Short answer: AT&T Fiber if you can get it; Optimum if you cannot
Where AT&T Fiber actually reaches the property, it is the better connection — fiber gives you upload speed that matches download, and that is the difference people feel on video calls and cloud backups rather than on a speed test. Optimum will usually reach more addresses in the same city, and its download speeds are competitive. So the question is almost never which is better in the abstract; it is whether AT&T Fiber has been built to your street yet.
- AT&T Fiber is fiber to the home, operated by AT&T Inc.. Optimum is cable, operated by Optimum Communications.
- AT&T Fiber: plans commonly range from 300 Mbps up to 5 Gbps where available.
- Optimum: plans commonly range from 300 Mbps up to multi-gigabit tiers where fiber is available.
- Their footprints overlap in few of the markets FiberNear tracks, so at most addresses only one of the two is actually orderable.
- Both are built out address by address. Whichever reaches your specific property usually settles the question before preference does — FiberNear checks that free.
AT&T Fiber vs Optimum, side by side
| AT&T Fiber | Optimum | |
|---|---|---|
| Connection type | Fiber to the home | Cable |
| How it reaches you | 100% fiber-optic | Hybrid fiber-coaxial cable, with fiber-to-the-home across part of its footprint |
| Speeds | Plans commonly range from 300 Mbps up to 5 Gbps where available | Plans commonly range from 300 Mbps up to multi-gigabit tiers where fiber is available |
| Where it runs | One of the largest fiber footprints in the US, concentrated across the South, Midwest, and West | The New York tri-state area, plus pockets of Texas, Louisiana and the Mountain West |
| Known for | Symmetrical speeds and no annual contract on most fiber plans | Multi-gig fiber tiers in the sections of its network that have been rebuilt |
| Operated by | AT&T Inc. | Optimum Communications |
Speeds and footprints are advertised by each provider, vary by address, and change without notice. FiberNear does not set or guarantee them.
How often each one is actually available
Specifications decide which connection is better. Availability decides which one you can buy, and it is the part comparison pages usually skip. Across the 29 markets FiberNear holds FCC data for, this is how much of each city the two technologies reach at 100/20 Mbps or better:
- AT&T Fiber is fiber, and fiber reaches a median of 64.2% of locations in a typical tracked market.
- Optimum is cable, and cable reaches a median of 96.2%.
- So in a typical market, Optimum's technology reaches about 32.0% more of the city — which is why the comparison so often ends up being decided by the address rather than by the plan.
Source: FCC Broadband Data Collection, residential fixed broadband, as of December 31, 2025. Figures are advertised availability self-reported by providers, not measured speeds. These are technology-level figures, not brand-level ones — the FCC's public summary files report how much fiber or cable reaches a city, but not which brand owns it, so no coverage percentage here should be read as a figure for AT&T Fiber or Optimum specifically.
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See Which One Reaches My Address →Common questions
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