I would imagine this is to reduce their cost of supporting random devices on their network by creating a financial disincentive for people to put them there in

I would imagine this is to reduce their cost of supporting random devices on their network by creating a financial disincentive for people to put them there in the first place. Still sucks though because I upgraded my modem so I can use their 1Gbps service (which has been great in my neighborhood) to avoid renting and now renting is cheaper ... sometimes you can't win.