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Comment by josefresco | Hacker News Reader

I subscribed to this idea for years ... until I had "Internet" issues at my office. Called Comcast, tech visited and blamed my old router. I called them on their bluff (it wasn't) and had them install a Comcast combo router/modem - problem solved, didn't need to buy a new router. I can now call Comcast whenever anything slows, or breaks at my office. They're responsible for it all, I don't have to worry about managing my own router and never have the situation where my hardware can be blamed.

I value my time (which = money) greater than my "geek" needs to have a separate router. I don't get paid to fart around with router reboots, firmware upgrades or hardware updates.

Edit: Spelling/grammar.

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>I value my time (which = money) greater than my "geek" needs to have a separate router.

After verifying no rental fees, when i have service issues I simply unplug my router and plug in Verizons for them to troubleshoot. Five minutes after the leave; I replace it with mine and shove it in the closet and the world is better for it.

In my case, my service issue was MY router. If I had unplugged my own router before the tech arrived, he would have been A) confused and B) unable to help me.

In that case, you would have saved time from a service visit by diagnosing your router as bad before the tech arrived :) But again, all comes down to where you want to allocate your personal effort. Simply handing off issues can be a significant mental relief, even for trivial things.

> I can now call Comcast whenever anything slows

Have you done this and had success? If I expected having a rented router to actually get me better speed and service, I'd probably just deal with the cost. Even having firmware and hardware upgrades handled automatically would be worth something. But my experience is that rented routers are worse than purchased ones and never upgraded, while I get a 0% success rate from Comcast customer service regardless.

Perhaps business internet is different, if you actually had a tech out?

I have not had to contact Comcast since I had my own router replaced with the combo. When I did have my own router, I was able to have a tech come to my office and identify the issue (which involved cutting my router out and testing) Even though it was my hardware that was at fault, they did not charge me - probably because I opted for the combo? (not sure)

The combo router is not cutting edge - however I don't need cutting edge router technology at my business - I need reliability. We have two people in the office so our needs (even though we work "on the web") are not that great.

Check with me in a couple years, when my combo modem/router is even older and I need/want an upgrade. I'm not sure of that process - anyone been through that?

Keep in mind you do get charged a "modem rental fee" or whatever, and in most cases its $10-20 dollars monthly. For you that might be worth it, for others who already feel like their ISP is a sham and charging way too much, it might cross the line.

Comcast modems also broadcast a second set of WiFi networks for other Xfinity customers and their mobile network. You are paying monthly to subsidize their 5G network. The additional power usage, however negligible, is additionally insulting.

Does the modem broadcast this wifi signal, or just the router? I have just the modem at home and don't see the "xfinity" wifi network like I do when travelling. I'm not worried about "freeloaders" at the office. Our neighbors all buy their Internet (which is actually silly, we should cooperate) , and there's no "loitering" area outside.

Considering I've used that feature quite a few times, it's hard for me to complain about the, what, 2 cents a year of power we're talking here?

Same here. I use the Xfinity network frequent enough that I value having it, and don't mind providing it. I use it at the kids bus stop, at people's homes, businesses - it allows me to keep my mobile data bill low.

$15. The cost of a new router, combined with the time it takes to deal with my own hardware makes it an easy sell. It's also worth noting that I'd need to drop the modem & router to erase this fee - the modem rental fee is $10 - so $5/month for a router I don't have to manage, looks even more affordable.

I took the other approach at home. Just bought a new $175 router, which solved my "issues" (old router was crashing with heavy use). At home however, I have plenty of "fart around" time.

You are paying ~$200/year to rent your router.

I'm guessing he knows that. It doesn't have to save him much time for that to be a bargain.

This. I have a line of people waiting to pay me (I should stop posting here and get to that) - debugging my own hardware makes me $0. It's why I don't run my own email server, and don't host my own websites, and don't run my own media server at home.

Let’s say he gets paid $50/hr.

If he spends 4 hours on the phone with Comcast dealing with their incompetent “tech support” he has already lost that money. And he’s frustrated to boot.

For some, peace of mind is worth that price. For others, it’s not.

The problem with the calculation you made is that he is not making $50 per hour every hour of the day. If a person is at full employment, that is they can’t or won’t work more hours, then the calculation changes. The opportunity cost of dealing with tech support is no longer monetary and the cost of equipment rental is no longer negligible.

The “every hour of the day” argument is a bs argument. You need to sleep, for starters. And a majority of the working class has decided that it’s great to have a life outside of work, hence the two particular phenomenons we know as “9-5” and “weekend”. Nobody works every hour of the day.

With that being said, my $50/hr figure is a full-employment all-things-considered figure. In fact if someone is a freelancer, their invoice rate is likely twice or thrice that rate. But my figure even takes downtime into account.

If you’re making $50/hr, then 4 hours of work time spent troubleshooting a router is not worth it financially. It’s also up to you decide whether it’s worth it emotionally or spiritually.

they can’t or won’t work more hours, then the calculation changes

How so? If I come into work (self employed) and have no Internet access I immediately start losing money (double if you count both people in my office). If I have to debug my own hardware, possibly drive to Staples to buy new hardware - I lose even more money, not to mention the cost of new hardware.

My only recourse is to eliminate some personal time with my family and replace with more business time to make up for the losses.

I don't see how this calculation makes buying my own hardware more economically attractive.

If the time spent on troubleshooting cuts into the number of billable hours then one should factor in the wage for those billable hours. If it doesn’t subtract from the number of billable hours then the wage of a billable hour doesn’t factor in.

Where you mention cutting into personal time with family is precisely what I mentioned when I said the opportunity costs aren’t monetary when at full employment. If that non monetary opportunity cost is too high then one should rent the modem.

Double that (not bragging) and you'll see the justification for my choice. I could have saved several hundred dollars (at least) if I wasn't using my own hardware previously. Not to mention weeks of slow Internet which cost me even more money.

$10/month for the modem, $5/month for the router. You can do the math.

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