Previously, I lived in a community with a MESH WiFi where we had a modem from the company and I supplied my own router. I moved to a community where they had Concast/Xfinity TV but no MESH so I had to buy my WiFi from Comcast/Xfinity. I bought a new router and modem now 4 years old. The HOA just renegotiated and decided to stay with Comcast/Xfinity. They will be upgrading our system to Fiber over the next year and offering TV, Cloud DVR, and Internet. The equipment and installation will be included so no rental fees. Do I keep my modem/router (working fine with the new package) or upgrade my 4 year old devices, or go with the Xfinity provided equipment? Everything is working right now, so don’t really want to mess with things since I work remote from home (but hopefully not much longer).
I would assume since no rental fee, going with their equipment would be best - but in the back of my mind I seem to remember a discussion when I first moved as to why to own your own for reasons other than cost of rental vs purchase. Any thing I should consider - can you daisy chain a router to provide more security or coverage?
I’d definitely just get / keep your own equipment.
This way you don’t have to worry when you move or switch service or find out there’s a monthly fee that wasn’t easily disclosed.
Having your own equipment simplifies everything
Also living where there is no HOA simplifies things even more.
1 Like
There are pluses and minuses of HOA. The key is a strong community and electing good representatives. Currently, at my age, there is an advantage living in this particular HOA neighborhood. During IAN aftermath, the resources to help neighbors was awesome and the current slate of candidates leave me encouraged. But, yes, there are trade-offs and you have to weigh how the positives and negatives of the community (or any community - HOA or not) fit your expectations and life.
As for Smartpolitics response - how does having my own equipment simplify things? What are the BENEFITS - what can I do with my own equipment that I can’t do with theirs (which is free and can be updated when it becomes outdated at no cost)? This is what I am asking - can I set up better security with my own equipment and how do I chose and do that?
I will schedule a free install with their equipment next month if no one can explain benefits of having or buying newer own modem/router -and all in one or separate?
Are you suggesting moving to the moon?
Virtually every subdivision built here in the last 20 years was setup with an HOA.
It is not whether you will have an HOA, it is how intrusive it will be. All the Builders seem to have used the same HOA Agreement. The key is how the Busy Bodies elected to the board will enforce it.
The typical HOA annual election meeting is attended by a third or less. These are the little Napoleons who want to enforce their restrictive ideas.
===
At our first home in GA, I felt free to put out Political yard signs.
With this HOA, I do not. I just want to keep my head down… and not draw attention to myself.
Or by people who want to make sure little Napoleons don’t enforce restrictive ideas upon them. That’s why I go.
1 Like
My HOA has a lot of positives and just some negatives. Overall, not bad…depending upon which neighbor you live next to - and that holds even in non-HOA communities.
NOW - can we get back to the topic of Xfinity equipment (at no cost) vs keeping my own and eventually needing to upgrade. I am assuming at NO rental, using theirs in best — UNLESS there is a technology/security reason to have my own. And, If I use theirs, can mine be used to increase security by daisy chaining?
People should be able to choose an HOA or not. A HOA is more necessary in a condo or row house community. I do think there should be a limit to the number of HOAs - maybe a limit of 65% of new homes in an area and that developers should have to pay a significant fine if they exceed the limit on HOAs
You don’t have to worry about giving Xfinity back their equipment if you have your own. This might sound simple but during COVID, it was hard to return anything. Also they might claim you have equipment you never received and then get billed from Xfinity. But if you own the equipment, it’s yours and you can use it how you like. It’s also easier to change service
You don’t have to be concerned with how you use the equipment or them limiting your use. You have fewer digital rights management issues
They could begin charging you for renting the equipment which could be more expensive than buying it outright. Of course you can generally return the equipment to avoid the monthly charges
The major downside is having equipment that is compatible with Xfinity but not your new cable provider. The other is buying incompatible equipment
There was a Supreme Court ruling that basically said HOAs may not limit political signs or signed that expressed an opinion.
It is not the limiting that bothers me… it is the repercussions.
They are already picking on every little thing.
Without being too specific that they can identify me.
They complain about bare spots in January and requested that I paint an item I do not have.
The last one gave me an opening… I ignored it… waiting for the follow up… wanted them to point out the item to paint that I did not have. There was no follow up.
Since then, I have ignored everything.
Seems a busy body tours the area writing stuff up but there is no follow-up.
Some of the things are not visible from the street… so they must be trespassing.
I am more than willing to fix stuff and have fixed/pathing things that affect the appearance of the subdivision… but when they asked that I paint something that I do not have… that was the limit.
Thanks for totally derailing the topic. Why don’t you and Price get your own topic on HOAs?