Should You Buy or Rent Your Router? Learn From My $873 Mistake

That gear price won’t seem to be a lot while you first join web service, however quick ahead just a few years and also you’re a whole bunch in wasted {dollars}.

Most ISPs cost between $10 and $15 month-to-month for gear — it is best to be capable of see the price in your ISP’s broadband diet label — whilst you can typically get a modem and router for lower than $200. Buying your personal web gear normally pays for itself within the first yr, however it typically comes with some extra complications. 

I’ve been writing in regards to the web for six years, and for all six of them, I’ve carried round a shameful secret: I’ve a rented a router from Xfinity for many of that point. Even although I’ve at all times suggested readers to purchase their very own gear, my rented modem and router labored high-quality, regardless that I knew at the back of my thoughts that it was a waste of cash. 

Then I took a glance by my previous payments and added up a quantity that prompted me to rethink: $873. That’s how a lot I’ve spent on Xfinity’s gear charges over these six years. 

With the cash I’ve spent renting Xfinity gear, I might’ve purchased probably the most superior router CNET’s ever examined after which purchased one other as a backup. I might’ve doubled the web pace I used to be getting. I might’ve booked a flight to Oslo. I used to be lastly able to enter the world of modem-and-router possession.

As glad as I used to be with my Xfinity gear, proudly owning your personal gear is sort of at all times the higher possibility. You’ll typically get higher efficiency — my add speeds elevated by greater than 2,000% — and as I say, it’s going to normally pay for itself throughout the first yr or two.  

The common web invoice within the US is available in at $63 monthly — and that is earlier than you add the additional taxes and charges. Some of those are unavoidable, however gear rental charges do not fall into that class.

You is likely to be completely content material to pay a bit additional for the comfort of not having to purchase and arrange your personal gear. But if you happen to’re trying to economize in the long term, and are snug buying and managing your personal gear, it is a much better deal to shell out to your personal router and modem. (You may additionally be capable of benefit from any low-income reductions out there in your state.)

Here’s what I’ve discovered about making the change from rented gear to my very own, and this is how one can make an identical change as painless as doable. 

How to decide on the appropriate modem and router

The greatest web is the web you by no means discover, and I can not keep in mind the final time my connection went out or I noticed a buffering wheel in my residence. And that is all with a tool from 2017 that Xfinity describes as an “previous Wireless Gateway with restricted speeds and performance.” 

This goes to point out how a lot the kind of web consumer you’re has to do with what sort of gear you want. I dwell in a 750-square-foot residence, and my web wants are largely restricted to video calls and TV streaming. If you reside in a bigger residence with a number of flooring, the identical router probably will not minimize it. Similarly, actions like on-line gaming hinge on split-second reactions. If this instantaneous responsiveness is necessary to you, it is most likely value investing in a gaming router that minimizes lag. 

Wi-Fi routers run the gamut from entry-level fashions just like the TP-Link AC1200 for $30 to ultra-advanced mesh techniques just like the Netgear Orbi 970 Series for $1,500. To take a look at every Wi-Fi router, CNET runs three pace assessments in 5 totally different rooms in our testing facility, logging outcomes for obtain pace, add pace and latency. That course of is repeated six instances, accounting for variations in community efficiency at totally different instances of the day.

After consulting our picks for the perfect wi-fi routers, I made a decision to go together with our funds choose: the TP-Link Archer AX21, of which my colleague and router connoisseur Ry Crist wrote, “It’s nothing fancy, however it provided close to flawless efficiency for small- to medium-size houses in our assessments, and it is a cinch to setup.” I get solely 200Mbps by my Xfinity plan, so the 700Mbps pace the TP-Link hits at shut vary is greater than sufficient juice and solely price $85 once I purchased it. (Several authorities companies have since opened investigations into TP-Link for ties to Chinese cyber-attacks.)

Do it is advisable purchase a modem?

Depending on what kind of web you’ve gotten, chances are you’ll must buy a cable modem along with your router. Some ISPs, like Spectrum, embody the modem without spending a dime however cost additional for a router. 

The essential factor to search for in a modem is compatibility. Your web supplier could have a web page on their web site that lists all of the fashions that it really works with, and also you should not stray from this. You may additionally have a selection between DOCSIS 3.0 and three.1; the newer commonplace offers quicker speeds, however DOCSIS 3.1 modems are sometimes dearer. Other issues to contemplate are the modem’s pace limits — ensure they’re equal to or above your web plan — and the variety of Ethernet ports. 

Xfinity would not present a free modem, so I had to purchase one along with a Wi-Fi router. I opted for the Hitron CODA Modem — a DOCSIS 3.1 mannequin that is one of many least expensive Xfinity-compatible fashions I might discover for $100 on the time I bought it. It helps obtain speeds as much as solely 867Mbps, however that is nonetheless excess of my Xfinity plan.

How to arrange your new modem and router

Ordering the gear is the simple half; the ordeal of establishing third-party gear is what retains many shoppers on the hook for years. The course of is basically the identical whether or not you are beginning service recent with a brand new supplier or swapping out previous gear. Here’s the whole lot you will must do. 

1. Activate your new modem along with your ISP

The modem is the piece of kit that brings the web to your property by a coaxial cable linked to your web supplier’s community. Before it will probably work, ISPs must tie your particular modem to your account. If you are changing previous gear, they may also flip this off as they activate the brand new modem. ISPs do that by logging your MAC (media entry management) quantity, which will be discovered on the underside of the modem.

You can sometimes do that by your web supplier’s app, in a dwell chat or by calling a customer support quantity. 

2. Connect the coax cable to your modem

After your new modem’s MAC tackle is registered along with your ISP, you will be prompted to attach your modem to the cable outlet in your wall and plug it into an influence outlet. You could have to attend as much as 5 minutes, and your modem’s lights will inform you when it is receiving the web sign. Once the indicator lights are on, you are able to arrange your wi-fi router.

3. Set up your Wi-Fi router

Each Wi-Fi router has its personal setup course of, so you will need to comply with the directions supplied. In the case of the TP-Link Archer AX21, that meant unplugging the ability to the modem, connecting the modem to the router’s WAN port through an Ethernet cable, powering on the modem after which plugging the router into an influence outlet. From there, I arrange my new community by the TP-Link app.

That’s the quick model. There’s much more to contemplate when establishing a wi-fi router, together with selecting the optimum location, establishing parental controls and defending your privateness. For my functions, although, I used to be prepared to begin testing out my new web connection. 

Speed comparability: Which setup is quickest?

I wished to see how my new modem and router would evaluate with my previous gear, so I ran pace assessments earlier than and after I used to be linked: one from my desk subsequent to the router and one from the furthest nook of my residence (regrettably, the lavatory). 

My previous modem and router returned 164/5Mbps speeds from my desk and 143/5Mbps from the lavatory — not unhealthy for an web plan that advertises 200/10Mbps speeds. But the speeds with my new gear have been eye-popping: 237/118Mbps at each my desk and my rest room. I did not simply get monetary savings by buying my very own gear — I’m truly getting a major pace enhance, too.

I do not know why my new gear picked up 10 instances the add speeds of my previous one. I subscribe to Xfinity’s Connect More plan, which is meant to get solely 10Mbps add speeds. In 2022, Xfinity introduced that it was rising add speeds on my plan to 100Mbps — however just for prospects who pay for its $25-per-month xFi Complete gear. Apparently, I’m reaping those self same advantages with my new modem and router. My greatest guess is that the improve from a DOCSIS 3.0 to a 3.1 modem is the primary motive for the leap in add speeds.

How to avoid wasting your self some complications

I ultimately received my modem and router arrange correctly, however I made loads of errors alongside the way in which. Here’s what I might do in another way:

• Buy your modem and router on day one. Moving is a ache, and nobody desires to make their to-do listing even longer, however that is one job the place the additional effort pays off (practically a thousand {dollars} in my case). A technician could have to return out to your home to arrange your web it doesn’t matter what, so it is sensible to have your modem and router able to go in case there are any points. 
• Use your web service supplier’s listing of suitable modems. Routers aren’t tied to particular suppliers, but when it’s important to buy your personal modem, you will must be sure that it really works along with your ISP. Don’t minimize corners right here. I searched Amazon for a modem that mentioned it was suitable with Xfinity and ended up having to return it per week — and several other hours of telephone calls — later. Your supplier ought to have a web page the place it lists all of the modems that it really works with — do not stray from this.
• Pay for under the pace you want. Internet gear is dear, and there is not any motive to pay for a modem licensed for two,000Mbps while you’re getting solely 200Mbps along with your plan. The identical goes for routers — you need not pay high greenback for a gaming router with distinctive latency if you happen to’re simply streaming TV and scrolling the web. 

The backside line

It’s no enjoyable to arrange a brand new modem and router, however is it value it? Absolutely. Not solely are my web speeds dramatically improved, however I’m paying considerably much less for them. I’m saving $15 monthly on gear, and someplace alongside the road, an Xfinity agent bumped my plan value down for the following yr. My month-to-month invoice goes from $78.54 to $50. That’s excess of I anticipated to avoid wasting, and my new gear pays for itself throughout the first six months. My solely remorse is that I did not make the leap sooner.