The average consumer loses over $150 a year renting a router from their ISP
The average consumer may honestly be better off getting a cable tech to come out and fix their broken router than buying their own and trying to figure it each time something goes wrong (which is arguably rare, but very problematic when you have no clue).Obviously, for the genius technical minds that browse this site, leasing a router that is just pulling basic NAT/DNS/firewall duty is a cardinal sin.But also consider this: If someone calls me with an internet problem and they have some combo router+modem on lease from Comcast, I can just give them a quick 5 minute troubleshoot session followed by the 800 number and wish them best of luck. It's all about your perspective. $150 a year for peace of mind that the cable co (as evil and shitty as they may be) are required to ultimately repair/replace this hardware if problematic.At the end of the day, I'd rather not have to be on the hook for an off-handed suggestion that someone should purchase their own router/modem hardware and subsequently be expected to configure/maintain it. I expect most on this site have experienced the role of providing free tech support for friends & family. Just because I would never use a leased router or modem does NOT mean this is the correct option for everyone I know.I do not like big cable or their business practices. I simply value my time more than the $150 annual savings an arbitrary consumer may realize, considering my role in society as a technical person who is unfortunately just 1 quick phone call away. I'd much rather Comcast spend their time and money fixing everyone's internet for me. If they have to bill non-technical customers a little extra to make this possible, that's totally fine by me.