 Review by Annmarie 
UPDATED: 242 days ago
member for 8.9 years, 5511 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Ronkonkoma,Suffolk,NY
 $29 per month (24 month contract)
 about 3 days
 "Fast, Reliable, Easy Install"
 "An undisclosed charge for NIC"
 "Excellent value and terrific speeds"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
I signed up with OOL in early Dec 2000 after a call from Cablevision. I had been e mailing them constantly re: availability in my area. The moment it was available they called me and I ordered it over the phone. They sent the package via UPS :a Terajet Cable Modem, a 10/100 SOHO card, cable, splitter, software, and set up manual.
I paid $99. for the package( split into two easy payments for my convenience) by signinga 2 year contract ($299 w/o ). Since I already have Family Cable Television in my home the $39. OOL charge is reduced $10. to $29. a month.
From the time I opened the box, split my cable, ran the line to the modem, installed the card, ran the line from the modem to the computer and installed the software and registered it was just under an hour.What took the longest was making a hole in the wall to run cable from another room. Husband was not happy since I used a phillips screwdriver and hammer. You get the picture.
I have not had one outage since installation and several DSL REPORT tweaks later my speed has reached 5 mb down/1mb up. If a 35 year old stay at home mom can set this up for her gaming son anyone can. This site (DSL REORTS) helped me know what I was getting into before I setup. A little bit of research went a long way....many posts here turned me off of the DSL idea and I'm glad. OOL is tops with me.
Two small problems....I was hit with a $25. charge on my cable bill for the card (was never told about this only the $99.) and my dynamic IP has been static for a while. Small annoyances though for great speed. Also, all my sons gaming friends want to come over to play on our computer all the time. Eating me out of house and home. HAHAHAH
UPDATE: It has been quite sometime since my OOL installation and I am still very happy with the service all around. The price went up to $40 a month now that the initial contract is over but I still happy with what I get for the money. Very rarely do we get an outage, used customer service to help a neighbor recently and the tech was great - very patient with all the rebooting and resetting of modems and routers.
Recently the speeds were increased to 15/2 at no additional cost and depending on the time of day and the computer being used I can see around 12 to 13 /1. I was advised by a rep at OOL to switch out my free modem in order to be able to get thee increased speeds since my original modem did not support them. A quick trip to the local walk in center, handed over my old modem and they handed me a new one. Cool.
I see a lot of FIOS trucks in our neighborhood doing installations but I am quite satisfied with OOL and have no plans to change to another ISP.
UPDATE 3/11/09
Still very satisfied with the service. Have not had an outage in recent memory.
Followup comments:  njvictor
join:2007-08-13
Brick, NJ
|  Cablevision works for me..................
I have other friends who had jumped over to FIOS,, one mishap, they don't disclose in full detail is the taxes and surcharges on everything, the video,the internet and the phone,,, they tax you on all 3 services,( based on useage ), oh, and get this,, the Box, they mount on or inside - the house,, needs electric to run **,, it goes in to your electric,, and you have to pay taxes and surcharges on that to...? so over all wheres the savings there,,
Verizons customer services is allways on hold, never there after 6pm,, differn't stories each time..? when you ask about bill ..? after this mess, they switched back to Cablevision,, others who live in Comcast,areas, went back to them as well.... with those 2 companies, at least you know what your getting for your money... both cable companies your only charged taxes on their equiptment and video,,, why would anyone switch ...?? stay with what you have and work it out,, someone at either Cable company allways helpful or at least try...
who wants to sit around all day to have the phone company all day for an install.. ? then have to deal with the bill... Verizon also charges to take their equiptment back,,, ask about that price...."
( thanks kevin+Lisa for that info... ) | |
|  | 
a333
A hot cup of integrals please
join:2007-06-12
Rego Park, NY | Re: Cablevision works for me.................. optimum has an 87% reliability and 82% value for money.
FiOS has a 94% reliability and 90% value for money.
Take your pick. | |
| | | 
BLUNTED 1
join:2003-11-13
Floral Park, NY | Re: Cablevision works for me.................. Uhh i pick Fios  | |
| | carmas
join:2003-07-31
Floral Park, NY
 ·Verizon FIOS
1 edit | Re: Cablevision works for me
There are no taxes on Fios internet. My Fios has been absolutly rock solid for over a year, in contrast to my year-long, unresolved lousy speeds of OOL every evening during peak usage.
If you're satisfied with your Cable Vision service, great! I have wasted countless hours on the phone with clueless support trying to resolve my OOL issues, and had to wait for truck rolls on three different occasions with no improvements on speed. Seems my "node" is saturated and too bad, we can't/won't fix it.
I have yet to contact Verizon for any problem over the past year. As far as the power consumption of the Fios ONT, it's about 15 watts. What powers your cable modem? Good intentions?
I have no love for either CV or VZ, but my experiance has been great with Fios and not so great with Cablevision.
Drew | |
| | |
BLUNTED 1
join:2003-11-13
Floral Park, NY
1 edit | Re: Cablevision works for me.................. Hey i am glad to see you got rid of OOL in this area because it sucks and so does Boost. I hope to get it soon and get rid of this HORRIBLE ISP. | |
| 
Peppers300
Premium
join:2003-05-22
Middle Island, NY | Re: Optonline vs FIOS Not only is Optonline cheaper than FIOS with the same speed in certain areas but I have never expierenced 1 outage in over 7 years. NOT 1 OUTAGE. Speeds have always been constant. I have only been capped once a few years ago. | |
| |
Peppers300
Premium
join:2003-05-22
Middle Island, NY | Re: Optonline vs FIOS Well of course now that I said that! I had an outage yesterday. It was for about 1 - 2 hours. No big deal at all. | |
| AlanG
join:2009-03-21
| OOL in the Bronx is Horrible! I have been suffering with slower and slower speeds.  I ordered Speed Boost. That was over a week ago. I am still only getting 5.6625 Mbps D/L and 4.7622 Mbps U/L. They advertise 15/2 Mbps for OOL and 30/5 Mbps for OOL Speed Boost. Cablevision sent a tech out to re-run a line and replace my modem. It did nothing for me. It is now obvious that they are clearly overselling service here. I had my repair request escalated and 7 days later... No resolution and no ETA on when it will be resolved. I will cancel the speed boost option.
I have 2 friends on Staten Island that have had FIOS for about 8 months. They are very happy and their connection FLYS! ! wish FIOS were available here. I would drop OOL in a New York Minute. I can't wait for the cable monopoly in NYC to end. | |
| zer0skill
join:2003-09-05
Elmwood Park, NJ
| And FIOS will be immune to saturation.... Let's all switch to FIOS and saturate them next.
Infrastructure can only be built so fast. Optimum's Lightpath network has several good peering points, giving my connection many routes to work with. I'm less susceptible to lag and packet loss where I am sticking with OOL.
Sure, Verizon's fiber can give me better speeds... but only on connections with other Verizon users, or when using p2p. Oh wait, Verizon likes to turn people's information over whenever they get a "fake" cease and desist letter, so I have to throw more paper out. I have yet to receive such a notice from OOL.
OOL is better for the environment because they save paper.
But yeah, I'm not going to say either sucks because that would be dumb. To each there own, what ever works better for what you do in your area.... | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Optimum Online |
|
Optimum Online
(40)