Pogue’s Basics: Money - Supply your own cable modem

At this moment, you’re paying about $10 a month to rent your cable modem, the gadget that brings high-speed Internet into your house. $10 a month, forever.

For no reason! Buy your own cable modem for $100, return the one you’ve been renting, and boom: $120 a year in savings.

Before you shop for your own modem, make sure you’ve found one that works with your cable company. Do a Google search for, for example, “Comcast compatible modems.”

Once you’ve ordered the modem, call up the cable company and let them know you’ve bought your own. It’s perfectly OK and increasingly common. They’ll walk you through setting it up. They’ll give you the address of a return center for shipping back the one you’ve been renting.

And then they’ll take that $10 fee off your monthly bill!

How cool is that?

More Pogue:

iOS 10 Hidden Feature: Bedtime-consistency management

Pogue’s Basics: Money – The Amazon card

iOS 10 Hidden Feature: Do Not Disturb Emergency Bypass

Pogue’s Basics: Money – Extended warranties

Pogue’s cheap, unexpected tech gifts #2: ThinOptics glasses

A dozen iOS 10 feature gems that Apple forgot to mention

GoPro’s most exciting mount yet: a drone

Professional-looking blurry backgrounds come to the iPhone 7 Plus

Pogue’s Basics: Turn off Samsung’s Smart Guide

Pogue Basics: Touch and hold Google Maps

The Apple Watch 2 is faster, waterproof—and more overloaded than ever

We sent a balloon into space — and an epic scavenger hunt ensued

Now I get it: Snapchat

The new Fitbits are smarter, better-looking, and more well-rounded

Apple has killed every jack but one: Meet USB-C