Verizon Fios vs Optimum
These two overlap in 136 metro areas and 1,776 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.
Verizon Fios vs Optimum at a glance
| Measure | Verizon Fios | Optimum |
|---|---|---|
| Main technology | Fiber | Cable |
| Residential locations on that technology | 9,364,253 | 5,352,613 |
| Single technology or mixed | Mixed | Mixed |
| Full coverage detail | Where Verizon Fios is available | Where Optimum 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We do not publish speeds or prices here.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 Verizon Fios and Optimum 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. 14.0% of what Verizon Fios files with the FCC is fiber. 70.1% of what Optimum files 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 | Verizon Fios | Optimum |
|---|---|---|
| Amarillo, TX Metro Area | 78% | 79% |
| Big Spring, TX Micro Area | 74% | 73% |
| Enid, OK Metro Area | 76% | 71% |
| San Angelo, TX Metro Area | 68% | 76% |
| Clovis, NM Micro Area | 68% | 70% |
| Parkersburg-Vienna, WV Metro Area | 66% | 73% |
| Victoria, TX Metro Area | 65% | 65% |
| Lubbock, TX Metro Area | 64% | 79% |
| Hereford, TX Micro Area | 75% | 64% |
| Snyder, TX Micro Area | 64% | 63% |
| Greenville, NC Metro Area | 62% | 81% |
| Tyler, TX Metro Area | 62% | 75% |
| Jonesboro, AR Metro Area | 69% | 61% |
| Branson, MO Micro Area | 60% | 66% |
| Helena-West Helena, AR Micro Area | 59% | 68% |
| Plainview, TX Micro Area | 72% | 59% |
| College Station-Bryan, TX Metro Area | 58% | 70% |
| El Dorado, AR Micro Area | 57% | 63% |
| Rocky Mount, NC Metro Area | 54% | 60% |
| Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT Metro Area | 53% | 65% |
| Mountain Home, AR Micro Area | 57% | 52% |
| Russellville, AR Micro Area | 55% | 52% |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metro Area | 89% | 51% |
| Abilene, TX Metro Area | 50% | 67% |
| Magnolia, AR Micro Area | 51% | 49% |
Showing 25 of 136 metro areas where both operate.
Where only one of them reaches
Verizon Fios reports service in 49 states and Optimum in 21, and they share 21 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.
773 metro areas have Verizon Fios and not Optimum
- Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro Area 89% covered
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro Area 86% covered
- Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metro Area 85% covered
- Lebanon, PA Metro Area 84% covered
- Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA Metro Area 84% covered
- Van Wert, OH Micro Area 81% covered
- Bloomington, IL Metro Area 81% covered
- Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro Area 80% covered
2 metro areas have Optimum and not Verizon Fios
- Maryville, MO Micro Area 44% covered
- Jennings, LA Micro Area 4% covered
States where only Verizon Fios reports service: Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts and 16 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.
That is the case here: Verizon Fios is mainly fiber and Optimum is mainly cable. The practical difference is upload speed and consistency rather than headline download speed, we explain what that means here.
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.