That's just the nature of a cable internet connection.
Upload speeds are competitively lowĬable internet upload speeds will be lower than the download speeds. Hopefully, there will be another provider with more transparent pricing available in your area. If the price increase is too much (or more than you're willing to pay), you can cancel without penalty. Thankfully, Optimum doesn't lock you into a contract and force you to decide between the mysterious standard price or an early termination fee. How much that is, exactly, is "subject to change." There's no indication going in as to how much the price increase will be when that time comes, or if your increase will be the same as your neighbor's. But unlike nearly all major ISPs, the company won't commit to what the price increase will be.Īn Optimum spokesperson tells CNET that customers will receive a notification with an anticipated change to their rates before the introductory pricing's expiration. The introductory pricing is excellent, but what about down the road? Optimum imposes a price increase after 12 months of service like many ISPs. Again, that won't matter much if you're just interested in internet service, but if you want to add TV, know that it will be more expensive to do so without the bundle savings. It also means that the bundle savings, which are typically the incentive for signing up for a bundle package, are also gone. The real point of FlexAbility plans seems to be that Optimum isn't trying to lock you into a particular bundle package with services you don't need - a less frequent but still common practice of cable internet providers - or any trap pricing schemes that will have you upgrading to a more expensive plan every year or so ( looking at you, Cox). Spectrum does something similar, only without any of the perky marketing names.
Still, it's pretty similar to the Verizon Fios Mix and Match plan structure where you choose an internet plan, then add individual TV or phone packages instead of selecting from prebuilt bundle packages. Here's how it works: 1) find out what Optimum plans are available at your address, 2) choose the internet plan you want, then 3) add the TV package or mobile data plan you want, or not. Via the new FlexAbility plans, Optimum lets you (yes, you!) choose the internet plan you want and then add a TV package and a mobile data plan. If you're hoping to bundle with TV to take advantage of bundle savings though, the new FlexAbility plan structure will be less of a steal. Most Optimum plans - especially Optimum 300, 500 and 1 Gig - are a pretty good deal if you just want internet. Optimum FlexAbility plans break up the bundle (and the savings)