Optimum vs. Viasat Internet Providers Compared

Optimum features good speeds but poor customer satisfaction scores

Optimum is a major national cable internet provider. Most of Optimum’s 4.3 million subscribers receive cable internet service. But the ISP is also adding some all-fiber connections in select markets. Optimum is the internet brand name of Altice USA, which rolled the company formerly called Suddenlink into the Optimum brand in 2022 [1]. Altice/Optimum is the 6th-largest ISP in the nation [2]. Optimum seems to check off all the right boxes for many of its offerings. You will have no data caps and no required contracts with Optimum internet plans. You will also get free equipment rental included with your monthly plan price. And Optimum’s prices are good (at least while the promotions last). So why are Optimum’s national customer satisfaction scores so low? We’ll check into that as we give you an overview of what to expect from an Optimum internet connection.

Good initial prices followed by price hikes

Cable internet is the chief type of connection that Optimum provides its customers. Because of improvements to cable internet technology, you can get gigabit download speeds from many cable internet companies like Optimum. You just won’t get the same upload speeds from cable as you will from an all-fiber connection [3]. Whether you get the usual cable service or all-fiber, you will get good prices from Optimum, and those prices will be locked for 2 years. Here’s an example. You’ll pay $40/month for Optimum’s first tier plan, which is up to 300. That is a good price for these speeds. The catch is that after those two years, standard prices will take effect, which will spike your bill higher. That may be why Optimum is seeing year-over-year declines in its cable customers [4]. The price hikes may be pushing people to other options at the end of their two-year promotion.

Viasat offers a variety of price points and speeds to fit your budget

Viasat offers higher speeds than its longtime competitor, HughesNet. While HughesNet only offers download speeds up to 100 Mbps, Viasat offers download speeds up to 150 Mbps in select areas. For the first-tier Viasat internet plan, you will pay an introductory price of about $99.99/month. These Viasat internet plan prices are slightly higher than HughesNet prices and cheaper than Starlink prices. You will get value for your money, because Viasat features unlimited allowances for monthly high-speed data. If you rely on using a lot of high-speed data, Viasat is the clear choice. Avid streamers or remote workers will benefit greatly from the simplicity of these plans. Be aware that like HughesNet, Viasat requires a two-year contract. If you cancel early, you will pay an early termination fee. You can get a no-contract plan for a non-refundable upfront payment which may work out to be more or less than a cancellation fee.

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.

Viasat delivers fast, reliable internet with ever-improving technology

You’ll get a solid, reliable internet connection from Viasat. Keep in mind that the military uses satellite internet for their operations. That’s because satellite internet survives in circumstances when cable or fiber internet might be out for days or weeks. Satellite internet can’t be harmed by an earthly accident, a weather catastrophe, or an attack on wired infrastructure. So in that sense, satellite internet is more reliable than wired internet. That’s why Viasat offers special “backup internet” plans for small businesses to minimize service disruption from outages. It’s true that heavy rain or snow can sometimes cause “rain fade,” which is a weakening or interruption in the satellite internet signal. But rain fade is only temporary. The one caveat about your Viasat internet speed is that your maximum speed will vary depending on where you live. Your plan options can vary from 25 Mbps to 150 Mbps download speed. That’s a wide range, but your speed will be better than DSL in many instances. Upload speeds from Viasat will remain consistent for all plans but much lower than the maximum download speeds. This asymmetry in upload and download speeds is typical for satellite internet, but will still allow most normal activities on the internet.

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.

Viasat equipment: buy upfront or take option of monthly rental fee

If you want to buy your Viasat dish and modem/router upfront, it will cost you around $300. That will save you some money if you don’t have to pay the monthly rental fee for two years (currently around $15). For customers whose credit scores qualify, installation is free. Others may pay a $100 installation fee.

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.  

Viasat’s customer satisfaction average, but 24/7 customer support is strong

On many popular online review sites, Viasat tends to score slightly above average for customer satisfaction. When customers are not satisfied, their comments are often related to the innate differences of satellite technology. It’s true that satellite speeds cannot approach the speeds of cable or fiber. But satellite is often the only technology that can reach rural or remote areas. That’s why it’s not too surprising that Viasat has some customers online who are not happy that their speeds are not fast enough. But it’s hard to get a more objective read on overall customer satisfaction, because Viasat does not appear in the J.D. Power Survey of Residential Internet Service Customer Satisfaction. Viasat does provide extensive online and phone support, with live reps available 24/7 to help with any issues. The online resource library is clear and on target with common types of information that customers might need. Viasat also has a convenient online portal called My Viasat to manage any aspect of your service. My Viasat also works through an app that you can download on your smartphone. Their optional EasyCare service may also be worth the low monthly fee you will pay to have all your service calls covered ($95), a dish relocation covered ($200), and premium customer support with the dedicated EasyCare line.