A - If your router only lasts 12-18 months you need to reevaluate your purchasing decisions. Unless you manage to break a router more frequently than once every

A - If your router only lasts 12-18 months you need to reevaluate your purchasing decisions. Unless you manage to break a router more frequently than once every 2 years (which is abnormally high failure rate) buying is far cheaper than renting. B - Firmware upgrades are only controlled by ISPs when you're renting the hardware from them. Your ISP has absolutely zero bearing on whether or not you can upgrade firmware on your own router C - Your only reasonable point, and in my personal experience I've had more difficulty with ISP tech support fixing their included router than configuring my own