The "Average Consumer" is problematic as a concept as different demographics and households have vastly different needs. tl;dr: If you're comfortable having a

The "Average Consumer" is problematic as a concept as different demographics and households have vastly different needs. tl;dr: If you're comfortable having a worse router for multiple years and missing out on new technology, yes, you can save a few bucks. I'm a tech professional (not IT), but fairly comfortable, did a considerable amount of research to try to replace Comcasts router with a $90 model -- the range didn't cover the house, couldn't handle as many devices and was more flakey. The routers they use are often $200-300 in range. In addition, they are often setup with defaults that make sense. In addition, they can support and troubleshoot them. There are many specifics that go into choosing a router -- and it can be really complicated to figure out what makes sense to you. In addition -- the technology changes ever year or two -- while renting, it's easy to swap out for the latest model, otherwise you have to dish out for the newest router, which may have it's own flaws.