Buy Your Router Once. Stop Paying $144/Year to Rent One.
Most Americans pay their ISP $10-15/month to rent a router they could own for $70. That's up to $180/year — indefinitely — for hardware that stops improving the moment you sign up.
Payoff Time
5.8 mo
WiFi Router (owned) vs ISP Router Rental
Product cost
$70
one-time
Annual savings
$144
vs ISP Router Rental
The Setup: You're Renting Hardware You Can Own
When you sign up for internet service, the ISP offers to include a modem/router combo ("gateway") for a monthly fee. It sounds convenient — and it is. But that fee never stops. Comcast's xFi Gateway currently runs $15/month. AT&T charges $10-15/month depending on plan. Spectrum charges $5-14/month. The national average is roughly $12/month.
That's $144/year for hardware that your ISP has no incentive to upgrade. The router they ship you is often a 2-3 year old design with no firmware improvements, locked-down settings, and sometimes built-in advertising or data collection features you can't disable.
The fix: buy a compatible modem + router separately. For cable internet (Comcast, Spectrum), you need an approved DOCSIS 3.1 modem (~$60-80) plus a router. For fiber (AT&T Fiber, Verizon Fios), the ONT (fiber terminal) is usually ISP-owned and can't be replaced, but you can use your own router behind it. Our base case uses a $70 router for fiber/DHCP setups, or a $120-160 modem+router combo for cable setups. Payoff math is identical.
The Math: $70 vs. $12/Month
A $70 router with $0/month ongoing cost vs. $12/month rental. Monthly savings: $12. Breakeven: $70 ÷ $12 = 5.8 months. After that, you're saving $144/year indefinitely.
A quality router (TP-Link, ASUS, Netgear) lasts 5-7 years with no issues. Over 5 years, you'd pay $720 in rental fees or $70 for owned hardware. The $650 difference buys you a lot of nice things.
| Own Router ($70) | ISP Rental ($12/mo) | |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | $70 | $0 |
| Monthly ongoing | $0 | $12 |
| Month 3 total | $70 | $36 |
| Month 6 total | $70 | $72 |
| ★ Breakeven (~6 months) | $70 | $70 |
| Year 1 total | $70 | $144 |
| Year 3 total | $70 | $432 |
| 5-year total | $70 | $720 |
* All figures are estimates. See methodology for assumptions.
Cumulative Cost Over Time
The lines cross at the breakeven point — that's when the savings zone begins.
The Bonus: Better Performance
ISP-rented gateways are optimized for cost, not performance. The routers you can buy for $70-90 today are Wi-Fi 6 devices with OFDMA, beamforming, and MU-MIMO — features that meaningfully improve performance when multiple devices are active simultaneously.
In practical terms: less buffering during Zoom calls, faster speed tests, more stable gaming connections. The performance improvement is a bonus on top of the $144/year in savings — not something you're paying extra for.
How to Switch
Cable internet (Comcast, Spectrum, Cox): Buy an approved DOCSIS 3.1 modem (check your ISP's approved device list) + a separate router. Call your ISP to provision the new modem with your MAC address. Return the rental equipment. Savings begin immediately.
Fiber internet (AT&T Fiber, Verizon Fios): The fiber termination equipment is ISP-owned and can't be swapped. But on AT&T Fiber especially, you can put their gateway in "IP Passthrough" mode and connect your own router — getting the performance benefits without a separate monthly charge (the gateway rental is often bundled into AT&T's plans anyway).
Sensitivity Analysis: Your Results May Vary
Payoff time changes based on how much you currently spend.
Premium rental ($15/mo)
Comcast charges up to $15/month for their xFi Gateway. Common on newer plans.
4.7mo
$180/yr
Typical rental ($12/mo) — our base case (our base case)
The most common rate from Comcast/Xfinity, AT&T, and Spectrum.
5.8mo
$144/yr
Low rental fee ($8/mo)
Some ISPs charge as little as $8/month. Common with older plans or regional providers.
8.8mo
$96/yr
"Buying your own router for $70 instead of renting saves $144/year. Payoff: 5.8 months. Then it's free internet for the life of the router."
What We Recommend
For most homes under 2,000 sq ft with up to 30 devices, a single $70-90 Wi-Fi 6 router does the job. Mesh systems make sense for larger homes or multi-floor situations where you've been fighting dead zones.
TP-Link Archer AX21 AX1800 Wi-Fi 6 Router
$60
upfront
5mo
payoff
$144
/ year
Wi-Fi 6, dual-band, handles 20+ devices. More than enough for most households. The fastest payoff of any router on this list. If you have 1 Gbps internet or less and a normal-sized home, this is the buy.
Check current price →Price shown is approximate. Click for current price. Affiliate link.
ASUS RT-AX55 AX1800 Dual Band Wi-Fi 6 Router
$70
upfront
5.8mo
payoff
$144
/ year
ASUS routers are known for excellent firmware support and stability. The RT-AX55 adds better QoS (traffic prioritization) and a more feature-rich admin panel vs. TP-Link. Good choice if you game, video call, and stream simultaneously.
Check current price →Price shown is approximate. Click for current price. Affiliate link.
Eero Pro 6 Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi System
$300
upfront
25mo
payoff
$144
/ year
For larger homes (2,500+ sq ft) where a single router leaves dead zones. The eero Pro 6 mesh system covers the whole house and is the easiest setup of any option here. At $140, payoff takes about a year — but you're also solving a coverage problem, not just a rental fee problem.
Check current price →Price shown is approximate. Click for current price. Affiliate link.
What we didn't account for
- → Cable modems are separate. This analysis assumes you already own a modem or have fiber internet. If you have cable and currently rent an ISP gateway (modem + router combo), add ~$60-80 for a compatible DOCSIS 3.1 modem. Even then, payoff is typically under 18 months vs. a $15/month gateway rental.
- → Some ISPs bundle the rental into the plan price. AT&T Fiber and some smaller ISPs include the gateway in the monthly fee with no line-item rental charge. Check your bill carefully before buying — look for 'equipment fee,' 'gateway fee,' or 'xFi' on the bill.
- → Setup takes 30-60 minutes. Replacing ISP hardware requires a phone call to provision the new modem and some light configuration. Not hard, but budget an hour and keep the ISP's tech support number handy in case the provisioning takes a few tries.