renting vs owning Eero 6

[kaeigen]

I've had Sonic fiber for two years now, and I've been renting a single Eero 6 as a router for my small apartment. I haven't ever rented a router before, but it was only $5/month and it was sold to me because it would be easier for Sonic to help me with any problems if I had their own router, plus they would upgrade it over time.

Two years later and there's been no upgrades, and while Sonic does offer more recent Eero models for rent, they would cost me more. So here's my question -- what are the advantages of staying with Sonic's own equipment vs. buying my own Eero? Does it really help with providing support for any problems I might have? I don't really need higher speed, so buying my own router is only an advantage if it saves me money without decreasing the reliability and repairability of my connection.

Thanks for any help

[joeyyung911]

What is your knowledge of troubleshooting network issues?

[kaeigen]

mid-level? I'm pretty good at troubleshooting using the internet/forums/etc. and have done so many times for myself and others, but that amounts to being pretty good at following instructions. If there's anything very out of the ordinary, I'm probably going to have to rely on Sonic.

My main question is whether having a rental until helps Sonic identify the source of any problem much more easily. Will the rental give the Sonic techs info that a purchased unit won't give to either me or them? If having my own unit just means that I have to track down trouble shooting info to either solve the problem myself or pass the info on to the Sonic techs so they can solve it, that's not a problem.

[joeyyung911]

In that case, get your own. Sounds like you're capable of determining if the issue is between yours or Sonic's side, when it comes to that. You also have the forum to help you out.

And don't be put off by the, "...you may be charged a truck-roll fee...blah..blah..blah...". That, to me, feels like scare tactic.

[brandonc]

I've had Sonic fiber for two years now, and I've been renting a single Eero 6 as a router for my small apartment. I haven't ever rented a router before, but it was only $5/month and it was sold to me because it would be easier for Sonic to help me with any problems if I had their own router, plus they would upgrade it over time.

Two years later and there's been no upgrades, and while Sonic does offer more recent Eero models for rent, they would cost me more. So here's my question -- what are the advantages of staying with Sonic's own equipment vs. buying my own Eero? Does it really help with providing support for any problems I might have? I don't really need higher speed, so buying my own router is only an advantage if it saves me money without decreasing the reliability and repairability of my connection.

Thanks for any help

Hey there,

Thanks for reaching out and asking your questions. As stated by other users earlier in the thread, it really comes down to how comfortable you are troubleshooting your own network when issues arise. While our technical support team will always try to help you as much as possible when issues arise, when using your own equipment, we lose access to remotely accessing your Eero to look at historical data and run diagnostics, which essentially means the support we can provide will be more limited.

Renting the Eero also enrolls you in the Wire Plan for free technician dispatches for internal wiring repairs, as stated previously in this thread. However, this mainly applies to customers who have the connection from the ONT back-fed into their homes' internal wiring to allow for multiple Ethernet jacks/access points around the home. Any issues up to our ONT, for example, a broken/cut cable outside from a squirrel chew, will be repaired for free. However, you could still be charged a truck roll fee for things like accidentally breaking your Fiber cable/ONT (stepping on it, moving furniture, remodeling the home, etc.), requesting the ONT to be moved to another location in the home, or us dispatching out a technician when the issue was with the 3rd party equipment and not our lines/equipment. So there is value in renting the equipment in that regard if you're worried about possible charges for truck rolls.

If you have any other questions, please let me know.

Kind regards,