Optimum vs Spectrum
These two overlap in 59 metro areas and 266 towns and cities, so for a lot of people this is a real choice rather than a hypothetical one. The first question is not which is better. It is which of them can reach you.
Optimum vs Spectrum at a glance
| Measure | Optimum | Spectrum |
|---|---|---|
| Main technology | Cable | Cable |
| Residential locations on that technology | 5,352,613 | 33,900,003 |
| Single technology or mixed | Mixed | Mixed |
| Full coverage detail | Where Optimum is available | Where Spectrum is available |
We do not publish speeds or prices here. Both providers change them constantly and by market, and a stale number is worse than no number. Coverage is the part that is federally reported and verifiable.
Where you can get both
Metro areas where both Optimum and Spectrum report service, ranked by how well covered the less available of the two is because that is what decides whether you genuinely get a choice.
These percentages count each operator's whole reported network. 70.1% of what Optimum files with the FCC is cable. The FCC publishes that split nationally and never per metro, so a high number here means the operator reaches the metro, not that it reaches it on that technology.
| Metro area | Optimum | Spectrum |
|---|---|---|
| New Bern, NC Metro Area | 48% | 42% |
| Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, NY Metro Area | 40% | 50% |
| Torrington, CT Micro Area | 39% | 41% |
| Mount Pleasant, TX Micro Area | 41% | 37% |
| Jacksonville, TX Micro Area | 43% | 34% |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metro Area | 51% | 31% |
| Sulphur Springs, TX Micro Area | 40% | 24% |
| Marietta, OH Micro Area | 46% | 23% |
| Bluefield, WV-VA Micro Area | 21% | 20% |
| Marion, NC Micro Area | 20% | 65% |
| Cambridge, OH Micro Area | 19% | 62% |
| Asheville, NC Metro Area | 19% | 68% |
| Cullowhee, NC Micro Area | 21% | 18% |
| Clarksburg, WV Micro Area | 17% | 41% |
| Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH Metro Area | 16% | 20% |
| Washington, NC Micro Area | 47% | 15% |
| Wichita Falls, TX Metro Area | 15% | 66% |
| Athens, TX Micro Area | 52% | 14% |
| Rocky Mount, NC Metro Area | 60% | 14% |
| Kinston, NC Micro Area | 65% | 13% |
| Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT Metro Area | 65% | 12% |
| Lufkin, TX Micro Area | 62% | 12% |
| Kerrville, TX Micro Area | 12% | 52% |
| Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX Metro Area | 10% | 81% |
| Longview, TX Metro Area | 13% | 10% |
Showing 25 of 59 metro areas where both operate.
Where only one of them reaches
Optimum reports service in 21 states and Spectrum in 42, and they share 19 of them. Overlap is the exception, not the rule, so if you are outside the table above this is the part that answers your question.
79 metro areas have Optimum and not Spectrum
- Lubbock, TX Metro Area 79% covered
- Amarillo, TX Metro Area 79% covered
- San Angelo, TX Metro Area 76% covered
- Andrews, TX Micro Area 76% covered
- Eureka-Arcata, CA Micro Area 74% covered
- Big Spring, TX Micro Area 73% covered
- Parkersburg-Vienna, WV Metro Area 73% covered
- Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ Metro Area 72% covered
454 metro areas have Spectrum and not Optimum
- Kill Devil Hills, NC Micro Area 96% covered
- Akron, OH Metro Area 96% covered
- Jacksonville, NC Metro Area 96% covered
- Morehead City, NC Micro Area 96% covered
- Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY Metro Area 96% covered
- Kapaa, HI Micro Area 96% covered
- Urban Honolulu, HI Metro Area 95% covered
- Racine, WI Metro Area 95% covered
States where only Optimum reports service: Arkansas, Oklahoma. States where only Spectrum reports service: Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota and 11 more.
Showing the eight best covered of each. Ranked by reported coverage within the metro, from the same FCC filing as the table above. Providers self report and overstate, so read these as a ceiling on where a company will sell to you, not a promise about your street.
Which should you pick?
Honestly, in most of the places above only one of them will actually reach your building, and that settles it. Where both do reach you, the useful question is the technology rather than the brand.
Both are mainly cable networks, so the technology argument does not separate them. Compare on price, contract terms and local service reputation instead, none of which the FCC publishes, and none of which we will invent.
See which one reaches your address →
What we will not do is tell you one is better because it pays us more. See the affiliate disclosure for how that works.