You’re wasting money if you use a modem from your cable company — here’s a cheap replacement

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AmazonWe’ve said it before, but it always bears repeating: There’s a good chance you’re throwing money away if you rent a cable modem from your internet service provider. If you can replace it with one of your own, make the switch — over time, all the monthly fees you forego will help your new modem pay for itself.

The Arris SurfBoard SB6141 tends to be the consensus pick among potential replacements — it's the most popular of its kind on Amazon, and it’s been recommended by reviewers at The Wirecutter, Lifehacker, and Tom’s Guide. It supports the (current) most common DOCSIS 3.0 standard, it allows for speeds that should be more than fast enough for most people, and, by all accounts, it’s reliable.

As of this writing, Amazon has a refurbished model of the SB6141 down to $40. That’s tied for the lowest it’s been on the site, and low enough to let the device (likely) pay itself off in less than a year. And while it’s not a brand new model (those go for $70), being refurbished shouldn’t result in much, if any, performance difference.

Per usual, the SB6141 won’t work with every ISP — Verizon is the notable absentee — but it covers most of the major players, including Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, and Charter. There were also reports last month that the SB6141 is subject to attacks that cause it to involuntarily reboot, but as The Wirecutter notes, Arris has started the process of rectifying the flaw, and fixing it yourself doesn’t take more than a quick update to your router’s configuration page.

In any case, if you haven’t made the move yet, this is a good time to start putting some cable money back in your pocket.

Arris/Motorola SurfBoard SB6141 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem (Certified Refurbished), $39.99, available at Amazon.