No, this is not an advocacy for piggybacking on your neighbor’s wifi signal (that would be illegal by the way 
). It’s a very simple way of saving at least $7-$10 a month on your internet bill without much hassle or effort. In all truthfulness, it may not even be a savings tip right away, but in the long run, you’ll certainly save quite a bit. Simply go onto Amazon, eBay, Buy.com, Overstock or anyplace that sells deeply discounted electronics and pick yourself up a modem. It’s that simple. You make a one-time payment, call the internet provider and read them the MAC address from the back of the new unit, deliver the old one back to them, and viola, you’re done.
If you’re like me, and were being charged $10 a month just to rent the stupid cable modem, then buying your own will start saving you money in no time. In my particular case, I went to Best Buy and got a higher model so I can take advantage of the increased speeds once my company adopts the new DOCSIS 3 standard right off the bat. I got a $99 model on sale for $79 plus a 12% coupon, so it ended up costing me $73.70 with tax and it will pay for itself within 8 months and then it’s all gravy after that.
And, if you want to save even more, try dropping down a service level and seeing if the reduction in speed is worth the cost savings. If you aren’t streaming video, then you probably won’t miss the speed very much!
About Eric J. Nisall
