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A young woman having a cup of coffee while on her laptop listening to either music or streaming a movie with her headphones on while surfing the Internet using Optimum Fiber Internet. A young woman having a cup of coffee while on her laptop listening to either music or streaming a movie with her headphones on while surfing the Internet using Optimum Fiber Internet.

5G Home Internet?
It’s NOT Good Enough.

Compare for yourself.
Optimum wins every time.

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Fast & reliable Internet speedsNo reliability, speed or consistency transparency
Consistent speeds 24/7/365Inconsistent speeds that slow down during primetime
1:1 Internet connection straight to your homeShared connection delivered via cell phone towers
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99.9% reliability claim excludes outages caused by external events and scheduled maintenance.

*8 Gig Fiber Internet is currently available in portions of NY, NJ & CT. Fiber Internet is not available in all areas. In some areas, Internet is delivered over cable network with different speeds. Enter your address to see availability in your area.

8 GIG FIBER INTERNET: Up to 8 Gbps download/up to 8 Gbps upload, not available in all areas. Advertised speed for wired connection. Actual speeds may vary & are not guaranteed, see optimum.com/speedfactors for more info.

Pricing, offers, and terms subject to change and discontinuance w/o notice. All trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owner. © 2025 CSC Holdings, LLC.

The truth about 5G home
Internet--and why Optimum wins

5G Home Internet may sound good at first, until you realize you don’t know what speed you’re getting. That’s because 5G Internet runs on shared cell phone towers, with service that slows down when more people are online. They call it “fast internet” – we call it “not good enough”.

Terms

Based on Optimum's analysis of Ookla® Speedtest Intelligence® data during Q1-Q2 2025 in Optimum's footprint. Reliable speeds based on Consistency Score™ comparisons. Peak hours defined as 7-11PM Mon-Fri. Ookla trademarks used under license and reprinted with permission.

Pricing, offers, and terms subject to change and discontinuance w/o notice. All trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owner. © 2025 CSC Holdings, LLC.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

In simple terms, the “G” in 5G stands for “generation.” This means that a 5G network is the fifth generation of Internet networks dating back to the 1990s. This does NOT mean a G as in gigabit speed pertaining to how fast 5G Internet is.

More technically, 5G is a set of standards for delivering Internet speeds faster than the prior 4G/LTE standard using cell towers. There are two ways carriers use 5G. The first, 5G Mobile, offers an impressive increase in Internet speeds on mobile phones. It provides a much better on-the-go experience for streaming videos or downloading large files. The second type is called Fixed Wireless Internet (FWA) — often referred to as 5G Internet. 5G Home Internet uses the same mobile network as these phones, but it brings the service into a house using a device that converts the mobile signal into Wi-Fi.

This can be a nice upgrade for those who are limited to DSL or some forms of satellite Internet service. But when it comes down to a 5G Internet vs cable face-off: 5G is no match for fiber-based broadband services from broadband companies and other ISPs. Not only are those networks dramatically faster, but they are also more reliable, secure, and private. Because all 5G Internet relies on the same cell towers as 5G mobile devices, they are essentially competing for capacity. When many mobile users are using the 5G network at once, the 5G Home Internet users must wait in line behind them for connectivity. And because of the nature of the 5G frequencies, there must be more towers closer together and lower to the ground to deliver optimal service.

So how fast is 5G Internet, really? As mentioned earlier, 5G stands for fifth generation – and NOT 5 gigabits per second of service. 5G Home Internet users will experience speeds at a fraction of what wired broadband services can provide.

Oftentimes, people will see 5 GHz on their WiFi router and assume they have 5G Internet access at home. These are two different things. When it comes to Wi-Fi routers, 5 GHz refers to the 5 gigahertz radio frequency the router uses to transmit your Internet signal to the devices in your home – think of how different radio stations have different frequency slots they broadcast in. Most modern routers have both a 2.4 and 5 GHz channel. The 5G in 5G Home Internet just refers to the fifth generation of mobile data. It uses a number of different “channels” or frequency bands to deliver the service, all of which are prone to the same interference issues that traditional cellular service faces.

You’ve probably heard cell phone and Internet companies speak of “nationwide” 5G coverage. While there is service in places all over the country, consumers can expect to have vastly different experiences for 5G Internet depending on where they are located — i.e. rural and urban areas, close to busy highways or places where people gather like sports stadiums or office complexes.

Terms

Comparison against T-Mobile 5G Home Internet. Based on Optimum’s analysis of Ookla® Speedtest Intelligence® data during Q3 2023 in Optimum's footprint. Reliable speeds based on Consistency Score™ comparisons. Faster speeds based on the median speeds delivered. Peak hours defined as 7-11PM Mon-Fri. Ookla trademarks used under license and reprinted with permission.

Terms

Fiber not available in all areas.

Terms

Based on Optimum's analysis of Ookla® Speedtest Intelligence® data during Q3-Q4 2024 in Spectrum’s footprint. Reliable speeds based on Consistency ScoreTM comparisons. Peak hours defined as 7-11PM Mon-Fri. Ookla trademarks used under license and reprinted with permission.