Comcast XFINITY Modem - How to avoid monthly fee

[srajan]

I'm wondering if I can buy a cable model which supports COMCAST cable TV, Internet and phone service. My Comcast rep tells me I must pay the monthly fee and cannot buy a modem from a local store, which I find hard to believe. Anyone else know?

[Erik Latranyi]

I have Comcast and own my own cable modem. I do not pay the monthly fee.

If you get the bundled service (TV, Phone and Internet), then you must rent the modem used for phone service as it is not available to consumers.

[Conan the Librarian]

We have a cable modem for or comcast servise that we own. Came free with a computer we bought years ago. As for the phone/internet you would probably need a special modem/phone combo. If the connection from them is propriatary, you may be stuck with their equpment.

The tv is a seperate box, definatly propriatary, you cant get around that.

For what it’s worth, I’d go witb their stuff where I could. They replace it when it goes bad.

[AFreeBird]

He’s lying. I own my cable modem.

I moved to a new place last year, and i transferred my already existing service. They sent out a guy with equipment to hook up a new customer. I said no, I have my own modem, and don’t want to pay for yours and I also didn’t want VOIP modem though it was part of my package. They had a special and Internet service was cheaper for a year with VOIP.

The worker bees were confused.

They tried to charge me for a VOIP modem and I had a hell of a time telling them it was my modem. Finally did though.

But you can buy your own modem. Just tell whomever you buy it from it’s for Comcast service, and you’ll be fine. Then call back Comcast and tell them you want service, but your already own your own equipment. Modem and router.

[harpu]

GOOGLE the modem's complete model number and I'm sure you'll find it ForSale some where.

[Ham Hock]

I found a cable modem for dirt cheap, and I use it instead of the rental provided by comcast. This is for internet only.

The advantage to renting the comcast modem is that if the unit gets zapped by lightening, or an electical brown out, comcast replaces it, not you.

[cableguymn]

As others have said. Comcast will let you bring your own modem. If you buy used be careful. Comcast knows if it’s their modem (and does not put it’s name on it) I bought a few and found out the hard way Comcast owned it.

Thankfully, I only paid a couple of bucks for each of them.

[Riptides]

You can buy one at BEST BUY for $100.
It will save you the $7.00 monthly fee that Comcast charges.

[waynesa98]

and if you want internet phone you could go with vonage or if you can leave your computer on 24/7 magic jack.

[JaguarXKE]

If you get the bundled service (TV, Phone and Internet), then you must rent the modem used for phone service as it is not available to consumers.

FWIW, I have Comcast and currently rent their modem, but I'm probably going to buy my own - it will pay for itself in about 11 months. As for phone service, we recently ditched our land line and bought NetTalk. I tried it for a month before I cut my ties to the phone company. The thing about NT that is different than Magic Jack is that with NT you don't have to keep your computer on 24/7 because the NT device plugs into your modem or router directly. Unlimited calls for $29/year is hard to beat! (Compare that to monthly charge for Vonage!) Oh, and you use your normal land-line phone with NT. The only disadvantage is that you can't transfer your original number (so, we are having our original number transferred to our NT number for about $6/mo and will do that for a few more months until we are sure we have got everyone using our new number.

[catnipman]

You can buy your own modem, but you’ll be better off to lease. They go bad a lot! From heat and power surges and/or lightening. Comcast guy said average lifetime is 18 months, and I believe him as I’ve had to have mine replaced about that often.

The problem is that when they go bad, they usually get flaky, and not just die. So if you own your own modem and start having problems, whether it be because of your modem or because of Comcast, there’s going to be A LOT of finger pointing! If you lease, Comcast will own the entire problem and will be forced to fix whatever is wrong. One nice thing is if you think it’s the modem, you can usually just exchange it yourself at a local Comcast office.

[fedupjohn]

Did you ever check out OOMA for the phone service...I saw it advertised..wondered how it worked.

[6SJ7]

If you get the bundled service (TV, Phone and Internet), then you must rent the modem used for phone service as it is not available to consumers.

I'm not sure this is true in all areas. I know someone at work who has Triple Play (internet/phone/cable) and bought their own Comcast compatible modem at Best Buy. Comcast even provides a compatible device list which is useful for finding devices that will work on their network.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

If all you have is Comcast as an ISP then you can use your own modem. If it fails, they won't do bupkis. If you have Comcast phone service, that is a special modem and you are stuck with using theirs.

TV is a different story obviously.

[wildbill]

Couldn’t get your link to work. Can you write it out or give me a location on their website where I can look.

[J Schmoe]

Thought you might be interested. I recently found a way to do viop for free. If you have an android phone you can download Google Voice. After signing up you need to download Groove IP Lite (free) or Groove IP (small charge). Once you are set up you can make free viop calls over WIFI with Lite or over WIFI or 3G, 4G with the paid groove IP. I read you can transfer an existing # but I haven’t tried it...

[JaguarXKE]

I use nettalk. Device plugs into my wireless router and works with my standard phones. Not need to have computer on, and did transfer existing number.