In the very least, that way you're 1) not continuing to pay Comcast $5 a month for hardware rental, and 2) not subjected to sharing out part of your bandwidth for Comcast's free WiFi network.

Just connect it to any existing wifi router — it's compatible with major internet providers, including Cox, Spectrum, Xfinity and more. "The Arris S33 is a dream of a machine," a fan said.

Xfinity will let you rent a modem when you sign up for its Internet service, but you do have the option of using a third-party modem instead. Here's how.

Comcast knows your cable modem's MAC for provisioning but not the customer side. They do push a profile to the modem that limits the customer side MAC limit to "1" but rebooting the modem clears that.