Tutor
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8 Messages
Equipment rental Fee's
I'm being charged a $10 monthly fee for using the NVG589 supplied to me by AT&T. Could I use my own modem/router purchased locally? If so what would the required spec's be? If not, why? What are my options?
The NVG589 does not provide me with a strong signal if I'm in a different room. It never has.
wnmurphy
Contributor
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2 Messages
5 years ago
"The equipment fee is for maintenance of the equipment, meaning replacements and periodical firmware updates that occur."
Firmware updates don't cost AT&T anything. Those are pushed automatically. So those do not justify a monthly fee. You could argue that it's to pay the engineers who write the patches, but extracting $7/month/customer clearly would result in an excessive amount of money for this task; I highly doubt you pay your engineers this much.
I purchased my 3600 HGV router 7 years ago from AT&T for $100. Assuming a similar lifespan, and assuming the $7/month fee I was just quoted by AT&T to lease, that's 12 months * $7 * 7 years, or $588. Let's factor in inflation and assume a new router would cost $200, which is generous.
Assuming a 7 year lifespan is average, it's unlikely that I will need a replacement. Certainly a replacement will not cost me an additional $380.
Obviously, this mandatory fee is just another way to disrespect your customers by lying to them about the reason while you extract their money.
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Telecomguy
New Member
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1 Message
4 years ago
So, this $10 Internet Equipment Fee for the Internet Gateway is (Edited per community guidelines).! I utterly hate how AT&T is and has been advertising their internet bandwidths since Oct 19th, 2019 I think! Before then, there was no extra fee's for anything! The Internet gateway (Smarthome Modem/Router) was INCLUDED in the price!! But now they want to advertise their prices like they did before and then slip in an extra $10 fee on the backend like its okay?!? Why not just be transparent on the Advertised price! Don't tell me I'm gonna get GIG for $60/mo and then through the order process it ends up being $70! That is just shady!
And what if I want to use my own Router? Doesn't matter cause the gateway is the Modem and their Modem is the Router as well. All in one. This is a very sneaky approach to do something good for customers (Great deal on the Service) then intentionally screw them in the process (Gateway Fee).
C'mon, get it together!
(edited)
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rebil5
New Member
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1 Message
4 years ago
So, to be clear - we can bring our own modem?
If so, what models are available to use/Is there a list we can refer to in order to purchase a modem?
Thanks!
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ATTHelp
Community Support
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231.5K Messages
4 years ago
@rebil5 you should be able to use your own modem as long as it is these certain models:
Along with these three scenarios:
Keep in mind the speed would be limited to 12Mbps. As well, the equipment would not have any warranty on the equipment and if the equipment fails at a later date it is replaced with equipment that bills the monthly equipment fee.
Bryan. AT&T Community Specialist
(edited)
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Paran41
Tutor
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8 Messages
4 years ago
(Under certain conditions)
We CAN use our OWN equipment and NOT be billed the $10 equipment fee monthly. That's awesome! Right up to where you say if MY equipment should break ATT will PROVIDE (force me to use) THEIR equipment and BILL me (force me to pay) the $10 MONTHLY FEE. OIC! This brings us back to where we began over two years ago.
Real classy. I'm enjoying my phone & 20mbs cable internet with SUDDENLINK for less than what ATT was charging. 😅🤙
(edited)
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BYOrouter
New Member
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1 Message
4 years ago
I bought my comcast compatible modem in 2017 for $81.
It's basically free to me for the last 3 years which would have cost me $360 with ATT.
I came here to see if I can buy my own router to avoid $10/month and switch to ATT but hey their are too greedy for that. I'll stay with Comcast.
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