nothing phases this connection. Still no IPv6 which is a bit of a downer but the IP address is very stable so setting up a Hurricane Electric IPv6 tunnel is not a problem. The only thing I'm unhappy about is the price. Most of my complaint there isn't about the internet, it's TV.

07/14/2013 -- I'm reviewing Cablevision's Optimum Boost internet connectivity on July 14th, 2013. Tomorrow they will officially rename this service Optimum Ultra. The service is pricey but Cablevision (CV) has been pretty good at responding to competition. For me that means a speed increase from a service sold as: 50Mb/s down / 8Mb/s up and provisioned as 58+ down / 8 up to a service 101+ down /35 up. As a consumer of high def streaming video I'm very happy with CV's Optimum Online product.

member for 21.2 years, 2369 visits, last login: 3 days ago
updated 2.1 years ago

tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

maybe one day symmetric

maybe one day CV will offer symmetric speeds or faster upstream even if not 1:1

cshilton
join:2002-12-16
Milford, CT

2 recommendations

cshilton

Member

Re: maybe one day symmetric

Maybe; to be honest I cared more about symmetric speeds ten years ago than I do today. I'm really looking for native IPv6 and faster speeds overall.

OpTiC
Premium Member
join:2014-03-08
West Covina, CA

OpTiC to tmc8080

Premium Member

to tmc8080
said by tmc8080:

maybe one day CV will offer symmetric speeds or faster upstream even if not 1:1

It will never happen. Docsis will never support symmetrical broadband unless CV do the same as Comcast rolling FTTH.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

1 recommendation

tmc8080

Member

Re: maybe one day symmetric

plenty of things would have to happen first..
hell freezing over for one.. and getting rid of the corruption that keeps incubments limiting speeds and choice while raising prices.
dplantz
join:2000-08-02
Bradenton, FL

1 recommendation

dplantz

Member

Fiber

At some point you be getting upgraded to a fiber connection. They are skipping Docis 3.1 and moving to to fiber to home.
frank225
Premium Member
join:2018-01-25
9970-320

frank225

Premium Member

Hilton upgrade

Hi Hilton
Congratulation for your 300/35 Mbps. You made an excellent choice for your needs.
I have learned that 300Mbps is perfect for 4K and above 15Mbps to stream 4K Ultra HD content.
You´re right TV is pricey. Hollywood crap want the world to be their slaves.
I am not a fan of ESPN.
I used to have DH satellite antenna made in Wisconsin and Drake TV receiver to follow sports.
When fiber come to your door they might give you a discount of $5.00 or $10.00.
Enjoy your smart upgrade.

cshilton
join:2002-12-16
Milford, CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
·Verizon FiOS

cshilton

Member

Funny to read the comments here...

The prediction that I'd have fiber at sometime is spot on. I hardly use the Optimum Internet any more. A month ago Frontier got 1G / 1G fiber to my house and that's my main internet connection now. I'd love to have native IPv6 in both places but I can use Hurricane Electric tunnels on both connections and that's fine.

Review by hally See Profile

  • Location: Long Beach, Nassau, NY, USA
  • Cost: $130 per month
THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER
Supplied router is managed a little to much
I am done.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Update 12/24/21I never updated this during the beginning of Covid, but at that time getting through to Customer Service was horrid.

As of 12/24/2021: Internet was off and on all weekend. Finally reached out via chat, nothing but frustration. Tried getting a live person several time on the phone and got hung up on when they said there was an outage in our area. Then there were two technicians in my building who said they were working on it. They left while I was out, it was still busted.I finally got someone who kept reassuring me that everything was fine. No it's not fine, I can't use the service I pay for nor can anyone in my 6 floor apartment building. This person said my router was bad and to go replace it. UGHHH. The following evening, the TV went out. Now when I call and say TV is out I get a person with an actual brain. She says she can see an issue and a tech needs to come out to look at the outside of the building and they will BRING equipment in case my box or router are bad when they finish. Now I get an email saying my new cable box is shipping for $11 charge. WTAF I did not tell them I wanted that. Anyway during the day today all of a sudden everything is working fine, someone in the building said there were techs here today. I am done. FiOS is ordered internet only. They are coming Monday, got a great deal, free install, free internet for a month, hoping this time they don't price gouge going forward.

Update 8/20

Since Altice took over this company it has gone downhill, especially the customer service. Trying to connect to a person on the phone is an endeavor not for the faint of heart and if you do get someone generally they do not know what they are talking about. The bulk of the support is overseas and they have no idea what is actually going on as far as equipment returns, availablity, etc. Not blaming the reps, just a total lack of communication on the company's end. The only other local option is FIOS, if I end up going back to them I am cutting the chord altogether and just getting internet. Just not worth haggling between these two monopolies anymore with all the other available streaming options

New update 1/16/2015. I left for FIOS a few years back due to pricing. When FIOS kept going up I came back. I am very happy to be back for several reasons.

1: If you need to do anything via the web it works great unlike Verizon's site. Check voicemail, make any changes to it, DVR recording or deleting. Ditto the iOS app. It all works as expected. Nice to be back to that.

2: With FIOS I was unable to stream Netflix through my Smart TV during primetime. Just buffered. Weird that I could use other methods such as Chromecast or Playstation3. Anyway with Optimum it works fine anytime primetime included.

3: It is nice not have to go to the high channels to get to the normal ABC,CBS and NBC in high def.

Cons: Multiroom DVR is not something I need because I live in a studio apartment with one TV. However if you want to not have it your only choice is an older out of date box. And the MRDVR is $5 more a month. And the interface needs some software updates badly, such as no back button for live TV and the FF is really subpar.

OLDER:Another update, all has been back to excellent since the last incident. Like I said if you don't have a problem they are wonderful.

This is an updated review, leaving my old one from about 1997 below.

Service has been great all this time, no problems although they raised the price, there is nothing comparable in my area and no complaints until.......

Two weeks ago cable was SLOW and digital TV was unwatchable, voip was out too. This was a problem in my entire building of 70 apartments, probably at least 90% with cable, the remaining either no tv or bad reception as there is no satellite. From Thursday to Sunday numerous people (at least a dozen that I am sure of) called and were told that there wasn't a building wide problem, they could not see that all these people were calling and had service call appointments. FINALLY on Sunday one support women said she would report it to engineering...and it started working around Noon. Monday there were four trucks outside and they said they had to replace the main cable going into the building. HUGE LACK OF communication within the company for the poor support folks to not be able to see that there was a trend of callers from the building and get it looked at sooner. So, bottom line when it's up and running I have no complaints, but they need to get their act together as far as internal communication.

OLD REVIEW FROM FIRST INSTALL

I thought I wanted DSL and kept waiting for Bell Atlantic to let me know it was available in my area. When Optimum started advertising their "install it yourself" policy I decided to give it a try. I had an inside deal on a 3Com modem ( a gift) so I setup an install date for the cable line ( I didn't have cable tv in my house)The guy came and ran the cable, I plugged it in.....and it worked right away.

I've had it for almost a year now and there has been only one outage, my IP address has changed only once.

I just ran the 3 speed tests here:

Test running..........

** Speed 3865(down)/719(up) kbps **

(At least 77 times faster than a 56k modem)

Finish.

That was the fastest, the other two were 49 times faster and 22 times faster.

When they are going to be doing work on the email servers they notify you.

I had a problem with my IP address not doing reverse DNS after it changed, the phone support people were not the best, so I sent email. Nick L who handled my case was SUPERB!! He got the situation taken care of, and sent me a follow up email on a Sunday to make sure everything was working properly. And other emails I have sent with questions have been handled by a live person, not a canned response. I am extremely happy with the level of customer support I have recieved.Other then the reverse DNS problem they haven't been of a technical nature but were all answered in a timely fashion and I didn't feel like the responses were generic.

I never had cable tv installed because in the past when I had it I wasn't thrilled, but since the modem service I decided to get TV service too, they split the line for that and I haven't noticed a difference in speed or connection. Since I provided the modem I didn't sign a contract.

Reading some of the reviews here I was surprised, however here in Long Beach I am THRILLED with OOL!!

member for 24 years, 2888 visits, last login: 2.2 years ago
updated 2.2 years ago

bobl27
join:2000-11-20
Ronkonkoma, NY

bobl27

Member

Superb service and speed

I also had an excellent experience with optimum online. I went to their local store "The Wiz", signed up, picked up the kit plus a network card. It took me less than a half hour to set everything up and get on line. I had very fast connections the first time, but then went to the tweak section here. After doing the recommended tweak, I downloaded a 83.2 meg file from microsoft in just over 3 minutes (I swear!). Fantastic! I was used to slow dial up Mindspring connections before. Mindspring was unable to provide me with DSL because I am too far from the phone company's CO. Just as well, this is fantastic; I love it.

[text was edited by author 2000-11-24 22:20:30]

rawrx
@optonline.net

rawrx

Anon

Same shyt

It was arround the end of october that i started getting the same stuff, and i am stull having it, but its getting worse.

I play CS, CSS, Q4, and other FPS and demanding games, and in every game, its the same problem.

If my rates are high i get 500ms(for cs players, rates of 80+)

And i cant play most games anymore because of that. I contacted CABLEvision(CV.NET) AND they says its outside of there reach, but if it is... how come only people w/ Optimun online are getting it!!!!

oh well.... it is really bad, and should be fixed soon, before they lose a load of there customers, because soon, im out if it doesnt go away.

--------------
from someone who is a network manager, and knows how this works, he claims that it a router issue, and that it is overflooded.
------------
it could be... because of the huge ammount of people on optonline.. but eventually people will leave.

justopposite
@optonline.net

justopposite

Anon

wish I could get fios

Agree with #1 optimum web portal better than Verizon's.

#2 Used to be an issue with Netflix, but has been fixed. even on Netflix's own ISP rankings, netflix works better on Fios than optimum.

#3 seems like you never enabled the autotune to hd channels feature. It works exactly the same where you can go to channel 2 and it will go to the hd version of the station. This is not enabled by default. (but it should be). It was under Menu, settings, system, television, autotune hd channels.

I moved to a non Fios area and am stuck with optimum for now and can't stand their horrible tv service. (internet is fine, but I miss my 75/75 connection). Nothing wrong with the Tv service but picture quality noticeably inferior on my 65 inch tv compared to fios. Horrible on screen guide and menus, no skip button on dvr like with fios, no program chaptering on the dvr, no play all feature, can't customize replay button, cable box lags, on demand limited compared to fios, scattered channel lineups, price ridiculously high because they know fios is not available and so I have no other option except for directv, but I would have to keep internet with optimum.

You're happy to be back, and I wish I could go back to FiOS

hally
Premium Member
join:2000-02-21
Long Beach, NY

hally

Premium Member

Re: wish I could get fios

I almost went back over the holidays when they were offering full premium channels for 2 years for about same as I am now paying and a $400 gift card. As soon as Optimum goes up I will probably switch back. As for other issues, I think the quality of the picture is same and I can deal with the other stuff for now. Definitely for $50 less a month. Hate to play this game but none of it matters that much to me but the price.

And come on Fios, get your web crap working for lord's sake.

Anonf62d9
@173.70.202.x

Anonf62d9

Anon

Optimum / Altice 2022 North New Jersey

I have Verizon FIOS, but have switched back and forth several times between FIOS and Optimum / Cablevision, (now Altice). Optimum has very recently started offering fiber service, and have been offering a Visa card to switch. I opted for similar service to my existing FIOS(300 Mb/s up/down). They installed a few days ago. Today I cancelled the contract and returned the equipment. The service was fast, 330 Mb/s on a 300 Mb/s contract (Gigabit is available). They force you to pay $10 per month for the router which is built into the ONT. They also supplied a range extender, also for $10 a month, which I intended to return. With these additions they are $10 more than FIOS. Verizon allowed me to use my own router and no charge for one.

Unfortunately Optimum doesn't give you any real options for configuring their router. You can set the SSID and password, not much else. I couldn't bypass NAT or turn off DHCP. I also could not change the default subnet, or even turn off the WiFi. I have a hard wired mesh system which works well, but they were clobbering 2.4 Ghz channel 6. Finally, their router can only be managed via a web page that they host. I really hate the security implications of routers managed via the WAN and have never allowed it.

Their system would be suited for non-technical users, but if you have anything unusual, including most mesh systems you are out of luck. I'd still consider them if they would eliminate the $10 per month for the router and reconfigure it as a passthrough. The speed was good, and they don't intercept DNS the way FIOS does. The managed router and range extender do make sense for non-technical people, configuration issues could be fixed by Optimum tech support. If they are good about eliminating bugs its probably more secure than what users often use for routing. They just aren't for me.

Review by jiffy1111 See Profile

  • Location: Augusta, Sussex, NJ, USA
  • Cost: $208 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
  • No Cap
Nothing good about them
Random small outages for no apparent reason.
They need to change their name to "Less than Optimum"
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I am a former Service Electric customer that became an Optimum customer after they (S.E.) were purchased.
I thought Service Electric was a pretty bad ISP, but Optimum came in and said "Hold my beer." My service has been worse since the purchase.
I have the 500/35 plan, but hardly ever see those kinds of speeds during normal working hours.
I can see those speeds very early in the morning or late at night, but that's not when I need it most.
I also have random small outages for no apparent reason, even when the weather is nice.
They sometimes last 10-15 minutes, I notice them when I'm working from home.
They never credit you automatically, you have to pester them and once in awhile you'll get the credit.
They really need to change their name to "Less than Optimum."
Another ISP is rolling out fiber in my area, can't wait to ditch Optimum.

member for 4.9 years, 65 visits, last login: 266 days ago
lodged 2.6 years ago


JSargeSter
Premium Member
join:2016-10-09
Avon Park, FL

5 recommendations

JSargeSter

Premium Member

1

Watch carefully, if they convince to to change tier's you may loose your 35mb upstream :O
jiffy1111
join:2019-04-06
Augusta, NJ

2 recommendations

jiffy1111

Member

Re: 1

Thank you for the heads up.
kkehoe
join:2015-12-04
Ronkonkoma, NY

kkehoe

Member

Optimally Not

Far less than minimal, about says it

Review by goldensam See Profile

  • Location: Oceanside, Nassau, NY, USA
  • Cost: $200 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
Nothing good anymore
They stopped maintaining the network, and it's obvious
Run away if you have a choice!
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

Back to down more than up.

Kids use 4G instead of WIFI since the Optimum rarely works.



member for 24.5 years, 1802 visits, last login: 40 days ago
updated 2.7 years ago


Charter Pipeclog$
join:2001-02-04
Monroe, MI

Charter Pipeclog$

Member

Tweaks..

Have you been to the "Tweaks" section of DSLR? I have seen other users with OOL getting up to 4000k down.

irontoes
join:2000-03-18
Phoenix, AZ

irontoes

Member

Re: Tweaks..

Sometimes even 6000-8000 speeds, I can't wait for it.

shawn744
Premium Member
join:2001-02-16
New Jersey

shawn744

Premium Member

Re: Tweaks..

Go to www.optimumonline.com to check for you area because it should be one in your area. Good luck.
shawn744

shawn744 to Charter Pipeclog$

Premium Member

to Charter Pipeclog$
Sometimes the connection depends on the wiring , the town, and how far away the CO or serving station is. For me, it's pretty close so i should get fast speeds when i get it. The only thing that worries me is, that a lot of people in my area want cable, and if i get it, i hope it won't be clogged/laggy.
goldensam
join:1999-08-20
Oceanside, NY

goldensam

Member

Finally seems fixed

Got a alot of special attention and daily calls. Finally seems to be working well, and I'm pretty happy. Had them update me to Boost Plus, and I'm getting between 52 and 65 mbs down and a pretty steady 7-8mbs up.

Anonabfd7
@24.38.255.x

Anonabfd7

Anon

paying for optimum 400

im paying for optimum 400 and barely getting 60. i had enough of them. switching to fios on the 22nd
avpandya
join:2020-03-28
Trenton, NJ

avpandya

Member

Re: paying for optimum 400

Ive got the same issue. 400 speeds rendering Extremely POOR speeds .. Im talking anywhere between 80-10Mbps which is unacceptable and highway robbery. Consumer Affairs needs to engage for bait and switch and then their support is IMPOSSIBLE to reach or convince ; especiallly weekends

Anonafc73
@67.84.148.x

Anonafc73

Anon

Altice

the problem with Altice is, they don't like spending money on qualified people, they'd rather get rid of them, and hire new people at a much lower wage, the problem with that is, the quality of service gets severely downgraded!!..






Review by boredsysadm See Profile

  • Location: Old Bridge, Middlesex, NJ, USA
  • Cost: $105 per month
No caps. Speed as advertised
200mb is pricey by design, unless you go with 3play.
It's ok, but not great.
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I've been an Optimum customer from approx 2005-6. Love uncapped internet and for the most part, speeds are as advertised. At least now they are. 5-6 years ago a story a bit different, but that's water under the bridge.

I'm not going to review heavily compressed MPEG-2 1080i "HD" nor the DVR. Last CV DVR I owned it was 10 years ago and I never tried a new "cloud" DVR.

IP voice Phone works just fine, I just wish that modem power backup battery won't be an obscure optional accessory.

Few reasons for being gripes with my CV Internet.

a) DSLreports Speed Test is now showing very bad bufferbloat - Typically D to F scores

b) connection could be unstable and CV modem started to show higher than usual uncorrectable errors in stats. I now often get internet disconnects, lasting from a few seconds to a minute.

c) Freaking Arris model with g-d Intel Puma chipset. it's still a thing. I recently canceled my tv/voice - and guess what only Docsis 3.0 I could get? You guessed. Same old POS cheap-ass Arris tm1602a modem.

d) $85 for 200/35mbps service. It's not terrible of course, but rather pay $70 for a 1000/1000

Update 2019:

New $10/m Modem fee and absolutely ridiculous $2.5/m "network enhancement fee" now make me want to drop then today if I had another fast ISP provider available to pick from.

Update Jan 2021:

I've been running quite successfully Arris 6183 Docsis 3.0 modem at my home since March 2019 and it goes without saying that it paid for itself by Oct 2019 and it's net savings of 10$/month since then. The connection is rock stable and no issues whatsoever.

Jan 2nd the Saturday I get Optimum bill in the postbox (yes, I still prefer to do my online banking from paper bills on my desk - call me old fashioned if you like)

Anyhow, It's quite normal that the due date for the Optimum bill is less than 2 weeks away - this is their "normal" billing practice. What's not normal is I took a look at the bill today (Monday) and I see that the due day is LITERALLY tomorrow!!! WT Actual F.

member for 12.1 years, 992 visits, last login: 3 days ago
updated 3.2 years ago

tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

no competition

This is what happens when you have NO competition in your neighborhood (NO FIOS)!
Better off putting the bill in another family member's name to get new customer discount.
boredsysadm
join:2012-01-11

boredsysadm

Member

Re: no competition

Agreed. CV is my only fast internet option, despite living in an affluent neighborhood.
If I had FIOS available (not that FIOS is perfect) but I imagine I would have a better deal.

Darthgamer64
join:2013-10-06
Princeton, NJ
Greenwave FiOS-G1100

1 recommendation

Darthgamer64

Member

FiOS should be available

From what I heard, the Central Office for Verizon should be somewhere in Old Bridge/Perth Amboy. I spoke with a Verizon tech who told me this. I'm on the other side of Sayreville served by the South River central office.
Create a post to the Verizon Direct in DSLReports, they might be able to help. They should soon be transitioning users over to Fiber for the copper discontinuation anyway.
boredsysadm
join:2012-01-11

boredsysadm

Member

Re: FiOS should be available

That would actually be super awesome. Sick and tired of occasional disconnects. Damn Puma!!!!
boredsysadm

boredsysadm

Member

New 2019 updates

New 2019 Internet fees - $10 for modem and absolutely bizarre "network enhancement fee"

RMinNJ
join:2003-05-06
Oak Ridge, NJ

1 edit

RMinNJ

Member

Re: New 2019 updates

Yeah..not sure who's network they are enhancing...not the one in my neighborhood.
Just saying it would be nice if the fee upgraded the network locally in one's area.
boredsysadm
join:2012-01-11

boredsysadm

Member

Re: New 2019 updates

Exactly this. We have buried in ground cable and VZ phone. My gut feeling that even in 5 years I won't get to Altice's (or any other) FTTH, possibly Docsis3.1 if we're lucky at best.
boblite
join:2019-03-15
Metuchen, NJ

boblite

Member

Re: New 2019 updates

So you've dropped TV and are just getting Internet and voice ? If yes, if you don't mind my asking, how much are you paying per month, and how is this itemized ?
boredsysadm
join:2012-01-11

boredsysadm

Member

Re: New 2019 updates

I had 3play promo with Basic TV, phone and 200mbps internet. I paid around 105-110.
Then I've canceled everything else (as not needed) and left with 200mbps internet for a total bill of $85
Comes this February I got surprised with $10 modem fee and above-mentioned "network enhancement fee".
I've returned the modem and replaced it with Arris SB6183 from AMZ.
That should drop my bill back to below $90/month.

With some minor but annoying technical issues, I keep having with OOL, and their sudden price increases, I'd switch to FiOS in a blink of an eye if I had an option to do so.