That’s a lie. From the photo you posted earlier, it’s clearly a router (and may have modern capabilities built in). Just a modem? No!
I hope you get compensated for all your troubles.
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@DadOfJerseyGirl : You, I trust. Anyone from Optimum? Not so much.
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Still shaking with rage over my experience with Optimum. I called them today to talk about getting a credit for the lack of internet for two days, the inconvenience, and the lies. Long story short – because the entire story is too ugly to discuss – I got a credit of $4.70 for the two days without internet.
No, their managers (I asked for a manager) don’t take phone calls; they are only in stores. No, they can’t compensate me for the [alleged] income I lost by having to be at home from 2:00 to 5:00, during which time they never arrived.
The only other internet provider in my town is Frontier, and the reviews online are terrible. I’m trying to find some neighbor who uses them and is happy, but I haven’t yet.
ETA: I know, I know. $4.70 is nothing!! It’s absurd that the only thing they reimburse is the time without service. Can you imagine being a business without internet, and just being provided with $4.70 for their troubles?
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Sorry abiut the hassle.
You could file complaint with FCC.
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Thanks for the suggestion and the link, @Hippobirdy . I just submitted my complaint to the FCC.
I posted a scathing Yelp review yesterday and got a comment on Yelp from Optimum telling me to email a certain address if I wanted to discuss my issue further. I just did, and I already got a response asking for my account number, address, etc. So maybe I’ll get a better response. Maybe.
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Well, apparently filing a complaint with the FCC gets Optimum’s attention!!!
I just got off the phone with “Jake,” from the Corporate Office. He understands I filed a complaint with the FCC, so I told him of my issues. He is sending, at no cost to me, a technician here on Wednesday between 8:00 am and 11:00 am, to evaluate why the internet sometimes kicks off and, depending on what they find, will either install a new combo modem/router, or install a new router, or leave the current equipment alone – if there is some connection error that they’re able to fix.
Jake gave me his last name, his phone, and his extension. I just called him back and left a voicemail message, as I want to make sure that if they install a combo modem/router, I don’t get charged a monthly fee. (They do charge a monthly fee to use their modem. So a year ago I replaced it with one of my own, and I’m darned if I’m going to pay them more money for a combo unit.)
@Hippobirdy : Thanks so much for that FCC link!! I think that did the trick. I’m feeling hopeful.
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That was fast! Looking forward to hearing what Jake finds.
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Here I thought Jake was a State Farm employee. Must have gotten a better offer. Glad he’s going to help you out.
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@VeryHappy ive also had good luck taking it to message on social media. These companies have people monitoring 24/7 and you get a fast message response, and action. They know if they don’t respond, you will take it public on social media.
I’d be asking Jake for additional compensation!
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@thumper1 , I did – I left a scathing review on Yelp, which got me some emails back and forth. They said if I wanted to continue (toward what I presumed was no satisfaction), I should call a certain number. I had no interest in pursuing what I took to be a dead end, so I didn’t.
The FCC complaint was much more impactful. That, they care about.
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Very strange update.
Jake called yesterday while I was out. When I finally reached him, at about 3:00 PM, he told me that Yes, there is a monthly charge for the combo modem/router. Therefore, he said, he had cancelled the tech visit; he would help me connect the new router that I had. I told him that I had already attempted to connect it by myself, which didn’t work; in addition, I had already attempted to connect it with a tech on the phone, which didn’t work; and therefore I want the tech to come and connect it. He said OK, but indicated the next available appointment is Wednesday (today) between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm. I said Oh, so we’re changing the appointment from 8:00 to 11:00 to 11:00 to 2:00. He said No, the original 8:00 to 11:00 appointment had been for Tuesday morning. No, it wasn’t. I spoke to him originally at 5:45 PM on Monday. The likelihood of his making an appointment for 8:00 am the next morning is very – unlikely.
After we ended the call, I got a text from Optimum confirming the 11:00 to 2:00 appointment today. I never received such a confirmation for the earlier appointment. It makes me wonder if Jake never entered, or ordered, or reserved, or whatever, the first appointment.
Just weird.
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hope this gets resolved!
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Thanks, @thumper1 . And for those of you thinking TL;DR, I totally understand. Obviously this is more for my benefit – both emotionally and so I don’t forget the details.
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IT person here. If it’s a router provided by the same cable company, it should work. First, write down the name of your wi-fi that you normally connect to…exactly as it would appear when you connect your laptop. You can even go into your phone settings and go to “wi-fi” settings and see what network your phone is connected to. Write that down. Then disconnect the old router and connect the new one. Your internet will go down temporarily. You simply go through the setup process. If that part is confusing (it often is), call tech support and they should be able to help you with the setup process, which should include naming the network and setting a password. Keep in mind, for that feature to work, the network name and password have to be identical to what it was on your old router. Otherwise, yes, you would need to reconnect all devices manually and that can be a pain in the @#$%^&. 
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I’m still waiting for someone to appear for the appointment. They have an hour and nine minutes to go, so I’m not yet freaking out.
@coolguy40 : When I click on the internet icon on my computer, six networks pop up:
Lastname Network
Lastname Network_5G
Lastname Network_EXT
Lastname Network_5G_EXT
Lastname Network_5G_EXT_EXT
DIRECT-FP-HP OfficeJet Pro 8030 [printer]
Will I need to rename all of these and change the PW for each? Or can it be one and done??
It’s now 1:47 pm. Optimum has 13 minutes to show up for the promised 11:00 to 2:00 window. I’m taking bets, if anyone wants to put up some $$$$.
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I’m thinking it’s the “Lastname Network.” I can’t be entirely sure unless I’m looking at it. It would be the one your computer would hook up to normally. The internet Company should be able to set that up for you.
Thanks, @coolguy40 . The internet company should be able to do a lot of things that they don’t seem capable of doing, so who knows.
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That’s extremely frustrating. Sounds like a simple issue of setting up a new router. It should take any halfway competent tech 5 minutes to configure. Once they get there and that’s a big “IF” evidently, you should have working internet by the time they leave.
My understanding from previous posts is that the new “router” was actually a combo modem-router and therefore did not work as expected (it was plugged in to the other modem). @VeryHappy, did that turn out not to be the case?