It seems that most people have an internet connection in their home and that means that they’ll have a modem which connects devices to the internet.
When it comes to the monthly bill, most internet service providers provide an option to purchase your own modem.
For example, our kids just moved into their first home and when setting up their service, the customer service rep asked if they wanted to pay the monthly modem fee vs buying it.
The cost for this is $25 per month and the service is for a one-year period, so we proceeded to say that we’ll get our own.
So after some research we picked up a modem at Costco for $119 and when performing the math, the modem rental cost would be $300.
Therefore, this no brainer would yield a $181 savings over the course of 12 months. That can pay down debt, maybe a few electric bills; how about 18 lunches at $10 a pop, or perhaps a cheap plane ticket.
On the inverse you could invest that $15 per month. If you put that money aside in an S&P 500 ETF, you could have roughly $2,500 in 10 years based on averages for long-term performance, and you’d completely forget about it.
Now what if you already have a current Internet service provider? If they provide you an option to remove the rental cost, this is an easy way to save money.
If they will not provide the option, in most cases you can opt for another company and there is a good chance your existing provider may be willing to negotiate with you.
As we always say, keep the money in your pocket rather than someone else’s.
