The Best Cable Modem of 2025

If your ISP offers a modem or modem-router combo gateway for no charge, try it out. If it works well for you, great—you haven’t spent any money on it. If it doesn’t work well, come back and read the rest of this guide. (Optimum and Spectrum include the modem-rental cost in their current internet plans, but if you haven’t changed your plan in years, you may still be paying a rental fee. If you use Optimum or Spectrum service, give your provider a call to see what your options are.)

You should buy a cable modem if you currently pay a fee to rent one from your ISP. Most ISPs charge up to $20 a month to rent a modem—that’s $240 per year, every year, on top of what you already pay for internet access. Even if you spend $200 for your own modem, you’re still likely to save money in the long run.

Many ISPs rent out modems that double as wireless routers, otherwise known as internet gateways, modem-router combos, or modems with Wi-Fi built in. Whatever those devices are called, we don’t recommend them because cable modem and router technologies mature at vastly different rates. For example, the modem part of a modem-router combo you started using in 2018 is probably still fine today, but in 2025 you might need better coverage or speed than the Wi-Fi 5 router part of that combo device can provide. Also, if either portion of the combo device breaks, you have to replace the whole box, which can get expensive.

So if you replace your rental modem with one that you buy, you may also need to purchase a wireless router if you want Wi-Fi in your house. Our favorite Wi-Fi router currently sells for about $100. That puts your total up-front cost to replace your ISP’s modem-router combo unit at $300 or so. Your modem should last you at least five to 10 years; judging from our experience, we estimate that the router may need replacing after three to five years. (If you’re not sure what the difference is between a cable modem and a router, we have an article explaining that.)

Legacy plans from Charter, Optimum, and Time Warner Cable may include a modem-rental fee, depending on what your ISP was before the merger. Most current Spectrum plans do not have a separate fee. Listed fees are current as of October 28, 2025.

Don’t buy a cable modem if you’re on DSL or fiber; those technologies use different standards and connectors. Verizon Fios lets you buy your own modem-router combo, but you have only limited choices, and they’re identical to the equipment the company rents to you.

You also shouldn’t buy a cable modem if you use your cable provider for telephone service: The models we cover here don’t have phone ports. If you need a modem that does, check to see which “telephony” or eMTA modems your ISP supports, and whether the company allows you to buy your own.

For example, Xfinity’s web page has a checkbox to help you determine which approved modems are voice/telephone enabled, and Cox offers a list of approved modems that are compatible with its voice services. Sparklight notes on its website that it supports just a handful of Arris modems (including the one it leases to you) for voice service. The telephony modems you can buy are also more expensive than regular cable modems.