Email to Altice Optimum CEO: restore MSG Network (Knicks, Rangers)!

from: Kenneth Matinale
to: Dennis.Mathew@alticeusa.com
date: Feb 3, 2025, 7:58 PM
subject: MSG | Optimum

https://www.optimum.com/MSG

If Verizon wasn't so inept, I'd have switched immediately after you removed MSG Network.

Altice Optimum fiber: where does it end before reaching a customer's apartment.

Restore MSG Network.

FUBO is $85 plus $15 for local sports = $100. How is that a reasonable suggestion? Gotham Sports app sucks.

Kenneth Matinale

White Plains, NY

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2/4/2025 I wrote to my Congressman and urged him to support:

Connecticut Senator, N.Y. House Member Seek ‘Sports Blackout’ Stop

... the proposed legislation would direct the FCC to require TV distributors to provide rebates to subscribers for television blackouts that occur as a result of carriage disputes.

______________________________

Altice Optimum fiber: where does it end before reaching a customer's apartment.

It doesn't end in my apartment. Optimum provides a "gateway" box that supposedly combines two functions:

modem

router.

Since Optimum claims that it has fast fiber-optic internet service, it would make sense that the fiber wire reach its gateway and that the gateway modem actually be an optical network terminal (ONT). For years Verizon FIOS did a lot to provide its ONT into individual apartments.

Here's a mess in a hall closet in my apartment:

There doesn't seem to be any optical fiber wires.

Here's the back of the gateway that Optimum provides:

The only input is for coaxial cable (white wire). The thing below the coax is for RJ11 telephone output, i.e., regular home telephone. It looks similar to fast Ethernet for data but it's not for data. The red and black output wires at the top are Ethernet. Are those Ethernet outputs faster than 100 Mbps (megabits per second, a unit of measurement for internet bandwidth and network speed)?

Or is Altice Optimum blowing smoke about speeds that it delivers?

To run a speed test, put those two words in a browser address space where the URL goes. It will bring up a page with a button to run the speed test. When I run it, download speeds generally are around 550 Mbps with lows at 350 Mbps and one high a little over 600 Mbps. I'm paying for 1,000 Mbps, also known as one Gig: one billion.

Oh, and there's this latest from Altice Optimum as of New Years Day 2025:

Altice Optimum has no options other than to withhold service for MSG Networks.

Why does Optimum charge for a gateway? What is it? Where is it?

I think the bigger Altice set top box included a modem. I moved to a different apartment building in July 2021 and  the installer replaced that box with a mini. I assumed that the standalone "gateway" box was a combination modem/router. But it appears to be only a router because gateway and router are separate items on the bill.

So where is the Gateway 6 I've been paying $10 per month? I checked the small trap door in one my hall closet and it contains a mess of unconnected coaxial cables and exposed circuitry.

I called Optimum and it turns out that both functions are in one box despite the two items on the bill:

gateway $10

router $0 

Supposedly I can buy a modem and have the gateway charge removed. Argh.

Optimum support email: NOT.

Address not found

Your message wasn't delivered to OptimumSupport@optimum.net because the address couldn't be found, or is unable to receive mail.

Message blocked

Your message to OptimumSupport@optimum.com has been blocked. See technical details below for more information.

Nice, huh? About all you can do is guess as to what might be a working email. There's no online form, either. Only the incredibly artificial intelligence of the little Optimum online box that cannot understand anything.

Customers are stuck calling for support on the phone and being jerked around interminably by a call prompting system that doesn't seem to know when a support person might be available. Finally, there's the announcement that "all of our support people are busy". Yeah, all one of THEM.

Altice Optimum new 2021 box self installation: "BPE not provisioned". And pairing the remote control may be impossible.

Feedback to Altice Optimum on self installation of a box because the previous box crapped out:

I wasted a couple of hours talking to your support person who missed obvious clues. Apparently, the box needed to be provisioned. I told her repeatedly that the error message that flashed on the screen mentioned that "BPE not provisioned". Finally, I took a photo so that I could read the entire error message but still it never occurred to her. Later, I called back but this time I selected the other call prompting option for provisioning and I spoke to Mohammed, who fixed everything, although even that took another hour.

All because you failed to inform me about the need to get your box entered into your system as one that should be connected to my account. Ridiculous.

Altice One box: more problems. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2018

Altice Optimum TV channel lineup options are secret.

On the Optimum website all I could find was a PDF file of the hardcopy of the TV channels sent to customers, which is almost impossible to understand and is out of date and with no prices either on the document or elsewhere on the website for existing customers.

https://www.optimum.net/cdn/static.tvlistings.optimum.net/ool/static/prod/documents/channel-listings/channel-lineup-SouthernWestchester.pdf

Plus, even if you want to increase your TV service, you must call. You cannot do it online. Getting a live person on the phone takes time and may take multiple attempts.

What the heck? Apparently Altice Optimum does not want its customers to understand their TV options.  

Altice Optimum DVR playback error: VID-218: does NOT playback!

It happens from time to time. Instead of playing a recording Altice Optimum displays this error: VID-218. And shows an OK button to click. Obviously, it's not OK.

It impacts a few recordings but not all. I have two set top boxes, those mini Altice boxes. The secondary box seems more vulnerable.

Tonight neither box will play any recordings.

I searched on the error code VID-218 but could not find an answer. I rebooted both boxes. Then I logged into the Altice Optimum website and sought support. I wound up in one of those useless chat sessions, which ended this way:

VID-218
You - 7:51 PM
Let me get one of our live experts to help you. I'll just need to grab some quick info from you, then I can get you to an agent.
Can I have your name?
Allie - 7:51 PM
Ken
You - 7:51 PM
And your 10-digit phone number?
Allie - 7:51 PM
999-999-9999
You - 7:52 PM
I will transfer you over now to our Technical Department so we can get the team to help you. Thank you for your patience! One moment...
Allie - 7:52 PM

(After waiting five minutes I decided to provide information, hoping that the tech person would be able to read it and that would make the conversation shorter and more productive.) I typed:

VID-218
No DVR playback.
You - 7:58 PM
I can replay DVR recording on my Android phone but not on my TV using your Altice mini box.
Waiting 15 minutes. Call me: 999-999-9999. Bye.
You

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What the heck?

Altice has problems but should be tried.

This post has gotten several comments, pretty much all negative:

Altice One box: more problems. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2018

Most of the problems that I have had have gone away. The remote no longer loses pairing with the Altice One box. DVD playback only occasionally gets interrupted and even then usually resumes after I click OK.

The two boxes still turn themselves off after not receiving something from the remote for a while but I now know to look at the power button and if it's red I push it before turning on the TV and that avoids the formerly mysterious blank screen. Still mysterious is why Altice continues to annoy its customers with this policy but apparently it frees up bandwidth, or so I suppose.

Still annoying and probably easily fixed:
- three buttons must be pushed to get the guide on screen
- on screen information about a program is very limited; a movie does not even show the year on the first screen
- if there are multiple pages of info, the way to get to page two is to click the up arrow to get the cursor positioned to then click the right arrow to get to page two
- comparable nonsense for changing the end time when setting up a recording.

This stuff looks like it was designed by people who had heard about TV but had never actually watched TV. So, why try or stick with Altice?

Altice is making a fundamental attempt to do it differently and it's not missing by all that much. It's the first to actually pair a remote to a box. Previously, if you had two TV sets in the same room, changing the channel on one changed it on all. Now that problem has gone away.

The modem and router functions are combined into one small Altice One tuner box. That's been dismissed in some descriptions as something for non-techies. Hey, why should a techie not like it? Why add complexity and confusion? It forces you to have Internet connections near your TV, which encourages and simplifies streaming.

My biggest complaint, even more than the inconvenience of getting to the guide, is the lack of any intelligent fast forward (FF). In fact, the Altice FF is worse than that of regular Cablevision Optimum. Verizon FIOS has FF in 30 and 10 second chunks, plus multi-speed FF. The 30 and 10 seconds of FF makes looking at recorded sports, especially baseball, fairly palatable. You can FF between pitches, which removes much of the dead time.

Give Altice a try. What the heck?

Altice One remote turns itself off every day.

What the heck? Pretty much each morning the remote paired to my primary Altice One box  has lost full functionality. It turns the TV on. That's, of course, after I push the button on the box to turn off the red light and put the box back into active status. But once the TV is on the remote cannot do anything else. I've learned to pop out one of the three batteries and re-insert. Then the remote works OK.

Sometimes the TV screen shows a cryptic message about an error with the remote or trying to update the remote or something. It's not on screen long enough to absorb at the same time that I'm removing and replacing a battery.

The remote to the secondary mini box has not had this problem.

Altice One set top box turns itself off regularly.

All through the day and certainly overnight. If I use the remote control to turn on the TV, I see this on a blank screen (ignore reflection, the screen is blank):

If there is an "INPUT button" I have no idea where it is; I checked remote and box.

My Altice service started 1/15/18 after moving and switching from Verizon FIOS. Altice is the parent company of Cablevision Optimum.

Altice is probably still learning how its new boxes operate in the real world but I had a tech person out here a couple of days after my service started to address this problem and nothing was actually done and there has been no follow up and the problem persists.

What the heck?

Altice One box: more problems.

My previous post on Altice described an initial problem. My service started Jan. 15, 2018.

Altice set top boxes "turn off", i.e., the red power light goes on. What the heck? SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2018

Since, more problems:
- voice recognition fails to function at all; error message on screen
- info button on lower right of remote sometimes fails
- DVR function sometimes does not function; advised to try later
- guide sometimes not available
- freezes up sometimes.

Settings: very little of substance to set.

Three button clicks to reach the guide rather than a dedicated button. No indication of a user defined button that might make the guide available much more directly. This is needed since the voice search fails often.

More info:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r31814636-AlticeOne-FAQ-Information-LAST-UPDATED-2-1-18-With-PICS

AlticeOne is Optimum and Suddenlink's New All-In-1 Box. It combines your Modem, Router and Cable Box into a central hub. With Every Minibox added in addition to the Main Box, they are your typical cable box but with WiFi Extender built-in. The Mini Box are Essentially Creating a Wireless Mesh System, To Help Eliminate WiFi Dead Zones You May Have In Your Residence.

Manufacturer: Sagemcom

AlticeOne is Mostly Geared Towards Those Who Don't Know A lot About Networking As Its Still A Web Managed Router From Optimum With Limited Firmware Options.
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Altice has problems but should be tried. TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2018

Altice set top boxes "turn off", i.e., the red power light goes on. What the heck?

I sent the email message below to the Altice person I found at:

http://www.alticeusa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Altice%20-USA-Opens-its-First-Customer-Experience-Center.pdf

If I don't get a reply, maybe I'll try:

http://www.alticeusa.com/sites/default/files/pdf/Altice%20Reorganization%20and%20Altice%20USA%20Spin%20Off%20Press%20Release.pdf

Management Structure of Altice Europe and Altice USA

Altice Europe and Altice USA will be managed by two distinct management teams, focused solely on the performance in their respective markets. Both management teams will benefit from the strategic leadership of founder and controlling shareholder Patrick Drahi, who will serve as President of the Board of Altice Europe and Chairman of the Board of Altice USA. Armando Pereira will serve as COO of Altice Europe and serve as strategic advisor to Altice USA for all operations.

Dennis Okhuijsen will serve as CEO and a Director of Altice Europe with all corporate functions and country managers reporting into him. He will report to Patrick Drahi.

Dexter Goei will continue to serve as CEO and a Director of Altice USA. He will report to Patrick Drahi.
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Do you think dexter.goei@alticeusa.com would work?

Or maybe patrick.drahi@alticeusa.com.

from: Ken
to: krista.ostertag@alticeusa.com
date: Sat, Jan 20, 2018 at 8:54 AM
subject: Altice techie issue.

Krista,

Sorry to bother you but there's nothing on the Cablevision (Optimum) website about the new Altice boxes I got 1/17/18 when I moved and switched from Verizon FIOS to Altice.

It's slow and tedious to reach tech support for Altice. Customers must go through the usual call prompting labyrinth to finally reach Altice support people.

Each night well after midnight both my Altice set top boxes "turn off", i.e., the red power light goes on. I learned from one of your Altice techie people that I needed to push that red button to make the red light go off. Then when I used the Altice remote control to start my TV it works OK instead of showing either a blank screen or a message that there is no signal, depending on which of the two Altice boxes is being used.

Unfortunately, the Altice techie person did not know why this was happening.

​Altice needs to improve on this in obvious ways. Thanks.​
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Altice: it ain't your father's Cablevision (Optimum).

First impression in an Altice survey after one day of service after switching from Verizon FIOS:

Altice. Otherwise, it's just dumb old Cablevision (Optimum). The new boxes, etc. make it worth trying. I switched from Verizon FIOS. Altice remotes are Bluetooth paired with individual set top boxes. Duh. Finally. I have two TVs and two boxes in the same room and until Altice a remote would change stuff on both boxes, like change the channel. This was true for Cablevision and is still true for Verizon FIOS.
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Unfortunately, it's still got dumb fast forward (FF): no 10/30 second skip like Verizon FIOS.