My two year contract was up for renewal. I got a renewal rate for $54/month (cheaper than before $72.99) but with online bill pay. The next day they send me a box by UPS to return my router otherwise they are now going to charge me $12/month for rental or I have the option to purchase it from them for $199. My issue is that whenever I have renewed I have been given a router at no charge. (why should I have to pay for one or rent it for them?) The internet service they are now providing is 75/75 internet at this rate. I don’t want to rent or purchase a router from them. My ? is do I have any other options? If I don’t return the existing router in 30 days they are going to bill me for it.
Wow, I’ve had Verizon forever, and FIOS for the last several years, and I don’t think I’ve ever had to buy or rent a router (or modem, in the past). They were always part of the package deal (probably with an initial contract, but I don’t remember now for sure). Have you checked their website for other deals? My internet is bundled with my land line so maybe that makes a difference in what they offer…?
I have an internet only deal. No landline. They said because I was a loyal customer they were giving me the option to rent it vs forcing me to buy it. This was not mentioned prior to me agreeing to the contract. This was mentioned when I called after receiving the UPS box to return the router.
This may be anecdotal but maybe not. We moved this summer so when we set up our new acct, I paid a little extra for the faster gb internet. DS does alot of online gaming, DH and I stream alot, and my DH video conferences from home at least a couple days a week. It made sense to us.
Originally we went out and bought what we thought was a very good router. But when the technician showed me our speeds, the router we bought dropped us down all the way to regular gb speeds. He then plugged in their router and showed me the speeds immediately jumped back up.
For us it was worth the cost of using theirs.
Edited to add: the tech said the main reason for speed differences is that the different brands don’t “speak” to each other well.
The last time I negotiated this stuff with Verizon Fios, it was cheaper to have the landline, cable, and internet service, than it was to just have internet service. I never got a cable box (we don’t have a functional TV right now anyway) so no “rental” fee for that. The router was free.