Internet Definitive Buyers Guide

Cable and fiber both provide fast download speeds, but cable's upload speeds are slower

With hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) technology, Optimum gives its cable customers gigabit download speeds but much slower upload speeds. That’s typical for cable internet service. Optimum is comparable to other major cable internet providers such as Spectrum and Xfinity, offering upload speeds at a maximum of around 35-50 Mbps. Optimum differs from the cable internet competition because it is also launching into the all-fiber internet market. Optimum’s current fiber internet customer base is small but has doubled in the last couple of years from around 100,000 to over 200,000 subscribers [4]. By 2025, Optimum plans to create over 6.5 million fiber passings [5]. Fiber internet’s most striking advantage over cable internet is that fiber offers symmetrical upload and download speeds. This is a game-changer for online gaming, videoconferencing, and large homes with multiple devices. When Altice merged Suddenlink under the Optimum brand, the company had two distinct “footprints” left from where the old Optimum and Suddenlink coverage had existed. Suddenlink’s coverage area had been primarily in the South and West. Optimum was strong in the Northeast, and particularly in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Now, the fiber buildout is fastest in that tristate area [1]. Your chances of getting fiber internet from Optimum in the next year or two will be better if you live in the tri-state area.

No equipment rental fees, free installation with Optimum plans

Optimum will provide your modem/router as part of your monthly plan fee, with no extra rental charge. If you have a compatible cable plan, you may even get a Wi-Fi 6 router, which will give you higher speeds for multiple devices than Wi-Fi 5. Fiber internet plans from Optimum will often include the Wi-Fi 6 gateway as well. If you would rather use your own modem and router, Optimum will allow it. Just be sure to check for compatibility with their specs. Standard installation is free with Optimum plans.

Optimum customer satisfaction: the big question mark

With so many seemingly good points to its service and pricing, why has Optimum’s customer satisfaction scored significantly below average according to J.D. Power? [6] A random sampling of online user reviews seems to indicate two major complaints. The first is outages and failure of technical response. The second is a more general dissatisfaction with the phone system, being transferred around to different departments, and getting contradictory responses from different phone reps when trying to solve billing issues. Because this is a fairly even distribution of complaints, it’s likely that Optimum is just not quick enough in responding to customer concerns, whether they be technical or billing-related. We can’t know the reason for this dysfunction. Often, these kinds of responsiveness issues happen when companies are understaffed or have high staff turnover in their customer service. But until Optimum gets better ratings, we have to give them only 3 stars for customer satisfaction.