Shared this detailed summary on the /r/Optimum subreddit, where many of our followers came from. I’m copying the information here for the rest of our followers, as a summary of our current plans and what we’re working on.
On our survey, we are currently receiving an average of 4 responses/day for the past 2 weeks, down from a high of 20/day in early March.
Current Survey Response Details
Demographics
- 329 Total at the writing of this post
- 55% New York, 24% Connecticut, 20% New Jersey
- Largest Counties: Suffolk, NY (27.7%); Fairfield, CT (22.3%); Kings, NY (10.1%)
- Response Sources: /r/Optimum – 26.3% (Thanks!), Facebook – 18%, Twitter – 15.9%, Nextdoor – 15.9%.
Customer service
- 88% had a service disruption in the past year.
- 92% reached out to customer service to resolve these issues.
- 58% had a service technician visit 1 or more times.
- Of those who had a technician visit, only 33% had their issues resolved.
- only 20% rated customer support a 4 or higher. Over 50% rated 1 out of 10.
Other Options
- 81% claim to not have alternate ISP option
- 95% would switch if they could.
Current Outreach Efforts
Thanks to New York’s updated 2021-22 Budget, the Public Service Commission will be investigating Reliability, Affordability and Accessibility of Broadband across the state.
So far, government entities we’ve already contacted to present our data or plan to present our data:
- New York State Attorney General’s office (we have a rep here that we’ve spoken to in person.)
- New York State Department of Public Service (PSC) (Sent Email)
- New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (Sent Email)
- NY-46 District State Senator (Meeting Scheduled with Office)
- NY-1 Congressional District (Sent Email)
- Federal Communications Commission (Sent Email)
Journalists/Press we’ve contacted to run our story.
- FreePress
- NY Daily News
- Long Island Press (Dan’s Papers wants to speak with us further)
- South Ulster Times (Editor wants to interview us)
- Broadband Breakfast Podcast
- ABC7 New York
- REELTalk Radio Show (Host contacted us and interested in interview)
- Small Middle Island, NY Local paper (print only. We sent copy for publishing. Should have been published by now)
If anyone has any contacts at other Government agencies or knows journalists that might be interested, please let us know.
Social Media/Outreach Updates
- Our order of Flyers came in and we are identifying key points where we can post them. These flyers explain what our goals are, includes a QR Code link to the survey and links to our social media.
- We are researching and collecting the necessary paperwork to register for 501(c)3 Non-Profit status. Not only will this allow us to start collecting charitable donations, we will qualify for helpful discounts on technology needed to improve our website/social media and communication.
- Small social-media related development. We are slowly acquiring ALL the various “we hate Optimum!” groups on Facebook. We’ve acquired 3 so far, merging them into our group. Our latest victory is a partnership with “Optimum/Altice Dilemmas”, which has 1.6k members. I was made admin of the group and marked it as an affiliate of TSCFIS.
With this partnership, would should soon be able to absorb the remaining Facebook Groups into one. 5-6 smaller groups with a few hundred members each = a good start, 1 group with 3,000+ members is even better!