Is a modem required to connect ORBI to a Internet provider

[peterg09]

I understand that ORBIs do not include modems, but are modems necessary to connect ORBI to the Internet coming into the house?  When is a modem necessary and when is it not required?  If it matters, I will be an Xfinity Internet customer and the ORBI is the RBK753S from Costco.  Thank you.

[CrimpOn · Accepted solution]

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@peterg09 wrote:

I understand that ORBIs do not include modems, but are modems necessary to connect ORBI to the Internet coming into the house?  When is a modem necessary and when is it not required?  If it matters, I will be an Xfinity Internet customer and the ORBI is the RBK753S from Costco.  Thank you.

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There must be some device that can be connected to the Orbi WAN (yellow) port to provide a conversion between the Internet Service Provider (ISP) network and the Orbi router.  For cable (coax) systems, it is called a "modem".  If the ISP network is fiber, it often a "fiber Optical Network Terminator (ONT)."

My guess is that Xfinity is a cable system.  Customers have the option of renting a modem from the ISP or purchasing their own from the list of supported cable modems on the ISP support web site.

Hope this helps.

[CrimpOn · Accepted solution]

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@peterg09 wrote:

I understand that ORBIs do not include modems, but are modems necessary to connect ORBI to the Internet coming into the house?  When is a modem necessary and when is it not required?  If it matters, I will be an Xfinity Internet customer and the ORBI is the RBK753S from Costco.  Thank you.

---

There must be some device that can be connected to the Orbi WAN (yellow) port to provide a conversion between the Internet Service Provider (ISP) network and the Orbi router.  For cable (coax) systems, it is called a "modem".  If the ISP network is fiber, it often a "fiber Optical Network Terminator (ONT)."

My guess is that Xfinity is a cable system.  Customers have the option of renting a modem from the ISP or purchasing their own from the list of supported cable modems on the ISP support web site.

Hope this helps.

[CrimpOn]

Don't want to "beat a dead horse", but (flog away anyway).....

You are probably aware that whether to lease or purchase the modem is a classic economic risk/reward decision:

• Renting the modem will cost more in the long run than buying your own.
  A Netgear CM1100 DOCSIS 3.1 modem runs from $120 (refurb) to $160 (new) on Amazon.
  At the base Xfinity modem rental rate of $14/month, the break-even time is right around one year.
  BUT... when the modem is leased, Xfinity is 100% responsible for the modem. If it breaks, they have to fix it.
• Purchasing the modem can save $100's of dollars, as much as $168/year.  Wow!
  BUT... if anything goes wrong with the modem, you get to deal with it. File warranty claims. Buy a replacement and wait for it to arrive.

In a crazy twist of fate, my new deal with Spectrum includes the modem at no charge, possibly because I have telephone service through Spectrum. So I have not had to make this decision (yet).