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Verizon Fios vs. Optimum Internet Review 2021

Verizon Fios Home Internet is our pick for best speeds, but Optimum can offer great value.

Monthly price

$39.99 – $89.99

Download speeds

200 – 940 Mbps

Monthly price

$29.99 – $79.99

Download speeds

100 – 940 Mbps

Published on December 10, 2020

If you're choosing between Verizon Fios Home Internet and Optimum, good news: both internet service providers (ISPs) are a solid choice.

But there are a few differences between the two that might sway you one way or another. Keep reading to find out why Optimum offers the best value with its Price for Life plans, and why Verizon Fios Home Internet is the best choice for reliably fast download speeds.

Compare Optimum and Verizon Fios Home Internet plans near you.

Verizon Fios Home Internet vs. Optimum: Prices

Both ISPs offer low prices, high value, and no annual contracts. But only Optimum has a Price for Life plan.

Both Verizon Fios Home Internet and Optimum start out as great budget deals with their intro plans.

Yes, you will get slightly faster speeds with the Optimum 300 plan than the Verizon Fios Home Internet 200/200 plan, but there's an easy-to-miss detail that puts these two ISPs back on even ground here: Verizon Fios Home Internet is a fiber connection, while Optimum is a cable connection.

We recommend grabbing fiber internet any time you can because the technology tends to be more reliably fast than cable or DSL. (And we won't even talk about satellite or dial-up internet here.) We could talk for hours about how fiber internet works, but the bottom line is fiber internet usually offers the best download speeds and connectivity.

Verizon Fios Home Internet prices and plans

Data effective 11/11/21. Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change.

* w/ Auto Pay + taxes & equip. charges.

† w/ Auto Pay + taxes.

Still, neither ISP charges outrageous prices for any of their plans. Though we should point out that the Verizon Fios Home Internet 400/400 plan is a better buy numbers-wise when compared to Optimum's 400 Mbps plan. (Of course, the Optimum 400 plan also comes with Price for Life, which we'll talk about in a minute.)

When it comes to pure speed and reliability at a low price, the Fios Gigabit Connection plan is one of the best-priced, near-gig plans out there.

On top of that, Verizon Fios Home Internet packages don't come with an annual contract. That's a win in our book because you won't face steep early termination fees if you have to move out of the Verizon Fios service area.

"Fios Gigabit Connection is one of the best-priced, near-gig plans out there."

4.5

Download speed

Up to 940 Mbps

Data effective 11/10/2021. Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change.

Optimum's plans also come with no contracts, which is a huge sigh of relief. The prices for its 300 and 400 Mbps plan are right in line with or cheaper than what other internet providers charge for similar speeds.

Optimum internet prices and plans

Data effective 11/19/18. Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change.

‡ w/ Auto Pay & Paperless Bill plus taxes,fees & charges.

That said, if you're going to go with Optimum, you might as well take advantage of its Price for Life guarantee on the Optimum 400 and 1 Gig plans.

While the Optimum 400 plan costs slightly more per month than the Verizon Fios Home Internet 400/400 plan, that price won't go up over the years. And the Optimum 1 Gig plan is currently priced lower than Verizon's Fios Gigabit Connection plan.

Yup, your price for the Optimum 400 and 1 Gig plans stays the same forever as long as you remain in good standing (see: pay your bill on time). No one likes to see their bill go up over time, and Price for Life makes sure everything stays the same, right down to the last dollar sign.

Not to mention that 400 and 940 Mbps is more than fast enough to keep parents and a couple of kiddos streaming and gaming without interruption. Need we say more?

"Your price for Optimum 400 stays the same forever, and that's a perfect speed to keep a family streaming and gaming."

3.5

Data effective 10/26/2020. Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change.

And Price for Life aside, Optimum's cost for its 940 Mbps also earns it high marks in our book. While we still think Verizon Fios Home Internet is likely more reliable because it uses a fiber connection, you're still going to get some exceptionally fast download speeds out of Optimum's gig plan—and the price is pretty darn right.

Our only hesitation with Optimum is its small service area. If you're not in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, or Pennsylvania, you're out of luck if you want Optimum. Verizon Fios Home Internet, on the other hand, services a slightly bigger area of the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic US.^{1, 2}

Verizon Fios Home Internet comes with some exciting deals

Deals

Still not sure whether you should grab Optimum or Verizon Fios Home Internet? Maybe these deals will sway you:

Order Verizon Fios Home Internet 200 Mbps and get the Amazon Echo Dot + Smart Plug.
Order Verizon Fios Home Internet 400 Mbps and get the Amazon Echo Show 5.
Order Verizon Fios Home Internet Gigabit Connection (up to 940/880 Mbps) and get the Amazon Echo Show 5, a Ring Stick Up Cam Battery, a Verizon Stream TV, and your router rental is included.

Plus, if you order online, Verizon will waive the $99 standard setup charge.

View Verizon Fios Home Internet Deals

Verizon Fios Home Internet vs. Optimum: Internet speed

Both Optimum and Verizon Fios Home Internet push their max speed as close to 1,000 Mbps as possible.

Anyone who runs a home office, games, or even binge-watches The Witcher on Netflix knows fast internet speed is a need. The last thing anyone wants is lag when they're on a video call with their boss, setting their team up to deliver the payload, or deciding who the real bad guy is while they watch Tiger King.

Both Verizon Fios Home Internet and Optimum are fast, but Verizon gets our vote for the fastest internet speed. That's because it has a 100% fiber network that can deliver reliably fast download speeds up to 940 Mbps.

Sure, Optimum's likely going to get you near-gig speeds most of the time, but cable internet technology can experience issues with weaker signals over long distances.

To put it shortly, fiber-optic internet technology can keep your signal strong and fast over long distances. That's why Verizon Fios Home Internet snags a win in our list of the fastest internet providers.

Verizon Fios Home Internet vs. Optimum: download and upload speeds

Provider	Download speeds	Upload speeds
Verizon Fios Home Internet	200 – 940 Mbps	200 – 880 Mbps
Optimum Internet	100 – 940 Mbps	35 – 940 Mbps

And even though Verizon Fios Home Internet landed itself on our fastest ISPs list, Optimum wasn't far behind. It earned 9th place out of the 38 ISPs we analyzed with a weighted score of 38.7 out of 100.

Verizon Fios Home Internet vs. Optimum internet speed scores³

Provider	Overall rank	Rank by connection type
Verizon Fios Home Internet	2nd out of 38	2nd out of 20 fiber ISPs
Optimum	9th out of 38	4th out of 22 cable ISPs

If you want to know more about each ISP's internet speeds and data caps, check out our in-depth Optimum internet and Verizon Fios Home Internet reviews.

Verizon Fios vs. Optimum: Internet and TV combos

Your chances of finding the perfect TV and internet combo are best with Verizon's Your Fios TV and Fios Home Internet.

Both Optimum and Verizon Fios are here to make sure you don't miss your game or the latest episode of The Bachelor. You can mix and match your TV and internet plans almost any way you like with Verizon and Optimum, and each one offers a good variety of internet speeds and channel counts.

But we have to say, we're in love with Verizon's new approach to TV service with its Your Fios TV plan. We're not fans of staring at long lists of channels in hopes our favorites will magically appear, so when Verizon introduced a plan where we pick our five favorite channels and it builds a TV plan based on those, we got excited.

Your Fios TV has a good mix of sports and entertainment channels, and you'll always get broadcast network channels like ABC, CBS, and NBC. If you're looking for more sports coverage, The Most Fios TV has just about every sports channel you could want—plus a few premium channels too.

We dive deeper into features and prices in our Verizon Fios TV service and Verizon TV and internet plans reviews, so give 'em a read. But for now, here's a quick peek at some of the ways you can mix and match your Verizon Fios TV and Home Internet service.

Verizon Fios TV + internet combos overview

Data effective 10/06/21. Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change.

^ For new eligible TV and/or Internet res. custs. Availability varies. Wired & wireless Internet speeds vary due to device limits, multiple users, network & other factors. See Verizon.com/yourspeed for more info. $15/mo. router and $99 setup charges & other taxes & terms may apply. Auto Pay & paper-free billing reqd. Subj. to credit approval & may require a deposit. Fios TV: $12/mo. STB charge may apply.

° General: For new eligible TV and/or Internet res. custs. Availability varies. Wired & wireless Internet speeds vary due to device limits, multiple users, network & other factors. See Verizon.com/yourspeed for more info. $15/mo. router and $99 setup charges & other taxes & terms may apply. Auto Pay (ACH or bank debit card only) & paper-free billing reqd. for Internet service. Subj. to credit approval & may require a deposit. Fios Gigabit Connection: Gigabit network connection to your home. Wired speeds up to 940/880 Mbps with avg. speeds betw. 750-940 Mbps download / 750-880 Mbps upload. Fios TV: $12/mo. STB charge may apply.

** *General: For new eligible TV and/or Internet res. custs. Availability varies. Wired & wireless Internet speeds vary due to device limits, multiple users, network & other factors. See Verizon.com/yourspeed for more info. $15/mo. router and $99 setup charges & other taxes & terms may apply. Auto Pay (ACH or bank debit card only) & paper-free billing reqd. for Internet service. Subj. to credit approval & may require a deposit. Fios Gigabit Connection: Gigabit network connection to your home. Wired speeds up to 940/880 Mbps with avg. speeds betw. 750-940 Mbps download / 750-880 Mbps upload. Fios TV: $12/mo. STB charge may apply.

Want more ways to mix and match Verizon plans? You got it.

There are so many ways you can mix and match Verizon Fios Home Internet and Fios TV that we can't cover them all here. But you can play around on the Verizon Fios site to find your perfect mix-and-match combo.

While it doesn't offer that pick-five feature we've fallen head over heels for, Optimum's bundles are still good. You've got a lot to choose from, so it should be easy to find a TV and internet service combo that meets your needs.

One thing to note is that Optimum's channel count starts higher than Verizon's. We like that—and its starter Core TV plan even offers favorite channels like ESPN, Nickelodeon, and HGTV. You'll also find a few premium channels hiding in its Premier TV packages. Noice.

Want to learn more about Optimum TV prices and channels? Check out our full Optimum TV review.

Optimum TV + internet bundles overview

Data effective 11/19/18. Offers and availability vary by location and are subject to change.

†† For new residential customers only. Additional taxes, fees, surcharges and restrictions apply. Price subject to change at any time.

‡‡ For 24 months. Plus taxes, fees, and other charges.

^^ Plus taxes, fees, and other charges. Price for Life. Customer must remain in good standing and up to date on bill payments to remain on Price For Life.

Verizon Fios vs. Optimum: Customer service

Verizon's known for good customer service, but we hear Optimum needs to improve.

We all have nightmarish memories of 80s one-hit-wonders playing on repeat while we wait on hold to find out if that internet outage is getting fixed soon.

Sadly, ISPs are notoriously unreliable when it comes to customer service. However, we hear Verizon Fios is making strides to get back on the right track.

We've heard from a few people on the East Coast that they rarely have to call Verizon customer service. That's great news, because that means there are likely fewer outages, billing errors, or other hiccups that force you to pick up the phone. And when they do have to call, Verizon Fios customers have told us they've been well taken care of.

Optimum's customer service, on the other hand, seems to run more in line with what you'd expect from an internet company. If you do need to get in touch with customer service, we recommend trying live chat. It lets you do other things while you wait for a response, plus you can easily copy and paste your entire chat history so you have it on record in case you need it.

Verizon Fios vs. Optimum: Which is better?

We think there's value to be found in both Verizon Fios and Optimum internet plans, but Verizon edges into the lead with its fiber internet, great TV and internet combo plans, and some of the best customer service we've heard about around the web.

Still, Optimum's internet plans and Price for Life guarantee aren't easily dismissed. Here's a quick recap of how these two ISPs matched up in our Verizon Fios vs. Optimum review:

Price: Optimum. Both Verizon Fios Home Internet and Optimum are never far apart on price. Still, Optimum offers a Price for Life guarantee on its 400 and 940 Mbps internet plans, and that's pretty hard to beat.
Speed: Verizon Fios Home Internet. Both Verizon Fios Home Internet and Optimum can boost your download speeds close to 1,000 Mbps. But we bet Verizon Fios Home Internet's speeds will rarely dip too far from that max speed thanks to its fiber-optic network.
TV and internet bundles: Verizon Fios TV and Home Internet. This was almost a tie until Verizon Fios revealed its Your Fios TV plan. Pair it with your internet service, and you'll get to choose your five favorite networks, then get a list of recommended channels. We can't even.
Customer service: Verizon Fios. Verizon Fios once again comes out on top when it comes to customer service. The majority of feedback about Verizon's customer service was overwhelmingly positive.

Compare Verizon Fios Home Internet and Optimum prices near you.

Catherine McNally

Written by

Catherine McNally

Catherine has a degree in journalism and an MBA, and has spent the last 10+ years writing everything from Okinawa travel guides to stories on Medium. She's been online since AOL CDs were a thing and is an unapologetic PC gamer. She believes the internet is a necessity, not a luxury, and writes reviews and guides to help everyone stay connected. You can also find her on Twitter: @CMReviewsIt.

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