The modem and router hire are now included in your monthly payment for up to 36 months, and Astound Broadband provides house internet access in many large metros across the nation, including Austin, Chicago, Houston, New Yorkși Seattle. After three years, Astound may charge for modem and router, which may cost as much as$ 22 a month.

You can still use your own equipment instead of using Astound’s; see Astound’s guidelines for using your own equipment. It’s worth noting that Astound also offers” Enhanced Wi-Fi” in some regions, which gets you a fancier router for an additional$ 5 per month. In some areas, Enhanced Wi-Fi results in the use of the Eero Pro 6 şi Eero Pro 6 mesh router, which is excellent, but in others, it simply is the Eero 6 router, which was not nearly as effective in our tests. &nbsp,

Customers can also rent the Netgear Nighthawk XR1000 Wi-Fi 6 gaming router for$ 13 per month, which isn’t a bad deal at all given that it typically costs around$ 300.

This is significant because AT&amp, T used to charge$ 10 monthly for its equipment. Customers couldn’t use their own modem, so the company required the use of its combination modem-and-router gateway device. That meant that you couldn’t skip the$ 10 monthly additional fee. Customers no longer have to worry about that additional cost being tacked onto their monthly bill as AT&amp, T eliminated its equipment fee for all internet plans in 2022.

CenturyLink charges$ 15 monthly to rent a gateway that combines a modem and a router into one device. The Greenwave C4000, the Zyxel C4000LZ, or the Zyxel C3000Z will be one of three models if you sign up for DSL with Century Link. If you have a fiber plan with Quantum Fiber, your equipment is included at no extra cost for an “initial period”, however long that may be. By using a gateway or modem of your own, you can avoid paying$ 15, but CenturyLink advises customers against using anything that isn’t listed on its list of approved devices.

You can also opt to buy CenturyLink equipment upfront, for$ 200 plus tax, an investment that would pay for itself after a year and one month of service.

According to the company’s website,” Century Link highly advises using one of our certified or recommended Wi-Fi modems ( gateways ), which have been tested and certified to work with our high-speed internet technology.” ” Retired and third-party devices are more likely to cause performance issues and may not connect to your internet service correctly”.

Remember that you’ll also need to find a good router to go with Century Link’s gateway if you’re replacing it with a standard modem.

Cox charges customers$ 15 per month to rent its Panoramic Wifi gateway, which combines a modem and router into a single device. DOCSIS 3.1 devices that support either Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6E, depending on the speed tier, will be provided to all Cox plan subscribers. You can also purchase Panoramic Wi-Fi Pods if you want to extend your Wi-Fi coverage, but Cox doesn’t allow customers to rent the pods: you have to buy them upfront for$ 130 each, a cost we don’t recommend undertaking. For as little as$ 15 to$ 20, you can get a better-priced Wi-Fi extender.

Either way, you can skip that additional monthly equipment rental fee by using a modem and router, or gateway, of your own– just be sure to pick from the lengthy list of Cox-approved modems and gateways.

Frontier Fiber includes equipment rental costs, but the monthly cost is already lower than most. For plans 500Mbps and faster, Frontier offers the Eero Pro 7, a Wi-Fi 7 router. The Eero Pro 6E is included in the 200Mbps plan, and the Eero Pro 6 is included in all DSL plans.

For an additional$ 10 a month, you can add Whole Home Wi-Fi with up to two mesh Wi-Fi extenders for better coverage.

Equipment fee: Nu

Free of charge, Google Fiber customers receive a modem, a mesh router, and two additional extenders. If you subscribe to Google Fiber’s fastest plan, with download speeds of up to 8Gbps, then you’ll get a faster, multi-gig router to go with it, complete with support for Wi-Fi 6E.

All 50 states have Hughesnet satellite internet service. That’s the good news. The bad news is that satellite internet features fairly expensive equipment. Customers must rent Hughesnet’s equipment to the tune of$ 15 per month or$ 20 per month if opting for Hughesnet’s Fusion plan that combines satellite internet with low-latency fixed wireless internet. There are no ways to avoid those monthly fees. The only alternative provided is to buy the equipment up front for$ 300 ($ 450 with the Fusion plan ).

That is a difficult pill to swallow. Paying that much right out of the gate is not appealing. If you decide that Hughesnet requires a two-year contract ( and canceling early will result in an early termination fee ), you might find that paying the upfront cost will help you save money if you want to stay with Hughesnet after your initial term is up.

Kinetic is Windstream’s home internet service, and the equipment rental fees cost$ 11 a month. You will receive a combination modem-and-router gateway device after paying that fee, but you can skip the fee entirely if you use your own modem and router hardware. &nbsp,

According to the specific nature of the connection, the company has different hardware requirements for different customers ( some DSL subscribers use ADSL technology, while others use VDSL, for instance ). Be sure to ask Windstream for some guidance specific to your home’s connection before you make a purchase– the customer service number is 800-347-1991.

Customers must pay$ 15 per month to rent a cable modem/router gateway from Mediacom because the company offers a midsize cable internet service. You can skip that fee by using your own, but it’ll need to be at least a DOCSIS 3.1 model plus a compatible router. The complete list of hardware&nbsp approved items can be found in ( PDF).

The WiFi360Pro, which comes with two Eero Wi-Fi units ( and Eero secure services ), is included for one year of service. It supports Wi-Fi 6 and up to 1Gbps. Mediacom also offers Eero Wi-Fi extenders for$ 5 a month.

In the Midwest, Metronet, a 100 % fiber-optic internet provider, serves Indiana and 15 other states throughout the country. Like fellow fiber providers like AT&amp, T and Google Fiber, Metronet doesn’t charge customers to use its router. If you want to add Whole Home Wi-Fi, it does cost$ 10 per month, but that is optional and not necessary.

Optim offers 100 % fiber connections as well as cable and hybrid fiber connections. The company provides customers with its Altice Gateway, which serves as your home’s modem and router. Depending on your specific plan and whether your home’s connection uses cable or fiber, your exact model will depend on that. &nbsp,

An Altice spokesperson tells CNET that “optimum internet customers using service provided via our HFC network are able to use their own equipment.” ” Optimum Fiber service is currently only delivered via the Optimum-provided Gateway, which is designed specifically to work with our fiber network”.

Rise Broadband offers fixed wireless home internet access throughout much of the state, including many rural areas. The ISP covers the cost of the equipment rental fee in select regions ( including the modem and antenna that receive the over-the-air signal ), but many will have to pay$ 10 just for the receiver, then an additional$ 15 to rent a router. The receiver lease is optional, but the router rental is not. If you’re eligible for fiber internet, that equipment rental is optional.

Customers are charged$ 14 per month for Sparklight’s cable modem. For an additional access point, Sparklight charges an extra$ 10 monthly. For$ 25 per month, Sparklight also offers the” Ultimate Wi-Fi Bundle,” which includes your modem, two eero Wi-Fi devices, and eero plus.

If you want to skip the monthly charge, Sparklight requires you to use a DOCSIS 3.1&nbsp, cable modem device. Here’s a list of Sparklight recommended modems if you decide to use that route to save on the additional monthly fee.

Spectrum includes a free modem with all of its home internet plans, but if you don’t have a router, you’ll need to rent one for$ 10 per month if you’re on the 500Mbps plan. Users of the 1-gig plan receive equipment that is included in their monthly bills.

To avoid that monthly fee, you’ll need to use your own router. However, Spectrum technical support won’t be available for your equipment if it breaks down. You can also use your own modem, but make sure to use&nbsp, a Spectrum-supported model.

By offering faster speeds and lower latency than rivals Hughesnet and Viasat, Starlink, Elon Musk’s internet service, aims to defy the norm for satellite internet. What Starlink shares with those companies is a stark equipment fee. Starlink requires that you pay upfront for the equipment in place of paying an additional monthly fee for it. That means a payout of$ 349 to$ 599 for standard service.

Starry Internet is a fixed wireless internet provider mostly focused on larger cities, including Boston, Denver, Los Angeles şi New York City. Starry makes use of customized equipment in the price, and the company uses technology that is best suited for urban areas. There’s no additional charge beyond your monthly rate.

Equipment fee: Nu

You’ll need a 5G modem capable of receiving that wireless signal to connect because T-Mobile offers 5G home internet service. Fortunately, T-Mobile takes care of that for you with a 5G modem/router gateway provided free of charge. It’s a gray cylinder, and all you need is to sign up to go online.

If you have a router that you like, you can plug it into T-Mobile’s gateway and use it to put out your home’s Wi-Fi signal instead. If you want to set up a mesh network in your home, it might be worthwhile, but T-Mobile’s gateway’s fast top speeds and Wi-Fi support are likely to suffice for anyone else.

Equipment fee: Nu

Verizon offers three different home internet services: Verizon LTE ( 4G), Verizon 5G, and Verizon Fios. Each service is a bit different, but one thing they all have in common is that your equipment rental is included in the price.

HughesNet’s rival charges the same monthly price for equipment as Viasat, but the cost is still inexcusable. You could get a slight discount on that monthly price by choosing to pay for the equipment with a one-time purchase of$ 250, but there are no significant savings to be had there unless you hold on to your Viasat service beyond the initial two-year contract.

Equipment fee: Nu

WideOpenWest– or WOW, as the company enjoys branding itself– includes the modem cost in your monthly fee but you can still buy your own WOW-approved modem. Customers can also pay$ 10 per month to rent an Eero 6 router separately. You can skip that fee if you already have a router that you’re happy with.

Ten dollars per month isn’t a bad price to buy mesh systems for your home, but that used to be available in a two-pack for$ 189 and is frequently available for sale. If you plan on using that router for longer than a year and a half or so, it’s probably better to buy one of your own.

Xfinity offers customers the option of renting the xFi Gateway, which combines a modem and a router into a single device, at$ 15 per month in select locations. Equipment is included at no extra cost in some plans, as well as some plans. If you have a fee, you can skip the monthly charge by using your own modem and router.

Any router will work, but you must make sure the modem is a DOCSIS 3. 1 model. The Xfinity website has a full list of supported modems.

Additionally, Xfinity offers xFi Complete, a monthly subscription that costs between$ 15 and$ 25 depending on your home. The xFi Complete package comes with unlimited data ( a nice perk since Xfinity enforces data caps on most plans ), a Wi-Fi Boost Pod for extended coverage throughout the home, and the ability to manage the security of your network through various controls.

For all fiber plans as well as Whole Home Wi-Fi for$ 15 monthly, Ziply Fiber offers an optimized Wi-Fi 7 router. You can also skip that additional monthly fee by using your own router, but to paraphrase an FAQ on Ziply’s website, it recommends you use the Ziply Fiber router” for the best fiber internet experience”.