How To Lower Your Optimum Internet Bill

Here’s what customers and experts say about saving money with Optimum.

Optimum
Optimum Internet
3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9
  • Icon Blank
    Prices: $35.00–$280.00/mo.
  • Icon Blank
    Speeds: 50Mbps–8,000Mbps
  • pro
    Low prices
  • pro
    No data cap
  • con
    Limited fiber availability
Easton Smith
Dec 03, 2024
Icon Time To Read6 min read

Optimum offers some of the best prices on internet plans for new customers. But it’s no secret that the company often raises prices after the first year or two of service.

This is far from ideal, but there’s no need to fear–we’ve come up with the six best ways to lower your Optimum Internet bill after scouring the internet, talking with experts and reading the fine print.

If you still feel like you’re being ripped off after trying these tricks, then maybe it’s time to get a new internet service provider (ISP). You can see all of the best plans in your area by using the nifty zip code tool below.

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Find the cheapest Optimum plans in your area.
Optimum Holiday bundle deals
Deals
Save $25/month on 1Gig Fiber internet

Switch to Optimum Mobile's Unlimited plan and 1 Gig Fiber for only $35 per month—saving big from the regular $60 price.

Need more speed? Get Optimum's 2 Gig Fiber plan for $80 per month, no mobile plan required.*

*Valid 12.3.24—1.5.25. w/ Auto Pay, Paperless Bill & Unlimited Mobile plan. ($60/mo. without Unlimited Mobile plan.) Wired connection up to 940 Mbps. WiFi speeds may vary. Not available in all areas. Terms apply.

1. Change your plan

Optimum offers several plans in every coverage area it serves. Are you sure you’re on the right one?

Many people are paying for way more internet speed than they actually use. Even if you use multiple smart TVs, laptops, and smart home devices on your Wi-Fi network, you could save money by switching to a slower, cheaper plan, while still powering all those devices.

Honestly, most households really don’t need gigabit internet. Unless you’re a professional gamer, have 10+ devices streaming at once, or work remotely on Zoom calls all day, you can probably make do with 500 or even 300Mbps. Switching from a 1 Gig Internet plan to a 300Mbps would save you a full $25 a month. That’s $300 a year!

Optimum Internet plans and pricing
Plan
Price
Download speed
Connection type
Recommended household size
Details
300 Mbps Fiber Internet$40/mo.*Up to 300 MbpsFiber1-5 people
1-5 people
1 Gig Internet$60/mo.Up to 940 MbpsCable10+ people or multiple power users
2 Gig Fiber Internet$80/mo.Up to 2000 MbpsFiber20+ people or multiple power users
5 Gig Fiber Internet$100/mo.Up to 5000 MbpsFiber20+ people or multiple power users
8 Gig Fiber Internet$280/mo.^Up to 8000 MbpsFiber20+ people or multiple power users
* w/ Auto Pay & Paperless Bill. Wired connection. WiFi speeds may vary. Not available in all areas. Terms apply.
w/ Auto Pay, Paperless Bill & Unlimited Mobile plan. Wired connection up to 940 Mbps. WiFi speeds may vary. Not available in all areas. Max auto renews after 12 months at then prevailing rate (currently $16.99/mo). Price sbjct to change. Terms apply.
w/ Auto Pay & Paperless Bill. Wired connection. WiFi speeds may vary. Not available in all areas. Max auto renews after 12 months at then prevailing rate (currently $16.99/mo). Price sbjct to change. Terms apply.
^ w/ Auto Pay & Paperless Bill. Wired connection. WiFi speeds may vary. Not available in all areas. Max auto renews after 12 months at then prevailing rate (currently $16.99/mo). Price sbjct to change. Terms apply. 8 Gig Fiber Internet is currently available in portions of NY, NJ & CT. Fiber Internet is not available in all areas.

You might be able to switch to a lower-speed plan and boost your internet performance in other ways, like upgrading your gear (we’ll talk about that more below). In any case, you can always go to a slower speed plan and then switch back if you find yourself stuck with low-quality video streams or lag in your Warzone 2 games.

Why did my Optimum bill go up?
Info Box

Optimum recently started implementing guaranteed pricing for two years on many of its plans. But after that, your bill could go up by as much as $10 a month without any change in services. Older plans may have even worse price hikes. We’ll talk more about how to negotiate with Optimum when you see these price hikes in a later section.

2. Bundle your internet with other services

One of the best ways to save money on your Optimum internet bill without losing out on performance is bundling with mobile or TV. In fact, Optimum makes our list of the very best TV and internet bundling deals. You can get tons of cable channels and unlimited mobile lines without paying an arm and a leg.

Here’s a look at some of our favorite Optimum bundles.

Optimum Internet and TV bundle plans and pricing
Bundle
Price
Internet download speed
TV channel count
Details
1 Gig Fiber Internet + Select TV$100/mo.°Up to 940 Mbps200+
300 Mbps Internet + Value TV$115/mo.°Up to 300 Mbps125+
300 Mbps Fiber Internet + Core TV$145/mo.°Up to 300 Mbps220+
300 Mbps Fiber Internet + Premier TV$185/mo.°Up to 300 Mbps250+
1 Gig Fiber Internet + Value TV$145/mo.°Up to 940 Mbps125+
1 Gig Fiber Internet + Premier TV$185/mo.°Up to 940 Mbps250+
° Internet w/Auto Pay & Paperless Bill plus taxes. Terms apply. Not available in all areas. TV: Offer for new residential customers. Plus taxes, fees and other charges. Includes Auto Pay and Paperless Billing.

Another way that you can bundle with Optimum internet is by signing up for the company’s mobile plan. Optimum Mobile is available only to existing Optimum customers, but the bundle deals are pretty good. For example, get 1 Gig Internet with an Unlimited mobile plan for just $80 per month. It’s not the cheapest unlimited data plan on the market, but it’s a good deal compared to pricier plans from Verizon or AT&T.

Optimum Internet and Mobile bundle plans and pricing
Plan
Internet + Mobile Bundle Price (first 12 months)
Download speed
Details
300 Mbps Internet + 1 GB Mobile$55/mo.**Up to 300 Mbps
300 Mbps Fiber Internet + Phone$60/mo.††Up to 300 Mbps
300 Mbps Internet + Unlimited Mobile$85/mo.‡‡Up to 300 Mbps
500 Mbps Fiber Internet + Unlimited Mobile$85/mo.^^Up to 500 Mbps
500 Mbps Internet + Unlimited Mobile$100/mo.°°Up to 500 Mbps
1 Gig Internet + Unlimited Mobile$80/mo.***Up to 940 Mbps
1 Gig Internet + Unlimited Mobile$80/mo.***Up to 940 Mbps
** w/ Auto Pay & Paperless Bill, plus Mobile taxes. Terms apply. Wired connection. WiFi speeds may vary. Not available in all areas.
†† Internet w/Auto Pay & Paperless Bill plus taxes. Terms apply. Not available in all areas.
‡‡ w/ Auto Pay & Paperless Bill, plus Mobile taxes. Terms apply. Wired connection. WiFi speeds may vary. Not available in all areas. iPhone 16 (128 GB) available with trade-in via 36-mo. bill credits. Terms apply.
^^ w/ Auto Pay & Paperless Bill, plus Mobile taxes. Wired connection. WiFi speeds may vary. Not available in all areas. iPhone 16 (128 GB) available with trade-in via 36-mo. bill credits. Max auto renews after 6 months at then prevailing rate (currently $16.99/mo). Price sbjct to change. Terms apply.
°° w/ Auto Pay & Paperless Bill, plus Mobile taxes. Terms apply. Wired connection. WiFi speeds may vary. Not available in all areas. iPhone 16 (128 GB) available with trade-in via 36-mo. bill credits. Max auto renews after 6 months at then prevailing rate (currently $16.99/mo). Price sbjct to change. Terms apply.
*** w/ Auto Pay & Paperless Bill plus taxes & fees. Wired connection up to 940 Mbps. WiFi speeds may vary. Not available in all areas. iPhone 16 (128 GB) available with trade-in via 36-mo. bill credits. Max auto renews after 12 months at then prevailing rate (currently $16.99/mo). Price sbjct to change.
Internet promotional pricing for first 12 months of service with autopay $5 discount and paperless billing. Following promo period, monthly price will increase in periodic increments, with advance notice, up to the rate card price.
**Bundled with mobile.

3. Know the deals and discounts

If you’re an existing Optimum customer, then you might not be eligible for all of the latest deals that the company is offering for new customers. But it never hurts to call up customer service and ask for deals and discounts you’re seeing advertised. If you see a lower price for the same plan you’re on, you can always haggle to get the same offer.

You can also get bill credit if your internet is out for more than four hours. If an outage is completely Optimum’s fault, you can request a credit on your bill for the time lost.

To stay in the know, make sure you bookmark our Best Deals page which we update regularly with the latest deals. While Optimum does advertise snazzy promotions from time to time, you might find a deal from another provider that might cause you to switch.

deals badge
Get a virtual prepaid gift card up to $400 per line when you switch to an Unlimited Max mobile plan.

4. Negotiate with customer service

You might be surprised at how far a little negotiation can go. Just be warned, it isn’t like bargaining down the price of a cool old lamp at a flea market. Negotiating down your internet price with Optimum is a delicate dance. One customer we interviewed said the best way to get Optimum to reduce its prices is to explain that you want to cancel and switch to a different provider available in the area. 

“Once Verizon Fios came to my street, it changed things,” says Josh Michael, an Optimum customer for eight years in Brooklyn, New York. Michael told a customer rep at Optimum that he would switch providers unless Optimum maintained his promotional prices. This tactic has worked for the last three years. “Now I’m getting a good deal. Before I thought it was expensive,” he says.

That’s why it’s important to arm yourself with knowledge of what providers are available in your area (see our availability checker below) so you can call Optimum and have several other providers you can refer to. Even if there aren’t any other cable or fiber providers, T-Mobile or Verizon 5G home internet plans are available widely across the country.

Once you’re speaking with an agent, you can lay out your predicament clearly: You think you’re overpaying for internet. This alone won’t reduce your prices. But, if you can demonstrate that you’re seriously considering leaving and there is a better deal offered by another company or another plan, then you might get somewhere. 

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Compare internet plans and prices in your area.

5. Buy your own equipment

Optimum used to charge users a monthly equipment rental fee. But the company has done away with this charge, which we think is a great move. However, you might still be able to save some cash by getting your own modem and Wi-Fi router.

Why? While Optimum’s standard equipment works fine for most people, it is far from ideal for those who want to maximize speeds. So, if you’re on a 1 Gig plan from Optimum, but you’re using a subpar router, you might be seeing speeds around 500Mbps or even slower.

As one Optimum user puts it when discussing which Optimum plan to buy: “The speed won't be the issue, it's about the router you use and how it handles traffic.” So, if you upgrade to a better cable modem and Wi-Fi router, you might be able to downgrade to a cheaper plan and still see the same—or even better—speeds you got before.

Buying new equipment will cost you more in the short run, but you’ll be able to use it for years to come, even if you switch to another provider, like Xfinity, that does charge rental fees.

6. Switch to an Optimum competitor

Hopefully one of the tips above worked to lower your Optimum internet bill. But if not, maybe it’s time to say sayonara, bon voyage, bye-bye. Now, with 5G home internet from companies like T-Mobile, there are high-speed alternatives almost everywhere in the country.

You can see all the best internet plans in your area with the zip code tool below. If you’re lucky, you’ll see some fiber internet plans listed there. While some of Optimum’s plans are fiber-based, many rely on older cable internet network technology, which isn’t as fast or reliable.

Either way, switching to another ISP can help you save money. And, if you wait six or so months, you might find an email or letter in your mailbox from Optimum, begging you to come back and offering a sweet, low-price deal.

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Check out the best Optimum internet alternatives in your area.

What makes this guide legit?

We’ve been researching, testing, and writing about Optimum internet for nearly a decade. So we know what the provider does well (like offering fast download speeds) and what they don’t do so well (like having annoying price hikes). We also know a lot about Optimum’s competitors and the kinds of deals they offer.

For this guide, we used all of this deep knowledge about Optimum, consulted some of our own proprietary data, and looked at what real Optimum Internet customers had to say. We laid out only well-researched and verified solutions for lowering your bill. Not all of them will work for everyone, but hopefully you’ve found one or two that do.

How to lower your Optimum Internet bill FAQ

The best way to get your Optimum bill down is to call customer service and ask for the retention department. Once you’re connected, ask about getting promotional deals or negotiate for lower prices.

Your Optimum Wi-Fi bill may be higher than usual because the promotional pricing no longer applies. Many customers sign up with discounted pricing that is only guaranteed for a limited period of time, such as the first year of service. After this period ends, you may experience an increase in your Optimum bill.

The cheapest Optimum internet plan is the Optimum Advantage plan which costs $14.99 for 50Mbps download speed. This plan is available for new customers who haven’t had Optimum internet service within the past 60 days. To be eligible, a member of the household needs to meet one or more of the following requirements:

  • Eligible or enrolled in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
  • Be a resident of New York City resident and attends a New York City public school
  • Eligible or receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and 65 years of age or older
  • Be a veteran receiving state or federal public assistance
Easton Smith
Written by
Easton has worked as a freelance writer and researcher for several years, reviewing health, lifestyle, and technology products. He has probably read more Terms of Use contracts than any human alive. When he’s not sitting in front of a computer, Easton spends his time camping, climbing, and volunteering with humanitarian aid organizations.

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