Buying vs. renting cable modems??

[mrgeezer2u]

New to this forum and getting cable installed in a few days. My service gives a choice of renting for $10/month or buying, either theirs or my own as long as it is DOCSIS compliant. Just a few questions:
- do modems vary in performance from model to model? If so, which do you recommend?
- where is the best place to buy? Having a difficult time locating any at the ususal online sites.
Thanks

[crazyman]

I say just rent their modem.That way if you have any problems they can't blame it on your modem and any exchanges are free.and I don't think there is a whole lot of diff in modems,the isp and your config and tweaks make more diff.we have tested "3com","COM21",and "General Instrument"and as long as they are working they seem to make no diff in speed.

[fubarman]

It depends on how long your gonna keep the modem . . . if you keep it for a couple of years then your just gonna be wasting your money on rental charges. If you plan on keeping it for a long time, just buy a modem. If you just wanna try it out and maybe switch to something else in a few months, rent the modem.

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[IndyOST]

Like fubarman said, it really is a matter of how long you keep the service. Here locally, you can buy a cable modem for as low as $219, so in your case, you would need to have the service for almost 2 years to pay for the modem.
The upside to renting the modem is that if you have something go wrong with the modem, the cable company comes out and replaces it on the spot. If you buy the modem, you'll end up having to send it back to the company to get it fixed or replaced.

[Beelzebub]

I agree with everything said above.
It's a lot easier to have the modem replaced if you rent. But what really makes me think that buying is prob. a bad idea is - Who knows what equipment I (or we) will even be using two years from now. Will the cable system change over to some new standard, rendering these units we're using today useless? Will wireless become the faster and cheaper service? Will cable modems be totally obsolete in two years ??

~Bub

[JL Sparks]

You beat me to it Beelzebub. I look at the modem rental as cheap insurance. I had one go bad as soon as they installed it (SB3100). Since I was renting, they rolled a truck and replaced it with a brand-new SB3100. If I had purchased I would have had to wait who-knows-how-long to get up and running.

[Beelzebub]

Actually I was just agreeing with crazyman and IndyOST on that point. (were you refering to the replacement issue? ~ if so, they were ahead of me... http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/wink.gif )
It's a very good reason, indeed.
But I still emphasize that buying a modem is somewhat of a risk - at the rate technology changes these days, I really doubt that I'll be using the same cable modem in 2 years (if cable at all). And I want to be able to switch service at any time without worrying about loosing my investment in the modem.
[Also, in my case, I'm not even sure I'll still be living in this area a year from now, so I might end up owning an expensive book-end in the long run! ]

http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/smile.gif

[glc1]

Welcome to Speed Guide mrgeezer2u...

If you do the math, you will probably find that purchasing a modem won't pay off for 1.5 or more years after the purchase. Do you plan on keeping your service for that long?

[JL Sparks]

Nope I was agreeing with you http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/smile.gif

I didn't buy a cable modem for the same reason I keep delaying the purchase of a new home PC: technology changes so rapidly (Hobbe's Law) that I too don't want expensive paperweights.. I'll just limp along with my Celeron until a P8 2Ghz chip is available http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/wink.gif

[IndyOST]

Originally posted by JL Sparks:
I didn't buy a cable modem for the same reason I keep delaying the purchase of a new home PC: technology changes so rapidly (Hobbe's Law) that I too don't want expensive paperweights.. I'll just limp along with my Celeron until a P8 2Ghz chip is available http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/wink.gif

Heh, I know what you mean...I'll be upgrading to a PIII 933 next month (which, btw will only cost about $300) while all the technophiles are out there shelling out a grand for the new PIV 1.5 gig processors. Staying one generation back will always save you a LOT of money but not sacrificing much power http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/biggrin.gif

[@home cable man]

to rent or buy....
yes renting give you a life time of replacement

if you own it you save a case of beer money a month..

im not sure how many modem we have sold have went bad but i do know most of the ones we say are bad really are not.bad trouble shotting.. it is not a plot to get more money from someone .but from my companys point of view for every modem we rent out it takes us 4 years to pay it off . so if you live in a cox communications area please rent and complain less so my stock will go up http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/redface.gif)