Comcast internet modem rental & service plan

[Free4Life11]

It finally dawned on my yesterday that we've been paying $7 a month to rent a modem from Comcast, when I could have purchased the exact same modem for under $50! I'm not even going to think about how many years I've been doing this... If you have Comcast internet, consider buying your own modem; it will pay for itself in less than a year.

Also we added a $3.95 a month service plan in September because we needed a tech to come out and fix the cable lines. If we didn't add the service plan, they would have charged a service fee...I remember the rep saying we need to keep it at least three months, or else we will be charged a service fee. The three months have passed, so I'm going to dump it; I figure if we need service in the future, I will just call and add the service plan on and then cancel it three months later.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

You are right about buying a modem versus renting. Luckily, I realized this before we started our service.

I think all service plans are a waste of money.

 

[mikehn]

You are correct. The modem for internet service can be purchased just about anywhere, walmart, best buy, etc. However, in order to get Comcast's phone service there is a separate phone modem which you cannot purchase elsewhere. You have to rent their phone modem in order to get their phone service. Pretty stupid, I know.

 

[bumbershoot]

Hubby finally convinced me that it would be totally OK to buy our own modem, and so we did last month. It's painful to think how LONG we've been renting it, and how many times over we could have bought that modem, but at least I finally understood what he was saying!

(next on his list is to make what I'm jokingly calling "wall of computers", which will basically be his own computer based DVR, so we can dump that, too...something that even the comcast reps have told him is perfectly OK and "legal" to do!)

 

[DisCookie]

It made sense to rent when they were for $300, but at less than $50 for a decent one, buy! Make your money back in less than a year.

 

[Swimalie]

We've looked in to buying a modem but since we have phone and internet through them, we have found they don't sell the ones that cover the phone service as well. So sadly, we're stuck paying them their crappy fee. Luckily for us, Fios will be live in about a month so we'll be switching

 

[JB2K]

Think of it much like what we used to do with telephones prior to the 1982 AT&T breakup -- we used to pay rental fees on telephones -- after the Bell companies split, a number of third party manufacturers began making phones that were plug-n-play, and today, phone rentals are no longer commonplace.

The lesson, if there's a piece of equipment you can buy outright (and it's more cost-effective), do it...

 

[Brer Shay]

We've looked in to buying a modem but since we have phone and internet through them, we have found they don't sell the ones that cover the phone service as well. So sadly, we're stuck paying them their crappy fee. Luckily for us, Fios will be live in about a month so we'll be switching

We have phone and internet through the cable company (Comcast) and purchased our modem from Best Buy for about $100. They happened to be running a special that included Geek Squad installation at the time, so I had them install. Comcast gave him a bit of runaround in terms of codes, but he got it done. He told me that they don't want to acknowledge that you can have your own, but you can. We've had it for about 18 months now and no problems (or rental fees).

 

[Swimalie]

We have phone and internet through the cable company (Comcast) and purchased our modem from Best Buy for about $100. They happened to be running a special that included Geek Squad installation at the time, so I had them install. Comcast gave him a bit of runaround in terms of codes, but he got it done. He told me that they don't want to acknowledge that you can have your own, but you can. We've had it for about 18 months now and no problems (or rental fees).

Really? We've looked in to their list of approved modems and we can't find any for sale publicly. I'd love to know what you have since I'd love to get rid of that fee each month. Although it still makes them higher than Fios and we still might switch.

 

[Judique]

Really? We've looked in to their list of approved modems and we can't find any for sale publicly. I'd love to know what you have since I'd love to get rid of that fee each month. Although it still makes them higher than Fios and we still might switch.

I would carefully compare the internet speed with fios and comcast before switching. (If that is important for you.)

 

[Swimalie]

I would carefully compare the internet speed with fios and comcast before switching. (If that is important for you.)

What are your experiences? So far our cable internet speed is so-so with Comcast. And with Fios we can save $30 a month for the same services.

 

[de8212]

We have phone and internet through the cable company (Comcast) and purchased our modem from Best Buy for about $100. They happened to be running a special that included Geek Squad installation at the time, so I had them install. Comcast gave him a bit of runaround in terms of codes, but he got it done. He told me that they don't want to acknowledge that you can have your own, but you can. We've had it for about 18 months now and no problems (or rental fees).

What model? I'd love to get rid of the extra monthly fee. The only downfall is if your modem dies. Then you have to go buy a new one. Not that it happens often but I've had mine replaced twice in ~8.5 yrs. I didn't do the math but it's probably still a better deal to buy. You just never know when you'll have a problem.

I would carefully compare the internet speed with fios and comcast before switching. (If that is important for you.)

Really? I've always thought FIOS was suppose to be faster? With Comcast I get around 10mb/s or so. I though FIOS was 20 - 30 mb/s?