Gadgetory

thanks for watching tech quickie click the subscribe button then enable notifications with the Bell icon so you won't miss any future videos to buy or to rent whether we're talking a home a car or a furniture I mean anyone who's driven by one of those no credit no problem banners has probably thought about this and if you're a fan of having maximum control over your home's computer network you might be considering buying a modem instead of renting one from your ISP but is it actually a good idea and why do ISPs even rent modems in the first place I mean they don't rent iPads and computers so what gives well there are a few rationales behind those rental fees that you pay every month one is that since the modem connects directly to your providers network the boxes that your ISP provides are validated for compatibility with that specific ISP signal for the ISP this is not just about you but also about lowering the risk of your random equipment causing security issues or other problems that could muck up the network for other users fiber-to-the-home providers for example keep things particularly locked down and a DSL is becoming less common so our focus today is really going to be on cable modems of course the sweet sweet paper that those rentals fees bring in every month from millions of customers doesn't hurt especially from customers who don't consider themselves tech savvy enough to buy and install their own modem or even realize that it's an option so the biggest reason you might want to consider buying your own modem is to save money although buying it upfront generally requires of course a bigger upfront investment than your monthly rental cost anywhere from about thirty to over a hundred and fifty US dollars it will inevitably pay for itself over time especially if you're not sharing your modem rental with your roommates but more money in your pocket isn't even the only perk oftentimes aftermarket modems can be of higher quality than what your ISP would provide especially if your ISP has given you one of those modem wireless routers which combo units which sometimes come with underperforming Wi-Fi buying a modem yourself means that you can pick something with more channels and simply put the more channels and modem supports the more data it can carry per second so if you think that you might want to upgrade your internet speed down the road you want to find a modem with a high number of channels current-gen modems can get about 42 and a half megabits per second per channel so find a 24 channel model if you're looking at a gigabit connection down the line once you've done that you can hook up a separate wireless router that's more powerful than whatever's built into that Rental combo unit which can dramatically improve performance if you're trying to get coverage for a larger house or if you've got a ton of devices on your wireless network now if you're a tinkerer an aftermarket modem can allow you to keep an eye on and prioritize your network traffic much more effectively than the options that your ISP might give you just remember that before you buy you'll want to make sure that the modem that you fancy is compatible with your ISPs network and that it can also deliver the speed that you're paying for most major ISPs do allow you to buy your own modem and they keep a list of tested approved models on their website now if you buy something outside that list it might still work but there are no guarantees and some ISPs might even see that you're using an unapproved device and refuse to provide service also pay attention to the DOCSIS version of the modem that you want this is the specification that indicates among other things the modems maximum speed most modems these days are DOCSIS 3.0 which can deliver speeds of over one gigabit per second but make sure you aren't buying a docsis 2.0 modem because you saw it in a bargain bin somewhere for five bucks those can only get up to 40 megabit a pretty slow speed limit by today's standards with some ISPs not even supporting them anymore now you might be tempted to future-proof with a shiny new DOCSIS 3.1 modem this standard should allow for speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second in each direction but we don't know how long it will be before the cable companies can actually pull off a connection that fast but I mean you might have to wait until the next inevitable rebrand speaking of inevitable if you like Internet security you will inevitably find yourself getting PIAA not only does P ia work on up to five devices at once by hiding your true IP address and allowing you to bypass geo restrictions and censorship by making you appear as though you're connecting from somewhere else it also blocks unwanted connections to help prevent attacks Auto blocks all traffic if the VPN disconnects keeps your data out of the hands of advertisers and other snoops and even includes mace P is built-in malware blocker P ia supports multiple VPN protocols and encryption levels they have apps for Windows Mac Android iOS Linux and a Chrome extension and they have over 3,000 servers in 28 countries and they don't log user activity so what are you waiting for check out p IA VPN at the link below so thanks for watching guys like dislike check out our other videos don't forget to leave a comment with video suggestions and also don't forget to subscribe and follow and don't forget to subscribe you follow and don't forget to subscribe and follow and don't forget to I don't know repetitions supposed to work I figured that's why they always say you know leave your number after the beep