 Review by mbernste 
UPDATED: 1.9 years ago
member for 8.3 years, 4284 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Piscataway,Middlesex,NJ
 $65 per month
 "Faster than FiOS"
 "Installers need better training; need proper inventory of cable boxes."
 "Good ISP, not so great initial installation."
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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12/10/2007
Optimum has been very good in the over two years that I have had them. While there may be more outages than when I had Comcast, the speed is amazing (I have boost). It is nice to know that I can upload/download as much as I want without fear of getting capped.
9/24/05 and 9/25/05 update
On 9/18 I receive one of those automated survey calls regarding my installation on 9/17, needless to say that they didn’t get very good ratings from me. At the end of the survey, I was given the opportunity to speak to a CSR. Being in customer service myself, I know what a hard job being a CSR is. I politely explained what happened and quite frankly was a bit rude to me. On top of it all, she denied that my original work order even had a request for an SA4200HD despite the pink piece of paper from Cablevision telling me otherwise. The CSR set me up for an all day appointment for Saturday, 9/24. Apparently they only give you 4 hour windows on Saturdays when they want your money and do new installs (FYI Comcast gives 2hr windows and $20 if they are late).
I wake up on 9/24 and began to realize that I never received one of those automated confirmation phone calls like I did for my original installation. I called up Cablevision (at 6AM on a Saturday) and got a live person. He said they had me down for 9/29—a date I never agreed too. He was very apologetic and said he will get someone out there that day between 8AM and 6PM. Around 4:00 I decided to call Cablevision just to make sure a tech will come out. They said that I am on the list. 45 minutes later I get a call back from the same CSR and they told me that they are canceling my appointment. Needless to say I was not a happy customer. The CSR gave me an all day appointment for 9/25. So basically, I have to spend my entire weekend waiting for Cablevision. Why can’t a company the size of Cablevision get someone? They have the resources and in living in Piscataway, I see Optimum trucks constantly.
On 9/25 they sent a truck from their Oakland, NJ office. I was pleased to see that it was a real Optimum truck and not one of those “180 Connect” contractor trucks. Cablevision came at 4:45. Since there are no street signs yet, my place is a bit of a challenge to find, so I had to give him directions.
I showed the tech where the main wall plate is where all the lines are. I opened up the attic and he said that the wiring as installed by the builder was a bit of a mess. Because of the way it was installed, it was impossible to determine which line was for my bedroom. He installed a 3-way splitter at the main entry point to get that line activated. I must admit, he did a very good job since the picture was crystal clear and my cable modem signals are not any worse off than they were before.
While the tech was working on giving me a picture on the bedroom TV, I set up the SA4200 HD box. For some reason over the last month or so, the SA boxes have been taking a very long time to download the new software upon installation (both techs told me this). The installer, concerned that it wasn't going to download, called a co-worker to come and bring anther SA4200HD (each tech only gets 1 per day--amazing) in the event that this box is bad. After about 45 minutes the box finally loads. After a few more minutes fixing a couple of misconnected cables (my goof) everything was up and running. Both techs left at around 6:30, so it took almost 2 hours to get everything working. These two techs were very professional and courteous. I would say Cablevision did a good job redeeming themselves.
***Original Review 9/18/2005***
I had OOL and iO installed on 9/17. The install window was from 8-11. The installer came at around 9:30 to install cable and Internet service at my new home (condo). They sent a contractor from 180 Solutions as opposed to an in-house Cablevision employee. While I know most cable companies use contractors, I was a little surprised considering that I live in the same town as the Cablevision office for my system.
I knew I was in trouble when he said he did not have any SA 4200HD boxes. He stated that he has three HD installs today and had no boxes for any of them since the warehouse didn’t have any in stock. I don’t understand how Cablevision can be so badly managed with inventory that they don’t have the proper equipment for installation. I showed him where the drops were in the house. One of the drops was behind a media center that was easily accessible by me, yet the installer said that he might not be able to get to it to take the faceplate off. The next issue arose when he tried to locate the main entry point for my cable line. He found the location, but it is right next to my washer and drier and he said he did not have the proper sized screwdriver to remove the faceplate. Being a computer guy, I just happen to have the proper screwdriver, but as a customer paying for installation, I should not have to provide my own tools nor should I be expected to remove the faceplate (which he needed me to do). Once he got the faceplate off, he began to do the installation.
While he did the install, I call up Cablevision and ask if there are any SA4200HDs in stock at my local Optimum store in Piscataway. They checked their inventory and they had one left (why he couldn’t have done this before coming to my house I’ll never understand). So, while he continued with the install, I drove down to the Optimum store and picked up the SA4200HD. Luckily the store is only a little over 2 miles away. I was back in about 20 minutes with the unit.
Without being in the way, I checked to see how the install was proceeding. It seemed to me the installer had some problems doing the install. On more than one occasion I heard a mild explicative or two from the installer. After about 2½ hours, he had all the lines run. Now the real “fun” begins.
First he didn’t have the SA4200HD installed correctly because I was getting a hum from my TV. Secondly, the box was coming up as “not authorized.” He called Cablevision and had to wait in the queue just like any other customer. He finally got a hold of a CSR (customer service representative) and they couldn’t get the box to come up. Since there were no other SA4200HDs available, he gave me a standard definition box. He plugged in the component cables into the SD box. When I questioned him on that, he said that if you knew which connections to use, the component cables can be used in lieu of RCA cables. I knew this was BS, but at this point I didn’t want to argue with him. He then proceeded to plug the component cables to the video out ports on my TV; again I didn’t feel like arguing with him. After being stumped as to why he wasn’t getting a picture, he then asked me to switch the TV from “composite” to analog and tune the TV to channel 3. In desperation he also hooked up the coaxial cable from the box to my TV and told me to watch TV this way and to call Cablevision on Monday to see if they have any other HD boxes available.
I then went into my bedroom to see if I was getting a picture on the regular, analog TV and I was getting snow. I asked him about this and he said he could not get it to work. He told me that in the attic, there might be a staple in the line preventing the signal from working and I should check for the staple and if I find one, just remove it and I should get a picture. Unfortunately, I was unable to verify this because when I went to open the attic door (its one of those pull down kinds), the wire broke, so I have to get that fixed.
Now comes the OOL installation, he hooks up the cable modem and I plug the Ethernet cable to my router. I fire up the computer and I get the registration page. I enter in my account information and I am unable to get the modem provisioned. The installer calls Cablevision again and yes, sits in the queue. While sitting in the queue, I try several times to get the modem provisioned without any luck. After about 15 minutes he gets through to a CSR and the modem comes up before the CSR does anything.
After the installer leaves, I notice a couple of issues. First my iO service wasn’t working correctly. When I tried to view “Mag Rack”, which is free, I got an error stating that I was not authorized. Calling Cablevision was fruitless since every time I got in the queue to talk to a CSR (after going through their automated help system) I would get hung up on. The second issue I noticed was that I could not create a primary e-mail address. When I entered my account number, it could not verify me. The first issue was resolved by calling customer support this morning. A reboot of the box and a little magic on their end got my iO working. I made another attempt to get my modem provisioned and this time it went through and was able to create my primary e-mail account.
The one good thing is that the installer worked very hard and spent close to three hours at my house installing everything. I suspect a more competent installer would’ve taken half the time. By comparison my phone install (new construction) took about an hour. While I am happy with my Optimum Online, and iO, the whole process, which is still not resolved, could have been handled a lot better.
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