Optimum — Local services in Norwalk

2025- I tried to lower my mom's bill again since it was going back up to over $200. Not of course due to more service but just because they felt like it. The rep told me it would be cheaper to get the new "box." I could barely understand her as she seemed to be in a room filled with a hundred other people talking somewhere on the other side of the planet. Since I could barely understand her, I agreed to the new box only to find out later during a follow up call that they were going to install fiber optic cable and a streaming box. I told both reps that my mother is 95 and doesn't do well with new technology. I was told that the new remote would be simpler for her to use because it had voice control. They gave me a date for the installation which was for over a week from the day I called. I chose the date knowing I could be home and help my mother understand what was happening. Two days later I'm at the dentist and get a Ring camera alert. I see some guy hoisting a ladder next to our front door. I rushed home and the road was blocked off with a guy installing cable and another one directing traffic. Of course my mother was terrified. She couldn't understand why someone was trying to "get on the roof." Three hours after the fact, I got an email saying the cable installers were coming. So then another week later to get the new equipment. This guy needed help figuring out where to drill the hole in the wall. The new remote has almost no words, letters or useful symbols on it at all so my mother cannot figure out how to use it. It's been about a month now and all she can do it get the tv on sometimes but she can't figure out how to change channels. She often accidentally pressed the middle input button (conveniently located between the two power buttons) and then she's lost until I can get home to fix it. So that's how Optimum shows it cares about a customer of over 40 years.

Earlier this year- Now at 95 years old, my mom's bill is over $200. She watches 4 channels at the most, but I know if I call, they will lower her bill then take away a credit that will make her pay more in the long run. I've never despised a company more that this one. It took my 45 minutes online and two reps just to order her a new remote. They asked me to upload a photo of the old one but all of the files were too big to work. Such a waste of my time.

2022 Update- They jacked up my 90 year old mom's bill by $39 for nothing, so it was almost $150 for just TV and Internet. She watches maybe 3 channels max and checks her email once every few days. Her only income is Social Security.When I called them to see if her equipment was outdated they said, "Why? Is it broken?" (her box that had manufacture date of in 2009 totally died a few months later.) Sad company.

2020 Update- So now they are no longer including virus protection for free and you have to sign up by the end of the month. Good luck! I've been trying for 4 weeks. I was on hold via "chat" twice for 15 minutes. Then I asked for a call back. I got it an hour later. The person switched me to another department and I was on hold for 30 minutes before I hung up. They just don't seem to care because they know they don't have to. I just filed a complaint about their late fees. Why should they charge $10 late fee for being 1 day late with your payment when you are already paying one month ahead anyway? File a complaint. It only takes a few minutes. These people will trick you into a package deal saying it's cheaper but then slowly they take away all the credits until you are paying much more. I did that for years. Now I just have Internet but of course that goes up all the time due to new "fees." Check your bill carefully. I've been a customer for over 25 years Ask yourself if you need hundreds of useless channels, mind numbing programming and ads, phones that don't work in power failures and mysterious fees that just keep growing in number each year. Is it really worth...

Honestly, I wish I could give Optimum negative stars. My experience recently with Optimum has been so awful that I just have to rant about it through this review. If you are seriously considering Optimum for your cable, internet, mobile, or landline provider, please read this review before making your ultimate executive decision!

Firstly, I will provide some context regarding Optimum's mobile service, called "Optimum Mobile," formerly "Altice Mobile." Out of all their service offerings, this is the worst out of the bunch. I use an iPhone SE 2nd generation and have a contract with Optimum Mobile. I have had this contract since 2021 and my parents also use iPhone 11s with Optimum Mobile, which they received in 2019 after Optimum began advertising Optimum Mobile. Their advertisements claimed that they used T-Mobile's cellular towers and 5G speeds that are "very similar to Verizon and AT&T." However, this fishy and scammy advertising is NOT true! The service level on all the phones reminds me of an old 2000s Nokia Navigator with 2G connectivity through MetroPCS (now Metro by T-Mobile). Even worse is how they use this advertising to rope people into ditching their fast and speedy AT&T or Verizon contracts for a brand new (but slower) Optimum/Altice contract! Remember when I stated that Optimum apparently uses T-Mobile's cell towers? Well, the average iPhone user would expect T-Mobile speeds from Optimum Mobile. Well, they throttle the speeds to an exponent where Safari or any app using data can basically be unusable without hopping on a public Wi-Fi network. For example, during Spotify playback, the audio quality is perfect, but the behavior with data is awful! At multiple points, the song just stops or when starting, it sometimes does not even start. It is almost like an invisible hand is pressing the play/pause button on Spotify or something! Many people also have had this same experience with Optimum Mobile and it is not just a device-specific issue. Google Classroom on Optimum Mobile is even worse because sometimes, it just thinks that I have no classes enrolled when I am enrolled in all classes because of Optimum's awful data service being too lazy to load a Google classroom! iMessage is even worse on Optimum Mobile because sometimes, a text will not even send and if an image is sent, it will not load and steal all the Wi-Fi because the JPEG is attempting to download!! That is all I have to say about Optimum Mobile. Now, I will speak about their Internet and TV service.

Optimum TV is one of the better options, but, however, it does not come without its complaints! Sometimes, the image would stretch and/or zoom in on the Altice One box (the previous model) when used with an Insignia 24 inch Fire TV. The bonus of being able to Chromecast to the Optimum Stream box (current generation box) is one of the bonuses with the "Stream" upgrade.

Optimum's fiber optic internet is also one of the better options, but the Altice One internet was absolutely awful! With YouTube playback at 1080p, the video would just freeze and would play normally at 480p or less without stutters. These stutters also happen with the fiber optic Wi-Fi that we now have with Optimum. Also, the Altice connection would just stop working, disconnect, and reconnect randomly, resulting in us resetting the router.

The only two pros are the voice service and the low prices, which are the two main benefits of using Optimum. However, one complaint occurred with the phone: our Panasonic landline phone's clock would reset after an incoming call. Also, the Caller ID on our relatives' landlines would show up incorrectly, which thankfully was fixed. The low prices are self-explanatory, if any readers want to know.

Please stay away from Optimum and just go with another option that is available! Even Frontier internet up in Poughquag, NY, at my grandmother's house is way faster than the laggy...

My experience over six months with Optimum was truly the worst. Don’t make the same mistake. Frontier is now offering fiber internet in Fairfield County & you can bundle YouTube TV for less and better service.

My issues with Optimum started on Day 1 as they failed to show up for the first installation appointment. After setting me up with coax cable/internet, they then no showed for three appointments to install fiber, which is technically a hybrid fiber (fiber from the street to the house, but coax within the house). On the third appointment no show, I spent the morning on the phone with customer service representatives who assured me a technician would be there for the first appointment window of the day. Five minutes after the end of my window, with no technicians in sight, I was told I would need to reschedule, and that it didn’t matter that I was the first of three appointment windows. Once fiber was finally installed, Optimum changed my service plan without my consent from 500MB to 1GB. This then removed all of my promotional discounts including the $200 Visa pre-paid gift card. It took 10+ hours on the phone with countless employees in various departments to get my promotional discounts added back. One thing is clear about Optimum – the phone support staff operate independently of one another, and no one takes any responsibility. They will continue to pass you around and around until you give up. I also found the employees in the store to be equally unhelpful. The best they can do is “send an email”. Over six months I requested to have a manager call me back approximately ten times and believe I received two total replies after 72-hour waiting periods.

The straw that broke the camels back was the hardware Optimum requires fiber customers to pay for and use. The MyAltice branded router was incompatible with Eero & Sonos networks. The wonderful customer support team at Sonos helped identify the issue, which was a shadow wifi network being broadcast by the router despite being placed in Bridge mode by the Optimum team. Unfortunately, customers are not given full control of the hardware that they are required to use. So save your time, money and frustration and call Frontier. Now that there is competition for fiber providers in Fairfield County I cannot imagine why anyone would choose to deal...