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Some providers offer better pricing if you use their modem/router combo. For example, Xfinity plans come with a 1.2TB monthly data cap. So, you might have the following options:

A) $50/month with your own equipment and a data cap

B) $80/month for the same as (A), but unlimited data

C) $60/month for the same as (B), but higher bandwidth and using the ISP's equipment

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Something sounds horribly wrong here. It should be cheaper when using your own router (aside from the once off cost to buy the router)

What horrible things are they doing with that router that they would effectively pay you $20/month to use it for

The only things I can think of:

- they get some data on how many (and what) LAN devices you have

- they face fewer support calls from people using DOCSIS modems with one of the buggy intel chipsets, and from people with a random router/modem combination that their support people aren't trained to debug

- they can expand their wifi hotspot network (the xfinity wifi hotspot is enabled by default, but the user can turn it off)

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