It is a beautiful Friday morning. The chirps and whistles of the brilliantly painted birds rejuvenate your soul and you let out a prayer thanking God for blessing you with such an enchanting day. When all of a sudden, grey, stratus clouds take over the heavenly sky.
Lightning makes shivers run down your spine and ‘ting’ goes your mobile phone. You rub your eyes and open the email notification, still in awe of the feelings of betrayal that the weather had just given you. What you see is your monthly internet bill. Just looking at the lengthy statement, gives you an uneasy feeling. ‘How is that even possible?’ You murmur under your breath, while simultaneously looking at the weather and the invoice on your phone.
We’re sure this scenario must have spooked you out. However, a smart approach would be to leave all the emotions aside and start probing the matter. What do you think was the reason behind the heavy internet bill?
We would advise you to check the last month’s internet bill. Check to see if you have been making a monthly payment to your ISP (Internet Service Provider) for renting a modem or router. Some ISPs charge you a monthly rental fee, while others like Optimum allow you to use your own equipment.
Hence, with Optimum you not only save a lot of money but can also protect yourself from the hassle of contracts and data limits with its internet en casa sin contrato option.
So you can either choose providers like Optimum that give you the liberty of using your own equipment or continue to pay heavy rental fees. Keep reading to get a better understanding of this concept.
Are you still renting equipment from your ISP?
Hidden fees or charges have made a lot of us go nuts. We are saying this because several internet service providers include a bunch of additional charges in their monthly bills. Sometimes these charges are self-explanatory however in most circumstances; the ISPs don’t give you the desired level of transparency and you end up putting a dent in your wallet.
Hence, it is always advised to fully comprehend all the charges. In simpler words, it is always a good idea to understand your internet bill. The major hidden charges include:
- Installation and activation payments
- Recovery fee
- Equipment rental fee
- Data overage fee
The most common of the four4 is the equipment rental fee and if you are already spending a part of your salary on renting a modem or router, well we have good news for both you and your wallet. You can get rid of it by purchasing your own internet equipment and utilizing that instead.
Also Read: Creative Ideas to Hide Your Internet Provider’s Router at Home
Have you completely studied your ISP?
It is also important to understand that not all ISPs have the same policies. Rules and regulations are different for all providers. Thus, carefully studying the packages and plans being offered by your ISP can solve many of your problems.
To elaborate on the point that we’ve just made, let us give you some examples. Equipment charges vary from ISP to ISP. This means that some providers might charge say $15 per month for using their modem or router, others might make your life easy and bless you with free equipment. They might also allow you to use your own equipment, thus helping you save some money every month.
Thus long story short, study your ISP carefully, conduct proper research and make a list of all the policies that you feel are useful for you. Adopting this practice will not only help you save a few bucks but will also build a lifelong bond with the internet service provider. Now that we have a proven fact that purchasing is better than renting. Let us move ahead, enlist, and compare all the lead options. Keep reading!
- Spectrum
Spectrum is a leading internet service provider. It is famous for its home internet plans that feature a free modem. However, in case you don’t have your personal equipment, this provider will ask you to spend $5 per month for renting equipment.
Nevertheless, we would advise you to purchase your own router and save $5. But it is very important to keep in mind, that if the equipment crashes, Spectrum won’t offer any form of support. Similarly, with Spectrum, you also have the liberty of utilizing your own modem, but again try to operate a ‘Spectrum-supported’ modem.
- Xfinity
Xfinity, another major provider, allows its customers to rent a router modem combo also known as the ‘xFi Gateway’. This efficient combination provides its customers with in-home WiFi that is both speedy and reliable. The cost of renting this combo is $14 per month. Again, you can save this amount by purchasing your own equipment instead.
- AT&T
A very important point to note about this provider is that, until 2022, AT&T’s policy required the customers to pay $10 every month for renting the equipment. The company strictly mentioned in its rules, that the customers would only use the company’s modem router combo and that they weren’t permitted to utilize their own equipment.
This was a red flag for the customers who were bound to use the provider’s equipment. Nevertheless, AT&T quickly took the situation under control; it got rid of its equipment fee. Now the customers can relax and not overthink the hidden fees in their monthly bills.
Wrapping up
We’re all living in an age where inflation is at its peak. Cutting down on additional costs and making smart decisions is the need of the hour. Therefore, we would advise you to carefully study your ISP’s rules and regulations and try your best to buy your own internet equipment.