Get the Optimum Triple Play Today! Enjoy Optimum Rewards Benefits! ONLY $29.99 each for Cable, Internet and Phone! *
* Once your limited time offer runs out expect to pay much more while enjoying even less services. Also, you have no privacy.
You gotta hand it to Cablevision with their clever OPTIMUM TRIPLE PLAY and optimum rewards commercials. It's a great deal, I joined and so did my parents. $29.99 only for each service is under $100 a month for internet, cable and phone. How do they do it? By charging you around 40% more once the year is up, that's how!
Maybe you live in an area like I do, where Cablevision/Optimum Online has a monopoly. Unless you want to deal with the hassles of DSL and a satelite dish on your roof (which I don't) you have no choice but to bow before Cablevision. They've got you and they know it.
Verizon FIOS is slowly coming to towns in my area, but they aren't in my neighborhood yet. Cablevision actually launched a sneeky campaign last year telling people to vote "NO" on allowing Verizon to install fiber optics in the area (of course not divulging that Cablevision is the one who paid for the negative advertising.)
When I got the Optimum Online triple play I was happy. Sure I had to pay extra for each cable box and remote control in every room but that is to be expected. What I didn't expect was Cablevision "rewarding" me for being such a good customer by raising my bill from $110 a month to $168 a month once my year contract expired!
I thought there was a billing mistake so I called Cablevision immediately. They explained that once your one year promotion ends (the year will fly by too) you are billed at a much higher rate. They have something called Optimum Rewards that takes $25 off your ridiculously high bill and is supposed to make you feel better. But when you are rewarded for being a loyal customer by getting charged an additional $60 a month for the same service (that's an increase of $720 a year!) it makes you want to cancel immediately.
But where else are you going to go? Well as for now Cablevision still has a monopoly in my town so I'm stuck - for now. But I have been telling people in my town to call Verizon and ask if FIOS is coming soon. Who knows, maybe if enough people call them it will speed things up on Verizons' end.
Also, don't think that you can be slick and cancel after the year promotion expired and signup again. Customer service told me on the phone that the last name in the house has to be different or they will not honor the promotion again for that residence. If you try to call their bluff and tell them you want to cancel they will promptly redirect your call to the cancellations department and terminate your account without even trying to keep you as a customer. Disgruntled customers don't seem to faze or budge them one bit, but it was a nice try!
Are you thinking of setting up an FTP or personal web server with Optimum Online service? Before you waste your time creating a web page and trying to figure out why you can't be seen online, it is because Cablevision / Optimum Online by default blocks Port 80 and Port 25. It is against their terms of service for you to host any type of server. If you want to share files, pictures or a web site, then you will need to pay Optimum Online more by upgrading in order to have them unblock port 80.
Cablevision's Optimum Online offers DVR (digital video recorder) capabilities, but it's $10 per month per room, so if you want a DVR in two rooms you'll pay another $240 a year for that service. Verizon FIOS now has just one box that gives you DVR on every TV in your house which is much better.
The Optimum Rewards Don't End There Though!
Optimum Online Does Not Value Your Privacy!
Here is a letter I just got in the mail (see link below). Actually I received a similar one about 3 years ago. I am not sure how other ISP's handle privacy issues, but Cablevision seems to cater to whoever sends them a copyright infringement complaint. You would think that they would defend their customers and maybe even fight to keep their customers information private, but apparently not. If you have Optimum Online cable internet you need to understand that you are being tracked and monitored. Surf the web accordingly because Cablevision is not on your side.
