Optimum Internet Definitive Buyers Guide

Good prices for two years for a variety of speeds across Optimum plans

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 very 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 cable plan, which is 300 Mbps download/20 Mbps upload. That is a very good price for such speeds. Even Optimum’s first-tier fiber plan is also priced at $40/month for symmetrical 300 Mbps speeds. 

When you add to those rock-bottom prices the option to bundle your mobile phone service for only $15-30/month, *plus* additional discounts on your internet plan, you will be getting a seriously good deal on fast internet.

1 Gig speeds run around $80/month for the promotional period. In the areas where you can get 2 Gig or 5 Gig Optimum Fiber, you’ll pay $120-180/month for symmetrical speeds, which is still competitive with lowest prices across the industry.

The catch is that after those two years, standard prices will be much higher. This puts you in a tough position as a customer. Are you really going to stay with your Optimum service if your price increases at the two-year mark from $40 to $110 or more for the same service? The answer may explain 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.

Still, two years is a long time. With no required contracts, it would be understandable if you opted for two years of these great prices, then figured out your long-term plan later. With the transparency of Optimum’s initial pricing plus no data caps to give you surprise overage charges, those two years are a very attractive offer.

Cable and fiber both provide fast download speeds, but fiber wins for upload speeds

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. With Optimum’s fiber plans, customers get the same 300 Mbps download speed as with cable, but instead of cable’s 20 Mbps upload, they will get a full 300 upload speed from fiber. 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]. And Optimum is offering its fastest new plan at a mind-boggling 8 Gigs in the tristate area as well [6]. 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.

Optimum’s Smart Wi-Fi 6 router will be especially helpful if you want to use Smart Home devices such as door cameras, thermostats, or lights. The wider bandwidth allows you to run all those devices without overloading your router.

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? [7]

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’re going to have to give them only 3 stars for customer satisfaction.