Letter: Optimum in Lakewood

Dear Lakewood Scoop, I am not sure if this affects you, but it sure affects many residents of Lakewood.

Optimum has constantly added customers to Lakewood, but has not properly updated the infrastructure. I know our neighborhood, Prospect area and Presidential neighborhoods are constantly losing internet connectivity. I have been calling optimum for over a year to fix the issues. They send down a tech and then he says either there is nothing he could do, or he fixed the issue.

Finally I had one honest tech, he told me it would cost them close to a million dollars to fix. So as long as it is just individuals calling, they will never fix it unless it becomes a community event (i.e. it makes the news etc).

Would it be possible for you to write an article, to have everyone who sees that is a issue (not just for them but for the community as a whole) write comments in the comments section? Hopefully then you will be our voice and initiate action.

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67 COMMENTS

  2. They don’t care about our $50 a month they want customers with tv and internet and phone. They told me this straight out

  4. I’m having the same issue, and it got much worse about a week and a half ago. I live in a different area of Lakewood and having this problem. I called them several times and am still waiting to hear back from them…

  5. I have an office in the prospect area and optimum internet goes down several times daily, sometimes several times AN HOUR. I thought it was my old equipment but now I’m​ not sure…

  8. Hi I live behind quick check and I also realize that I sometimes just randomly lose my connection to the internet, I’m very this has come up now it’s a problem that has to be fixed

  9. I also experience bad service with optimum. Although for the ruchniyus of our town it may be a good thing. Imagine every teenager picking up a hotspot whenever and wherever he pleases!

  12. X2!

    We have the same issue in the Spruce St. area. Constantly losing connection, and the fact that my phones are connected to optimum is even more frustrating! Can we work on a class action?

  16. I had one tech that told me the major problem is that the constant construction causes problems on the lines as the new construction is constantly damaging lines & equipment. He said this at the same time as he said they have done lots of upgrades to fiber to the main stations, so at some point it will be upgraded to fiber to the home. But if indeed the major problem is the damage caused by new construction then it will be some time until things will be back to normal…

  17. The proper thing to do is contact the NJ Board of Public Utilities (BPU) which has oversight responsibilities over Optimum’s (aka Cablevision) delivery of services. If the BPU hears from enough people, the item will get onto their Agenda and it will get fixed. The number for cable-related issues is (866) 575-8000. Hatzlocha!

    • to tg the number you posted is optimum’s not NJ board of public utilities
      the corect number is 800-624-0241 please call and complain

      • Thanks for the correction. You beat me to it 🙂

        Calling the BPU and filing an official complaint from many different residents/businesses will absolutely get the problem onto the radar, and will force Optimum to rectify the situation.

  20. Our office is in the Williams St area and we lose internet connectivity often. Even when it DOES work, it is way slower than what we pay for. I called optimum multiple times and every time they say: well it’s working now. And then the issue happens again a few minutes later. By the time I call back it’s not happening anymore. They refuse to admit responsibility . They need to upgrade the area to accommodate their customers! If everyone reading this can please call optimum every time their internet goes down or is slow and tell them to send a technician down, they will take notice and not abandon the Lakewood community. Thank you!

  21. Stop the contractors, stop the construction. we keep on building houses and not the necessary infrastructure. Now we don’t have reliable internet. Affecting all buisness in town.we can’t let those contractors keep on building with out the necessary infrastructure!!!

  22. Optimum service is horrible all over, not just in that area.
    I think this should really be a letter to Verizon to come in and replace all optimum copper lines with fiber and get rid of optimum completely!

  25. I am very happy if it goes down. Many bachurim and younger children have a username and password that will allow them to connect to the internet therough OptimumWifi even if they don’t have any service at home. This leads to so many michsholim. I hope Optimum stays down for good.

    • we are talking about businesses that need it to run properly who are using it with the proper filters!
      so stop being happy when people are losing money.

  26. I have been having the same problem with my Optimum service. Any time I would call to report the issue, they give me the same run around. I have restarted my equipment hundreds of times. Obviously there is a bigger problem. If it keeps on happening I am sure many people will switch to Verizon.

  29. for those that say to switch to another company, it’s not so simple. Optimium is the ONLY company that services my area so I”m stuck!

    Lately, I’ve been get a message in the morning that my connection is down and I need to reboot my smartphone to get messages/updates that came through overnight. I am missing important information due to this.

    This is NOT acceptable!

  30. i switched from verizon DSL 6 years ago because i was having internet outages of 3 days! until one rep finally told me I should switch because the closest verizon box (?) for internet is too far from my business- new central area.
    Optimum was great compared to Verizon.
    I would like to hear from Verizon DSL users if Verizon has improved over the years

  32. My area generally doesn’t have “down-time” issues with Optimum, except for whenever it rains in the region, when I almost always lose my connection.

    This cable utility company is part of a multi-billion dollar conglomerate, and they should stop being so cheap about upgrading to the proper infrastructure, at their customer’s expense!

  33. I live in the spruce st area and my service never goes down, a big reason for sub par service is if you use the free optimum router its a terrible device, toss it and buy a high quality router and more than likely you’ll have good service

  34. Some areas don’t have problems.
    But many people just don’t see the problems because it is just a few minutes here and there but if you are a business depending on constant internet it is impossible to function

    We need to compain to
    1.FCC
    It is very easy tom file a complain!!
    2 NJ BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES
    3.THE BBB the Corp name for optimum. Is altice

  36. Same as avi…I was losing my connection 3/5 times a day. Changed my router and Wala! I’m up and running.

    BTW for all the morons that are commenting on how many michshalim there are on the internet you should really NOT be sitting on your internet commenting on trivial stupidity. You wanna fix something get off the internet so people that actually deal with real issues can work without being nichshal in reading comments that have done nothing but lower the IQ of the entire town! We understand you are lonely and need to feel important. Go give your kids some attention…or maybe even your wife. It may take the strain off your therapist!

  37. in prospect area i know its not the router because i ran pings = tests from multiple businesses in the area and the all get disconnected the exact same times throughout the day

  39. I’m having almost daily shut downs in the Albert area of Lakewood.
    When I do call sometimes, they say they have no record of any down time and they reboot modem.

  40. At first i though it was a Wifi issue so they recommended is getting their own smart router – do not get them – reliability and functionality is bad. They also broadcast as a public hot spot.
    I purchased a modem and router all in one and have a better service (except when optimum shuts down).

  41. I have Optimum now and, for the most part its OK, near Coventry area. But for the ppl advising switch to Verizon DSL, sorry,no way. Verizon was 10x worse.

  42. We’re in the Georgian court/ north lake vicinity (with not much new construction around-so they can’t blame it on new construction) and our optimum shuts down as often as a few times an hour. Thank you for the numbers to the higher authorities. Hopefully with enough calls, something will be done.

  43. I think we should all try to get Verizon fios. . I was told that if we have enough people they would wire the area. I am very unhappy with the Optimum service. I would be happy to help out in any way I can.

  47. Welcome to Lakewood. The roads are over crowded, the electric power is over stressed, the water company can barely keep up with and now we can’t get dependable internet. Everything is over taxed including the people.

    Stop the building until things can catch up.

  48. I’m very alarmed thatvso many people have Internet in their homes ! This is lakewood ir hatorah we don’t need Internet at home leave it i the office at home u should be giving your kids all the attention enough is enough !!!!

    • (To “Surprised” – I suppose you have internet to be posting this.)

      I have had Verizon DSL for a long time and switched to Optimum only for 2 years because their introductory price was lower. I switched back to Verizon and although it’s slow, it’s fast enough and cheaper than Optimum.

  49. Optimum has a newer router from Sagecom. Go to Jackson store and swap out the D-Link for free. The D-Link looks like a cylinder. The Sagecom is rectangular. They will tell you if it will work with your DSL modem.

  50. have and had problems with Verizon too, Whenever I call I get connected to somebody in India, And have to call quite a few times, till they connect me to somebody in the states, and then it takes forever, in other words Verizon isnt much better either,

  52. When our internet is down we can’t make phone calls from the house phone either. Recently, my older children were home alone and had a medical emergency but were unable to call out and get help. There is no dial tone at all when that happens, just eerie silence. It’s a brand new phone and internet on the computer goes down at least twice per day so the problem is obviously optimum.

    Does anyone else have the problem of not being able to call out when connectivity is interrupted? If so, what do you do in an emergency situation??

  54. @Ron Benvenisti I am wondering how a newer router will help with a modem issue?
    It didn’t help by me, just got worse.
    They use this smart router as a public hotspot.
    After I purchased my own modem/router and returned theirs, my bill got cheaper by $10 monthly (they have a hidden accessory fee).

    • You’re right, a new router, won’t help with a modem issue, only a wireless problem. I replaced mine and no more dropouts. Same modem. I never have issues with the modem unless there is a legit service outage or I’m late on the bill. LOL In any case you still need an Optimum ID to use the hotspot and whoever tries to use it would have to come 20 yards into my property to get a decent signal. It doesn’t hurt my bandwidth inside, wired or wireless. But having said all that you could get another wireless router so you don’t have an Optimum hotspot. That’s the only way to disable it.

  55. Same old bad service we have come to expect.
    One thing they are good at is sending emails saying “sorry we know your service is out we are working on it”

  56. I just moved to Presidential Estates. I ordered Optimum and it works fine. I’m paying 70 a month for internet. Too expensive but I need internet for the business. Next issue. Apparently it went down this past shabbos when the power went out – probably from a car hitting a pole, which I saw had caution tape around it. Let’s dispel some myths here : Fios isn’t the solution. They may run fibre optic to the house but rely on copper inside of the home so it’s still not faster. Secondly, Verizon has TERRIBLE customer support – I use them for other services. Thirdly, using DSL for your internet connection proveds you with 128k baud, ridiculously slow compared to any high speed internet service. Fourthly, dsl is run through phone switching stations, the nearest, I think is on Lexinton Ave by 1st or 2nd st and the farther you go from there, the greater the signal loss. Fifthly, when it comes to routers, do NOT use a 5G router in your home – you are irradiating yourself and your family with microwaves. The specific frequencies it uses actually disrupts water molecules and oxygen molecules limiting the oxygenation of your blood among MANY other health related issues. The planning right now is for installing every 800 or so feet in any urban environment, which is a problem. I was given a wireless router which I might want to use occasionally but after TELLING the tech I was opposed to 5G technology, he installed a 5 G router. I unplugged it immediately and set up a LAN connection. Finally, YES, alot of the connectivity problems is the new construction as the nodes are sometimes not securely wired and do bleed off signal.

  57. Here’s another thing – related to communication but not internet. If the power goes down and chas ve shalom you need emergency services, Hatzolah, Police, etc, your VOIP service will not work. Your cell phone might try connecting to a jammed network (like on 9/11) and won’t work. If you need to have a reliable phone service for emergencies, your only option is a copper wired landline. Yes, the dreaded landline.

  58. I have a little knowledge in this area. Here is the real story. Optimum was bought out by a French Company Altice a little while back.

    Altice was basically a relatively new company, that wentire on a massive buying spree purchasing telecom/cable companies and financing it with debt.

    Altice is broke and cannot afford to finance their debt. They have drastically cut staff at optimum and jacked up the prices, (between the modem fee and rate increases, my cost for Internet is up 40% in the last 2 years). They have likely also cut down on infrastructure spending.

    As a regulated utility, and monopoly, they are regulated by the NJ Board of Utilities. Call them or fill out the online form and complaign. There have been many complaints against Altice, and not just in Lakewood.Altice should never have been allowed to purchase Optimum due to their financial weakness, and the amount of debt required to complete the purchase.

    The board of Utilities will respond to complaints, and they do have the power to force changes. Otherwise, thing’s are only going to get worse.

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