Months to break even15 months
Over 5 years: $726 ahead of renting Owning paysAt these inputs, buying your own pays for itself in about 15 months. Over 5 years you end up about $726 ahead of renting. If the fee never rises, you end up about $670 ahead.
Net over 5 years+$726
Ahead of renting Net if the fee never rises+$670
Break-even in 15 months Cash out on day one$230
Modem $130 + router $100 Fees you stop paying$956
Over 5 years, as the fee rises Ahead each month, year 1+$15.00
A month, not counting the cash out on day one Ahead each month, year 5+$16.88
A month in the last year Month by month
One month in year 1 and in the last year, without the cash you pay on day one.
One month in year 1 and in the last year| A month, on average | Year 1 | Year 5 |
|---|
| Rent you stop paying | $15.00 | $16.88 |
|---|
| Power and extras you pay | $0.00 | $0.00 |
|---|
| Gear bought again (spread over the year) | $0.00 | $0.00 |
|---|
| Ahead of renting | +$15.00 | +$16.88 |
|---|
If the fee never rises
Fee held flat: the net over 5 years would be +$670 instead of +$726.
The result with your yearly rise and with a flat fee| Result | Your yearly rise | Fee never rises |
|---|
| Months to break even | 15 months | 15 months |
|---|
| Net over 5 years | +$726 | +$670 |
|---|
| Ahead each month, year 5 | +$16.88 | +$15.00 |
|---|
Renting against owning, year by year
Over 5 years, renting costs $956 and owning costs $230 (day-one cash, then power, extras and replacements). The gap is "Ahead so far" below.
Each year: rent you stop paying, your cost, totals so far, and who is ahead| Year | Ahead so far | Renting so far | Owning so far | Rent you stop paying | Your cost that year |
|---|
| Today | -$230.00 | $0.00 | $230.00 | | $230.00 |
|---|
| Year 1 | -$50.00 | $180.00 | $230.00 | $180.00 | $0.00 |
|---|
| Year 2 | +$135.40 | $365.40 | $230.00 | $185.40 | $0.00 |
|---|
| Year 3 | +$326.36 | $556.36 | $230.00 | $190.96 | $0.00 |
|---|
| Year 4 | +$523.05 | $753.05 | $230.00 | $196.69 | $0.00 |
|---|
| Year 5 | +$725.64 | $955.64 | $230.00 | $202.59 | $0.00 |
|---|
| End: net over 5 years | +$725.64 | | | | |
|---|
A plus sign means owning is ahead of renting; a minus sign means renting is ahead. Read "Ahead so far" at the year you might leave.
If I move or switch
Owning only pays for the years you stay. If you may move, or switch to another provider or to fiber, read the table at that year. A cable modem has no use on a fiber line; a router does. Enter what you could sell the gear for.
What changes the answer most
Your monthly fee changes the result most: 25 percent more adds $238.91.
Your monthly feeUp to $238.91
25 percent more adds $238.91. 25 percent less takes away $238.91. Years you keep itUp to $202.59
One more year takes away $21.33. One fewer year takes away $202.59. Each input is moved on its own (a quarter more or less, one year, three points); every other number stays as you entered it.
Fee examples
Examples, not quotes. Fees change and differ by address and plan. Look at your bill. Some providers fold the equipment fee into the plan price, charge more for a gateway than for a modem alone, or list a fee and credit it back. Your provider must publish a label for your plan. Look for the equipment line there and on your bill. The label and your bill are the truth.
Provider equipment fee examples and the date checked| Provider | What the page said | Checked |
|---|
| Optimum (cable) | Official page. Prices effective 2026-10-01 for service that began 1.7.24 or earlier (newer customers may pay different fees). DOCSIS modem $15.00 a month; wireless gateway $15.00 (not in all areas); Smart Router free only if you lease Optimum's modem; Whole Home WiFi $10.00; extra modem $49.95. Unreturned or damaged: router $80, Gateway 6 $130, extender $75. | 2026-10-17 |
|---|
| Spectrum (cable) | Official pages, undated. Every plan includes a modem at no extra cost. Advanced WiFi $10 a month, or included with Internet 1 Gig or any bundle. Invincible WiFi $30 ($20 with Advanced WiFi). Your own router is allowed; the rented one can be Wi-Fi 6E or 7. | 2026-10-17 |
|---|
| Xfinity (cable) | Official page, undated: gateway rental $15 a month plus taxes and fees, or buy a modem. Unverified, a staff forum reply (2026-03-31): unlimited data with your own modem "typically requires a standalone add-on of $30/mo"; an older reply said $5 more and a volunteer said nothing extra. Ask your provider. | 2026-10-17 |
|---|
| Verizon Fios (fiber) | Official page, undated: router included at no additional cost, owned by Verizon, returned within 30 days of cancelling or you pay "charges" (no amount). Second-hand (Engadget, 2026-10-06): one neighborhood showed it included with an $18 monthly discount, a fee shown then credited. Nothing found on your own router. | 2026-10-17 |
|---|
| Frontier Fiber (fiber) | Official page, undated: every Fiber plan includes an eero 7 router, the optical terminal acts as the modem, your own router is allowed, no monthly equipment fee listed. Unverified, search snippets only: Whole-Home Wi-Fi $10 a month on some plans, $50 restocking fee, up to $300 per unreturned device. Unverified, a 2019 report seen in a snippet: $10 a month charged for a router rental to customers using their own. It is seven years old, so check your first bill after the swap. | 2026-10-17 |
|---|
| Astound (cable) | Official page, undated: lists approved modems, says to return yours to avoid rental fees, no amount. Unverified, search snippets only: bundled up to 36 months, $10 a month in one market, $18 to $40 after. | 2026-10-17 |
|---|
| FCC label rule | Unverified for 2026. A 2022 order (FCC 22-86, read 2026-10-17) lists equipment rental as a recurring monthly fee and the price of buying a modem or router as a one-time fee. A streamlined order of 2026-07-22 (second-hand) may have changed the form; whether the equipment line changed was not confirmed. FCC pages returned an error. | 2026-10-17 |
|---|
Compatibility and setup facts
Plain facts about owning your gear, not advice for your address or plan.
- Each provider publishes an approved-device list, and the exact model has to be on it.
- The modem and its Ethernet port must be rated at or above the plan's speed. Many providers now require DOCSIS 3.1, the current cable modem standard.
- If the phone line comes through the cable company, a voice-capable modem is needed.
- Some free equipment depends on leasing the provider's modem (Optimum's free Smart Router does). Owning the modem can then mean buying the router too, which is the "Modem and router" choice here.
- The provider usually asks for the modem's serial number or ID code on its label to activate it.
- The rented box has a return deadline (Verizon's page says 30 days), and unreturned gear can be billed: $80 to $130 per item on one provider's list. Check your first bill after the swap to see that the fee stopped.
- Some providers do not support customer-owned gear (Optimum says a modem you buy gets no tech support and no replacement), so what you give up differs by provider.
- Some plans or bundles require the provider's own box. This page cannot tell which, so the provider is the one to ask.
- Fiber has no modem to rent; the box on the wall is the provider's.
Wi-Fi. A new Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 7 router only helps devices that can use it, and your provider's own Wi-Fi may already be new (Spectrum says its rented router can be Wi-Fi 6E or 7). This page counts money, not Wi-Fi speed.
Bigger homes. A mesh set costs more than one router. The maker's square-foot claims are best-case; walls and floors cut them. Some providers also charge for extenders (Optimum Whole Home WiFi is $10 a month), which you can put in the Wi-Fi fee field.
How this estimates
What counts. "Modem and router" counts both fees and prices; "Modem only" the modem or gateway fee and price; "Router only" the Wi-Fi fee and router price. The other fields are greyed out and ignored.
Rent you stop paying. The fee for the part you replace, times 12 in year 1, rising by the yearly rise after that. Use the amounts on your bill, tax included.
What owning costs. The price and any return or activation fee on day one. Each year after, the power difference (watts of the new gear minus watts of the rented gear, divided by 1,000, times 8,760 hours, times the price per kWh) plus 12 times the monthly add-on. If the gear lasts fewer years than you keep it, the same gear is bought again the year after it wears out, and each time after, with no second return fee.
Net. All the rent you stop paying, minus what owning costs, replacements and the cash on day one, plus resale at the end.
Break-even. Where the running total crosses zero, placed inside the year by dividing what is still owed by that year's gain, to the nearest month. Resale is not counted. If it does not happen within your years, the sum runs for up to 15 years to show how long it would take. With nothing to pay up front there is no break-even.
If the fee never rises. The same sum with the yearly rise at 0. What changes the answer most. Each input moved alone and the net worked out again.
What this leaves out
Wi-Fi quality, inflation, sales tax differences, separate lives and resale for the modem and the router, buying the provider's gateway outright, financing, any tax effect, and the chance that you move or switch to fiber (set the years you keep it and read the table).
Not verified
No screen reader has been run on this page. Not confirmed: current Xfinity, Spectrum and Frontier broadband labels (errors), Astound and Frontier fee amounts, Verizon's rules for your own router, street prices for mesh sets, resale prices, the power difference between rented and owned gear, return fees, and which providers serve your address.
Sources and date checked
Checked on 2026-10-17. Each starting number is in the table below with its source; the ones that could not be confirmed say so. Prices vary, check your bill.
An estimate from the numbers you typed. Not an offer, not financial advice. This page has no store, referral or affiliate links and recommends no brand; names appear only as cited sources.
Benchmark sources and dates
Starting assumptions are example benchmarks, not binding quotes. Change any input to match your own bills or offers.
| Assumption / Input | Starting value | Source | Checked |
|---|
| Modem or gateway fee | $15 a month (typical, edit this) | Optimum, pricing and packages ; Xfinity, equipment page | 2026-10-17 |
| Wi-Fi router or extender fee | $0 (examples $10 a month) | Optimum, same page ; Spectrum, Advanced WiFi | 2026-10-17 |
| Monthly add-on for owners | $0 (example $30 a month, unverified) | Xfinity forum, staff reply (unverified) | 2026-10-17 |
| Fiber: router included | No fee for the router | Verizon Fios ; Frontier Fiber | 2026-10-17 |
| Frontier Fiber extra fees | None used (unverified: $10 Wi-Fi, $50 restocking, $300 unreturned) | Search snippets, pages not opened ; Slashdot on an Ars Technica report, 2019 | 2026-10-17 |
| Astound fees | None used (unverified, search snippets only) | Astound, bring your own modem | 2026-10-17 |
| FCC broadband label rule | Unverified for 2026 | FCC 22-86 ; Broadband Breakfast, 2026-08-27 | 2026-10-17 |
| Yearly rise in the fee | 3 percent (typical, edit this) | Riverhead Local, 2018 ; Consumer Reports, 2015 | 2026-10-17 |
| Modem price | $130 (typical, edit this); $55 and $200 by plan speed | Engadget, 2026-10-06 ; SpeedTestHQ guide | 2026-10-17 |
| Router price | $100 single, $50 budget, $280 for 2 mesh units, $350 for 3 (typical, edit this) | Engadget, 2026-10-06 ; Amazon press release, eero 7, 2025-02-19 | 2026-10-17 |
| Years your gear lasts and resale value | 5 years (typical, edit this); resale $0 (a guide says $40 to $60; not checked) | SpeedTestHQ guide | 2026-10-17 |
| Return or activation fee, support you give up | $0 for both (no typical amount found) | Optimum, unreturned equipment list ; Optimum, certified modems | 2026-10-17 |
| Power draw of the gear | 12 W each (typical, edit this) | LBNL Standby Power Summary | 2026-10-12 |
| Electricity price | $0.25 per kWh (New York; U.S. $0.18) | EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A | 2026-10-17 |
| Years you keep it | 5 years (typical, edit this) | Not a sourced input | 2026-10-17 |