Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) often will try to make your installation easier by offering a modem or modem/router for an additional monthly fee. But this convenience can come at a higher cost to your monthly household budget. Should you buy your own cable modem or rent it from your ISP?
While the main advantage to renting from your ISP is that you will be able to get hardware support for your rented modem, the benefits of owning your own can be attractive to the pocketbook.
For instance, if you pay your cable company $14 per month to rent a modem, over 3 years, that amounts to $504. However, for less than that, you can purchase your own cable modem, saving yourself a lot of extra money.
The advantages of owning your cable modem:
- No more monthly rental fees for your cable modem
- Newer equipment = easier to upgrade your speeds
- Higher-performance modems available
- Easier to switch providers
Before you proceed, you should read your cable bill carefully to check that your cable company isn’t bundling your rental fees into a monthly service bill. If that’s the case, then you won’t be able to realize any savings since it’s already built into the cost of having your cable services.
