 Review by drake 
UPDATED: 1.2 years ago
member for 7.4 years, 3536 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Brooklyn,Kings,NY
 $44 per month
 "Speed consistency; great pings; and reliability."
 "Your money is valued for the most part. If it's available, definitely take a look into it."
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(ratings match consensus)
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Quick Update: Nov. 12th, 2005
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I decided to give Verizon's DSL service a go, again. It doesn't look like I'll be staying with them even with their tempting offer of $29.95/month along with 3mb/768kb. Oh, and not to mention: I'm stuck with Interleaved as my data path. For more on my experience with Verizon DSL, check my profile.
I didn't cancel my Optimum Online subscription; the deal with Verizon offered the first month free, so I had nothing to lose. I'm still cruising here with 10mb/1mb speeds. And recent news, existing customers will be bumped to 15mb/2mb thanks to FiOS soon-to-arrive product.
Again, still cruising with Optimum ... !!
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I was an satisfied Verizon DSL subscriber for just about six months. However, before the DSL thing came about, I was looking into cable modem access which hadn't been available at the time due my area being on the "old system".
For months I observed Cablevision crews in my area digging up the streets, installing the new fiber-optical network to provide us with [video] digital cable service, [data] Optimum Online and [voice] Cablevision's VoIP service - Optimum Voice. And then of course, I start seeing local cable node's being installed. I found it interesting there were roughly *ten* node's within a five-block radius from my home. From what I've read, back-in-the-day, there was at least one node serving about 500-1000 homes; Cablevision cuts the number down to about 250 homes per node ... and that's not even the case for most areas anyway.
All the excitement got to the point where I borrowed a Cable Modem (Toshiba PCX1100U - quite old but solid modem) and hooked it to my cable line. I had my own little coaxial setup to where I intended on keeping my modem at; obviously a self-installation job. The "need" for Optimum Online was great as I've been told prior to my service that the network delivers speeds up to 10mb downstream/1mb upstream. That's much more than anyone can expect, or may be a bit too much speed for those that are, um ... what do you call 'em ... oh yeah, n00bs!  Much faster than any ADSL provider, however.
The month of December 2003 comes around, and I'm still waiting for service to be lit in my area. That's when I took the initiativet to tap a couple of Cablevision staff members on this site -- specifically "rspanbauer" (Rick) - head of OOL engineering. After a couple of good conversations with Rick, he kindly spoke with the engineers in my area installing the "new" network. And, well -- he worked his "magic".
Lo and hehold on December 24th, the day before Christmas, I see my modem's online LED lit up and online! I was speechless. I went and disconnected my Verizon DSL line then connected an Ethernet cable from Cable Modem to PC ... voila! I'm cruisin' at "optimum" speed! I received an dynamic DHCP IP address: 24.XXX.XXX.XXX (don't ask how I remembered!)
Now, for those reading this review asking yourselves "how the hell did his modem work?" Well it's pretty simple .. as about a year or so ago, Cablevision granted modems access to the network for just about nine-to-fourteen days; then you're bricked (modem stops working). At that point, you call Cablevision to register your modem's MAC address to regain service on your line. This happened to me. However the process was fairly quick in getting the modem "back" online. The technician was a sweetheart at it (yes, it was a female).
What happened with my Verizon DSL line? I kept it for another two months to balance out what I'd like to keep as my "primary" connection. Though Optimum Online is a standard 10mb/1mb connection ($44.95/month) vs. my Verizon DSL rated at 1.5mb/128kb ($34.95/month); I took the faster connection.
In February, I decided to keep Optimum Online and cancelled Verizon DSL. Don't get me wrong, Verizon provided great service at the time; speeds were very consistent, and virtually no downtime.
When I registered my cable modem, I was eligible for the pricing plan of $29.95 for the first six months - and that tasty treat for customers who went thru pain-and-suffering with self-installation (just kiddin'). It was pretty sweet --- though the six months flew pass.
'til this day, my speeds with Optimum Online couldn't be any better. I'm very satisfied with their service. Between December 2003 and now I believe I've had a total of five *minor* outages which really didn't affect me too much. And keep in mind of the upload capping by their network (read the OOL Forum on the site), which hasn't affected me, either. I upload quite a bit, but nothing too excessive.
As for my home equipment:
Motorola Surfboard 5100 [10mb/1mb]; Linksys WRT54G Wireless Gateway [1 wired; 1 wireless]; [Previous Network Hardware: Linksys BEFSR41 and Motorola WR850G Wireless Gateway]
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