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In the event you dwell within the northeastern US, you might doubtless be contemplating both Optimum or Verizon Fios in your dwelling web. These two suppliers supply broadband service to some main metro areas in that portion of the nation and for those who dwell in components of Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, you may actually have a alternative between the 2. In line with the newest information from the Federal Communications Fee, Optimum is offered to simply shy of 13 million folks and Verizon Fios is obtainable to almost 36 million potential prospects. So there could also be fairly a number of of you on the market wanting into these two web service suppliers and questioning what the variations are between them. Let’s have a look.
Optimum
Out of the gate, there’s so much to lure you to Altice’s Optimum web service. You get extraordinarily aggressive introductory pricing, quick speeds and respectable perks. Together with these positives, you get limitless information, no contracts and low tools charges. What’s to not like? Effectively, there are a number of different components to think about. A majority of households serviceable for Optimum will obtain cable web service, which may get you quick obtain speeds, however not the equal add speeds you’ll discover with fiber-optic service. Additionally, whereas the introductory costs are nice, they’re solely good for the primary 12 months. Lastly, Optimum has not fared all that nicely in buyer satisfaction surveys, so there’s work to be performed there, too.
Learn our Optimum dwelling web evaluation.
Smith Assortment/Gado/Getty Pictures
Verizon Fios is a 100% fiber web service, which suggests you get symmetrical obtain and add speeds. That is good, particularly for those who’re spending extra time working from dwelling and videoconferencing as of late. The excessive efficiency and speedy uploads of fiber web allow you to accomplish these issues higher than cable web, the place add speeds are sometimes a lot slower. Additionally, Verizon Fios would not flood you with a bunch of {qualifications} or caveats about its service. It retains issues easy with simply three plans, and you do not have to fret about any early termination or overage charges as a result of there are not any information caps and no contracts. Granted, Verizon Fios would not characteristic the bottom costs, but it surely gives wonderful worth in the long term and scores exceptionally nicely in buyer satisfaction rankings.
Learn our Verizon Fios dwelling web evaluation.
Verizon Fios and Optimum have protection maps that overlap all through a lot of New York Metropolis and the encircling areas.
FCC/Mapbox
The place are you able to get Verizon Fios and Optimum?Verizon Fios focuses its protection on a number of main metro areas within the Northeast. A few of these cities embody Albany, New York; Baltimore; Boston; Buffalo, New York; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Richmond, Virginia; Syracuse, New York; and Washington, DC. All in all, Verizon Fios spans the eight states of Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia. Optimum Web is offered to 2 boroughs within the New York Metropolis market — Brooklyn and the Bronx. Additionally it is accessible to nearly all of Lengthy Island in addition to a wholesome part of northern New Jersey, Dutchess and Westchester counties in New York state and parts of Connecticut. As I discussed in the beginning, there’s some respectable crossover between these two ISPs, primarily inside the New York metropolitan space.What is the distinction between Optimum and Verizon Fios plans and costs?On its web site, Verizon Fios boasts that its add speeds are “as much as 25x sooner than Optimum’s cable community.” On the flip facet, Optimum brags, “In case you are being conscious of your funds, Optimum is the higher alternative.” Let’s begin sorting via all of it by beginning with their accessible plans and value factors.
Optimum plans and pricing
Plan
Max speeds
Beginning month-to-month value
Common month-to-month charge
Month-to-month tools price
Information cap
Contract
Optimum 100
100Mbps obtain, 5Mbps add
$30
$90
$10 (skippable)
None
None
Optimum 300
300Mbps obtain, 20Mbps add
$30
$110
$10 (skippable)
None
None
Optimum 500
500Mbps obtain, 20Mbps add
$40
$130
$10 (skippable)
None
None
Optimum 1 Gig
940Mbps obtain, 35Mbps add
$50
$140
$10 (skippable)
None
None
Verizon Fios plans and pricing
Plan
Max speeds
Beginning month-to-month value
Common month-to-month charge
Month-to-month tools price
Information cap
Contract
Fios 200
200Mbps obtain, 200Mbps add
$40
$40
$15 (skippable)
None
None
Fios 400
400Mbps obtain, 400Mbps add
$65
$65
$15 (skippable)
None
None
Fios Gigabit Connection
940Mbps obtain, 880Mbps add
$90
$90
None
None
None
Let’s begin with Optimum. As is the case with many ISPs, the variety of plans accessible to you’ll fluctuate based mostly in your location and tackle. As an alternative of the 100 and 300 plans, some prospects may see both a 200 megabits-per-second plan or a 400Mbps possibility. However what stands out is the extremely aggressive pricing for the primary 12 months of service. Taken throughout all 4 plans, the fee per Mbps of Optimum’s beginning month-to-month costs is a really inexpensive 13 cents per Mbps. Much more spectacular? The price per Mbps for the Optimum 1 Gig plan is 5 cents. That is why my CNET colleague David Anders tagged Optimum as the most effective cable gigabit web deal in his roundup of the most effective high-speed ISPs for gigabit web. The drawbacks? First, you possibly can see how cable’s add speeds do not examine to these of fiber web. You solely get 5Mbps of add pace with Optimum 100 and between 20 and 35Mbps for the opposite three plans. What does that imply in the true world? Effectively, Zoom recommends you’ve got at the least 2Mbps add speeds for a single display screen, so for those who’ve bought a family with two or three folks needing to do some type of videoconferencing, issues may get actual tight fast. Fiber will not run into that downside.Second, these improbable introductory costs do not final. After your first 12 months of service, the plan prices revert to Optimum’s common charges, which, on common throughout all 4 plans, jumps as much as 42 cents per Mbps. Not the worst we have seen, however after these preliminary 12 months, it definitely turns into dearer than Verizon Fios. That stated, CNET spoke with an Altice spokesperson in regards to the second-year charges and we have been assured that prospects is not going to see fairly those self same jumps. “Buyer pricing might change after the preliminary promotional interval ends, however is not going to go to full charge card pricing. We talk the precise change in pricing to our prospects upfront of the adjustment taking impact.”Shifting on to Verizon Fios, it tries to maintain issues fairly related throughout all of the areas it serves. The three plans you see are the three plans supplied. And people three plans haven’t got a promo value that adjustments to a daily charge after 12 months. That does not imply your charge won’t ever change, in fact, but it surely additionally means you are not fated to get that dreaded bump in your invoice after a 12 months. So, when wanting throughout Verizon Fios’ three plans, the fee per Mbps for Fios 200 at 20 cents is cheaper than the 30 cents per Mbps of Optimum 100’s beginning value and the general value of 15 cents per Mbps throughout all plans is corresponding to Optimum. The one exception — although on this case, it is an vital one — is in New York Metropolis. Verizon Fios options each a Fios 300 and Fios 500 plan to match the speeds that Optimum gives. The New York Metropolis Fios 300 plan precisely matches the $40 a month intro charge that Optimum costs, whereas the Fios 500 plan runs $65 a month (vs. Optimum’s $50 a month for the primary 12 months). So, who wins this spherical?It relies upon. Optimum options higher costs for the primary 12 months, however Verizon Fios might find yourself being cheaper in the long term. As well as, the symmetrical add speeds you get from a fiber connection additionally deliver a selected price of their very own. On that notice, Optimum additionally sees the worth of fiber web. Per Altice’s Q2 report from late July, Optimum’s 100% fiber community is at the moment accessible to simply over 20% of its Optimum footprint and a spokesperson shared with CNET Optimum’s purpose that “fiber deployment continues at a fast tempo.” It isn’t but broadly accessible, however Optimum is definitely pushing additional down that street.
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Let’s check out further charges and add-on expensesBoth Verizon Fios and Optimum waive your setup for those who order service on-line, so we have a draw there. Each ISPs have additionally kicked information caps to the curb, so that you needn’t worry any looming overage charges in your information utilization. That is a win for patrons of each companies. Lastly, neither Verizon Fios or Optimum require you to signal a contract, so there is no risk of steep early-termination charges.The place we do have some variance between the 2 is along with your month-to-month tools price. Verizon Fios will cost you a further $15 a month to hire their router. That price does get waived for those who join the Fios Gigabit service. You possibly can additionally make a one-time buy of the router for $300, which primarily means you are paying for 20 months up entrance after which getting the service without spending a dime. That is price contemplating when you have some certainty you will not be transferring within the subsequent two years.Optimum wins this battle as its month-to-month tools price rings in at $10 a month. That is a 3rd cheaper than Verizon Fios. It must also be famous that each Optimum and Verizon Fios additionally provide the choice to skip further month-to-month tools charges altogether through the use of your individual modem and router.Are there perks to assist earn your online business?Maybe as a result of they each compete within the nation’s largest metro market, each Optimum and Verizon aren’t shy about courting prospects. On the Optimum entrance, all new web prospects will obtain a $100 Visa Pay as you go Card — and particular cell pricing — in the event that they add Optimum Cellular to their service. As well as, new subscribers to the 300, 500 or 1 Gig plan may even obtain a $200 Visa Pay as you go Card, a free Wi-Fi extender and free web for a month (which can seem as a credit score in your third invoice). Lastly, Optimum 300 prospects will get three months of HBO Max without spending a dime, Optimum 500 prospects get six months free and Optimum 1 Gig prospects get a full 12 months of HBO Max without spending a dime. At $15 a month, that is a pleasant little perk. Optimum additionally gives a 60-day money-back assure, which is twice so long as the 30 days supplied by most different ISPs. It includes a contract buyout as nicely. In the event you go to Optimum with a invoice from a competing supplier — to illustrate you lately moved to an Optimum-serviceable tackle and also you’re coming from one other area the place you had a contract along with your ISP — it provides you with a credit score to cowl the early termination price you incurred, as much as a most quantity of $500. Verizon Fios has some related offers and gives to sway you its means. First, like Optimum, it extends an Early Termination Price supply. Particularly, you may get a invoice credit score of as much as $500 for those who swap out of your present supplier and are charged a termination price for breaking the contract. Second, Verizon additionally boasts a money-back assure supply, however not like Optimum’s 60-day window, the money-back supply is viable in your first 30 days of service.As for perks, all new Verizon Fios prospects will obtain AMC Plus for 12 months. That is a price of $9 a month. In the event you join the 400Mbps plan, you may additionally get a $100 Verizon Present Card. Lastly, new Gigabit prospects will get a $200 Verizon Present Card, a Wi-Fi extender (along with the free router I discussed earlier) and 2TB of Verizon Cloud storage.Personally, I might somewhat have HBO Max than AMC Plus. However apart from whether or not you’d somewhat watch Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO Max) or The Strolling Useless (AMC Plus) — the higher worth is with the $15-a-month HBO Max over the $9-a-month AMC Plus. You should not let it’s the only real cause you select one service over the opposite, but it surely may undoubtedly sway your resolution for those who’re on the fence.
American Buyer Satisfaction Index
The place does buyer satisfaction land?There isn’t any different approach to put this — Optimum has an extended approach to go to match the shopper satisfaction observe report of Verizon Fios. Let’s begin with the 2021 American Buyer Satisfaction Index for ISPs. Verizon Fios tied with AT&T on the high of the chart with 71 out of 100. It was the sixth straight 12 months that Verizon landed on the high of this benchmark survey. The one blemish is that Verizon Fios dipped by two factors from the earlier 12 months.Sadly for Optimum, the ACSI survey had a lot harsher information. Optimum scored a 60 out of 100, which was 5 factors under the business common. Much more distressing, it was 5 factors decrease than the earlier 12 months’s ranking, which signaled a close to 8% drop, the steepest decline of any ISP named within the examine.Over on the 2021 J.D. Energy US Residential Web Service Supplier Satisfaction Research, the information wasn’t significantly better for Optimum. The corporate earned a disappointing rating of 655 on a 1,000-point scale, which was nicely under the East area common of 714 and a drop from final 12 months, the place it had nearly overtaken Spectrum. As an alternative, it bested solely Frontier Communications on the backside of the checklist.In the meantime, Verizon Fios additionally took the highest spot on this satisfaction survey, incomes a 758 out of 1,000. To be honest, this was additionally a drop from its 2020 rating, however nicely above the second-place Xfinity in the identical East area. In reality, of all ISPs within the J.D. Energy survey, Verizon Fios boasted the best rating throughout all areas. Verizon Fios took the highest spot within the East area of J.D. Energy’s most up-to-date ISP buyer satisfaction survey. Optimum? It was close to the underside, second solely to Frontier Communications.
J.D. Energy
What is the remaining verdict?When you’ve got a alternative between Verizon Fios and Optimum, it is robust to not go along with Verizon Fios. First off, from reliability to the symmetrical obtain and add speeds, a 100% fiber community will beat cable web each time. And, regardless of the compelling financial savings you may get within the first 12 months of service with Optimum, Verizon’s constantly sturdy buyer satisfaction scores are sufficient to place it excessive.
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