Island Life

Island Residents Call for Local Office, Better Customer Service During Cable Franchise Hearing

by
Daniel Nee
March 28, 2025

The Optimum store, owned by Altice, in Seaside Heights, N.J. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

Residents of one island town were given the opportunity to opine on the only available cable television provider at a mandatory hearing to renew a franchise agreement under state law, with Altice – owner of the Optimum suite of cable services – garnering criticism for closing a local office and what many see as poor customer service via phone help lines.

Altice USA, which was spun off from its French parent corporation after purchasing Cablevision Systems Corporation in 2016, offers its “Optimum” branded products in Seaside Park, Seaside Heights and the island portion of Toms River. Island communities from Brick Township northward are served by Comcast Corporation’s “Xfinity” cable product. While franchise agreements do not preclude other operators from offering service in town, those providers would have to run their own wired network through the entire municipality, representing a large capital cost. Verizon’s “FiOS” service is an exception that operates under a statewide franchise agreement, however Verizon generally only offers its high-speed data service to newly-wired areas rather than the legacy television product.

In recent years, Altice has faced a slew of complaints by local residents, culminating in several local towns joining together to submit a complaint to the state Board of Public Utilities. That action ended in an agreement under which Altice made several concessions, however the company’s local office in Seaside Heights was shut down, forcing customers to have to travel to Wall Township to speak with a representative face-to-face or collect or return equipment in person. The closure of the office on the Boulevard in Seaside Heights – which is planned to become an unmanned switching station – drew the bulk of the complaints from residents.

“Anybody but who we have now – that’s my comment,” one resident said. “It’s absolutely horrible. The response time is terrible. It takes probably an hour to even speak to somebody [on the telephone]. Now you have to go all the way to Wall Township to get or return any kind of equipment. It’s very difficult to get there – you have to wrap up all your equipment, pick up new equipment and put it all together yourself.”

Another resident complimented the technicians who recently came to his home, but said the company sometimes sends employees who are not familiar with the local system.

“I can’t complain today because the guy spent four hours transitioning my home from the old system to fiber optic, and he did a great job,” said resident Mike Spadafino. “So I can’t complain today, but many times we have problems. A lot of times you’re talking to service people who don’t have knowledge about how the process is working out in town. Verizon FiOS has moved in and taken at least part of their business, and it’s great.”

Another resident claimed she was given the run-around by customer service agents.

“I was told that there was a problem in outer space – too much clutter – but it would be fixed by March 12,” Patricia Moglia said, to chuckles from fellow residents at the meeting. “Their customer service is bad; they’re reading from a script, and you can’t get to the next level. I ask if they have a supervisor on premises and they just say, ‘not available.’”

Several residents said they switched to FiOS and use a streaming service, such as YouTube TV or DirecTV Now, with their high-speed connection to watch television rather than subscribe to a separate cable product.

The public hearing is a formality required by the state before a cable franchise license can be renewed. It is expected that Altice’s franchise will be renewed at a later time. While the borough council could, in theory, decline to approve the franchise, it would mean cable service would be cut off the borough unless another provider seeks to deploy its own network in town.