Save $$ Owning Rather than “Leasing” Cable / Internet Equipment
I previously posted (http://www.frugalbostonian.com/?p=290) about my cable tv/ telecommunications experience and how the price got knocked down $200 for the year. Here’s another way I saved a little bit of money.
When I first signed up for cable internet, RCN provided a cable modem, charging me “only” $3.00 a month. It was a Motorola Surfboard SB5120 cable modem. Three dollars a month translates to $36 a year. I was worried that the equipment would somehow be damaged, and the cable people would insist on payment of a huge penalty, even if the modem was obsolete.
I found the same modem selling for $70. One store was having a rebate, so that the actual cost after rebate would be $20. (It’s been over a year, so I can’t remember which store, but for some reason BestBuy sticks in my mind.) I bought the $20 cable modem and returned the “leased” one to RCN. it’s already paid for itself. Better yet, if anything happens to it, I will not need to deal with RCN. And I can sell it when I no longer need it.
As explained in my earlier post, I am waiting for my digital cable converter to arrive from RCN. The phone rep claimed this is not the same as the digital cable box being sold in stores for the impending transition from analog to digital television. When I get the converter, I will have the specs to try to find one to buy.
Every so often someone tells a tale of an elderly person still renting a telephone from the phone company, having paid thousands of dollars over the course of 30 years for an outdated phone that could be bought for $5 at a yard sale. (It was not until the enactment of federal legislation in the 1970’s or 1980’s that phones could be purchased at the store rather than leased from the phone company). Here’s a link to a story about someone who apparently paid $14,000 to lease an outdated rotary phone: http://www.mergermonster.com/?m=2&s=111&id=106.
It’s always worth examining whether you can buy the equipment that your telecommunications provider is renting to you. You will probably be able to buy it for less than a year’s cost of leasing it. You’ll own the equipment, and can sell it when it is no longer useful to you.