alt Hacker NewsIt was really common when equipment rental was a separate line item. I owned my own modem and router and getting the extra $15/mo dropped paid for itself the very first year.
Carrier hardware is also just a lot better now than it used to be tbh. I don't know what comcast is doing but both ISPs in my area (mediacom and tmobile fiber) are shipping Eeros. idk about the privacy aspects on that but they are good hardware otherwise.
Yep you don't save anything using your own hardware anymore, and they impose data caps if you use their modem in pass-through mode and run your own router.
I gave up and just use the Xfinity cable modem/router/access point now. Covers my entire house and even outside deck/patio/driveway. Yes they are probably snooping on my traffic and potentially proxying their "xfinitywifi" through my cable, but I use Firefox DNS over HTTPS so they can't see that, and VPN for work.