Optimum Internet Not Working — Gateway & WiFi Fixes

Applies to: Optimum internet (formerly Cablevision/Suddenlink), Altice fiber gateways

JRWritten by Jordan Reyes, Networking & Connectivity Writer · Last reviewed Sep 2026

Quick answer: Reset the gateway from its front panel (hold the reset button until you see "GW Reset") or through your TV remote's Settings menu, and check for a Hidden Network setting causing connection issues before assuming anything's actually broken.

If you were previously a Suddenlink customer, you're on the same underlying system now — Suddenlink rebranded fully into Optimum in 2022, so anything here applies whether your equipment or account still shows the old name or not.

1. Reset your gateway

Two ways to do this:

Hold the reset button on the front panel of the gateway until you see a "GW Reset" restart message.
Or, using your TV remote: Home button → Settings → System → Internet/WiFi/Phone → Reboot.

2. Check for a Hidden Network setting

If devices can see other networks but not yours, or connection seems unreliable specifically on WiFi, check whether your network is set to hidden in the router's admin panel (WiFi Settings → Hidden Networks) — disabling this, then restarting the router, resolves connection oddities for some devices that don't handle hidden networks gracefully.

3. Trying to bridge your own router to an Optimum fiber gateway?

Some Optimum/Altice fiber gateway models — the FiberGateway GR240BG in particular — don't support bridge mode at all, even though this isn't always obvious upfront. If Optimum support confirms your specific gateway model can't be bridged, you have two practical options instead of bridge mode:

Connect your own router or mesh system in Access Point (AP) mode rather than as a full router — this avoids running two separate networks fighting each other for the same devices.
Disable WiFi on the Optimum gateway entirely (through its admin settings, or by contacting Optimum support if you can't find the option) once your own router or mesh system is handling WiFi, so only one network is actually broadcasting.

Running the Optimum gateway's WiFi and your own router's WiFi at the same time, especially with matching network names, causes devices to fail to "hand off" smoothly between them — this is a common, avoidable cause of flaky WiFi after adding a mesh system.

4. One device won't connect while others work fine

Move the device closer to the gateway temporarily to rule out signal strength.
Forget the network on that device and reconnect from scratch, re-entering the password.
Try connecting via Ethernet if possible, to confirm whether the issue is specifically wireless.

If a reset and the steps above don't resolve it, checking Optimum's outage map or app before troubleshooting further can save time — a broader area issue looks identical to a local equipment problem from your side.