3 ms·

What's the motivation to rent an ISP router? That's a lot more control than many people would prefer to give to an entity that is likely anywhere from "greedy a

by xp84 3y ago

What's the motivation to rent an ISP router? That's a lot more control than many people would prefer to give to an entity that is likely anywhere from "greedy and dumb," to greedy and outright hostile. Having DOCSIS, I buy a modem, and own my router. I am aware that for more exotic technologies like fiber, a rented/ISP-owned 'modem' or network terminal of some sort may be compulsory, but a router is a bridge too far (no pun intended) for me.

albert_e 3y ago
(Not in the US.) Well, here the major ISPs are bundling the FTTH Fibre modem and th WiFi router into a single device. I wanted to experiment with Mesh router for better wifi coverage but the prices of mesh routers here are high, brands unproven, and returns policy iffy. So I went with the mesh router option offered by ISP for ~1 USD a month. (I do have a spare wifi router to add if I really feel like. Our location has occassional power outages and the backup power doesn't flip on instantly enough - causing router restarts if we don't add a small battery powered backup to each individual router. So the setup gets bulky and messy.)
- xp84 3y ago
  Oof. With the power especially, I can see why you would make that call. On the positive side, they're ripping you off much less than our ISPs do in the States. They usually charge $10-20 a month here for some device which is usually using technology from about 5 years ago (when it's first installed, that is - they don't swap you a new one when technology improves of course, unless you raise a fuss AND they've actually adopted a new model). I will admit, sometimes it's tempting because you could in theory expect them to support their company-owned hardware. But in practice for us that just means we can complain at some minimum wage call center "tech support" about how the device stops working until rebooted X times a week, and they will offer the choice to reboot it again or to make an all-day appointment for some installer to show up with another identical refurbished modem/router/AP that will have the exact same buggy software.

by xp84 3y ago

albert_e 3y ago

(Not in the US.) Well, here the major ISPs are bundling the FTTH Fibre modem and th WiFi router into a single device. I wanted to experiment with Mesh router for better wifi coverage but the prices of mesh routers here are high, brands unproven, and returns policy iffy. So I went with the mesh router option offered by ISP for ~1 USD a month. (I do have a spare wifi router to add if I really feel like. Our location has occassional power outages and the backup power doesn't flip on instantly enough - causing router restarts if we don't add a small battery powered backup to each individual router. So the setup gets bulky and messy.)

xp84 3y ago
Oof. With the power especially, I can see why you would make that call. On the positive side, they're ripping you off much less than our ISPs do in the States. They usually charge $10-20 a month here for some device which is usually using technology from about 5 years ago (when it's first installed, that is - they don't swap you a new one when technology improves of course, unless you raise a fuss AND they've actually adopted a new model). I will admit, sometimes it's tempting because you could in theory expect them to support their company-owned hardware. But in practice for us that just means we can complain at some minimum wage call center "tech support" about how the device stops working until rebooted X times a week, and they will offer the choice to reboot it again or to make an all-day appointment for some installer to show up with another identical refurbished modem/router/AP that will have the exact same buggy software.