Should You Buy or Rent Your Router? The Wrong Decision Cost Me Nearly $1K

It is the $1,000 query: Must you purchase your personal router or hire it out of your web service supplier? 

Most ISPs cost between $10 and $15 month-to-month for gear, when you can usually get a modem and router for lower than $200. Buying your personal web gear often pays for itself within the first 12 months, nevertheless it usually comes with some extra complications. 

I have been writing in regards to the web for six years, and I’ve carried round a shameful secret for all six of them: I have been renting my router from Xfinity the entire time. I do know — this is sort of a painter renting their brushes each month. However my rented gear has labored wonderful, whilst I’ve identified that I have been paying a premium for the comfort of an ISP-provided setup. 

All this time, I have been paying $10 to $15 additional for the privilege of utilizing Xfinity’s modem and router gateway system. (Xfinity appears to extend the value of apparatus a greenback or two yearly.) That is largely been wonderful with me — my web invoice is affordable, and I have been OK with paying a little bit additional for the comfort. However after combing by way of my previous payments, I arrived at a quantity that prompted me to rethink: $873. That is how a lot I’ve spent on Xfinity’s gear charges through the years. 

With the cash I’ve spent renting Xfinity gear, I may’ve purchased probably the most superior router CNET’s ever examined after which purchased one other one as a backup. I may’ve doubled the web velocity I used to be getting. I may’ve booked a flight to Oslo. 

As happy as I have been with my service, proudly owning your personal gear is sort of at all times the higher possibility. You will usually get higher efficiency — my add speeds elevated by greater than 2,000% — and it will often pay for itself throughout the first 12 months or two.  

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. However in the event you’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 on your personal router and modem.

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

How to decide on the proper modem and router

One of the best web is the web you by no means discover, and I am unable to 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 Wi-fi Gateway with restricted speeds and performance.” 

This goes to point out how a lot the kind of web person you’re has to do with what sort of gear you want. I dwell in a 750-square-foot condo, and my web wants are largely restricted to video calls and TV streaming. When you dwell in a bigger residence with a number of flooring, the identical router possible will not lower it. Equally, actions like on-line gaming hinge on split-second reactions. If this instantaneous responsiveness is vital 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-Hyperlink AC1200 for $30 to ultra-advanced mesh programs just like the Netgear Orbi 970 Collection for over $1,700. To check every Wi-Fi router, CNET runs three velocity assessments in 5 totally different rooms in our testing facility, logging outcomes for obtain velocity, add velocity 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 very best wi-fi routers, I made a decision to go along with our price range decide: the TP-Hyperlink Archer AX21, of which my colleague and router connoisseur Ry Crist wrote, “It is nothing fancy, nevertheless it supplied close to flawless efficiency for small- to medium-size properties in our assessments, and it is a cinch to setup.” I get solely 200Mbps by way of my Xfinity plan, so the 700Mbps the TP-Hyperlink hits at shut vary is greater than sufficient juice and solely prices $75.

Do it is advisable to purchase a modem?

Relying on what kind of web you’ve gotten, chances are you’ll have to buy a cable modem along with your router. Some ISPs, like Spectrum, embody the modem free of charge however cost additional for a router. 

The principle 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 might also have a selection between DOCSIS 3.0 and three.1; the newer customary supplies sooner speeds, however DOCSIS 3.1 modems are sometimes dearer. Different issues to think about are the modem’s velocity 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 may discover for $100. It helps obtain speeds as much as solely 867Mbps, however that is nonetheless excess of my Xfinity plan.

Easy methods 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 purchasers on the hook for years. The method is basically the identical whether or not you are beginning service contemporary with a brand new supplier or swapping out previous gear. Here is every part you may have to do. 

1. Activate your new modem together with your ISP

The modem is the piece of apparatus that brings the web to your house by way of a coaxial cable related to your web supplier’s community. Earlier than it may possibly work, ISPs have to tie your particular modem to your account. When you’re changing previous gear, they may even flip this off as they activate the brand new modem. ISPs do that by logging your MAC (media entry management) quantity, which might be discovered on the underside of the modem.

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

2. Join the coax cable to your modem

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

3. Arrange your Wi-Fi router

Every Wi-Fi router has its personal setup course of, so you may wish to comply with the directions supplied. Within the case of the TP-Hyperlink Archer AX21, that meant unplugging the facility to the modem, connecting the modem to the router’s WAN port by way of an Ethernet cable, powering on the modem after which plugging the router into an influence outlet. From there, I arrange my new community by way of the TP-Hyperlink app.

That is the quick model. There’s much more to think about 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 start out testing out my new web connection. 

Velocity comparability: Which setup is quickest?

I needed to see how my new modem and router would evaluate with my previous gear, so I ran velocity assessments earlier than and after I used to be related: one from my desk subsequent to the router and one from the furthest nook of my condo (regrettably, the toilet). 

My previous modem and router returned 164/5Mbps speeds from my desk and 143/5Mbps from the toilet — not dangerous for an web plan that advertises 200/10Mbps speeds. However the speeds with my new gear had been eye-popping: 237/118Mbps at each my desk and my lavatory. I did not simply lower your expenses by buying my very own gear — I am really getting a major velocity 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 Join Extra 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 Full gear. Apparently, I am reaping those self same advantages with my new modem and router. My finest guess is that the improve from a DOCSIS 3.0 to a 3.1 modem is the principle motive for the soar in add speeds.

Easy methods to save your self some complications

I ultimately obtained my modem and router arrange correctly, however I made loads of errors alongside the best way. Here is what I might do otherwise:

• Purchase your modem and router on day one. Transferring is a ache, and nobody needs to make their to-do record even longer, however that is one process the place the additional effort pays off (practically a thousand {dollars} in my case). A technician might 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 record of appropriate modems. Routers aren’t tied to particular suppliers, but when it’s a must to buy your personal modem, you may have to ensure that it really works together with your ISP. Do not lower corners right here. I searched Amazon for a modem that mentioned it was appropriate 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 less than the velocity you want. Web gear is dear, and there isn’t any motive to pay for a modem licensed for two,000Mbps once you’re getting solely 200Mbps together with your plan. The identical goes for routers — you need not pay prime greenback for a gaming router with distinctive latency in the event you’re simply streaming TV and scrolling the web. 

The underside line

It is no enjoyable to arrange a brand new modem and router, however is it value it? Completely. Not solely are my web speeds dramatically improved, however I am paying considerably much less for them. I am saving $15 monthly on gear, and someplace alongside the road, an Xfinity agent bumped my plan worth down for the subsequent 12 months. My month-to-month invoice goes from $78.54 to $50. That is excess of I anticipated to save lots of, and my new gear can pay itself off throughout the first six months. My solely remorse is that I did not make the leap sooner.