the Motorola SB5101 , is rated for up to 30Mbps upstream capacity -- way way more than the whopping 5Mbps maximum in New York City. Not to mention that it's infinitely better than the RCA piece of crap some clueless technician installed in your house anyway. So go for it. If you buy your own modem, it'll likely pay for itself (compared to equivalent rental fees) in less than a year. And you'll likely use it way longer than that; you're going to have Internet forever -- no matter how bad Time Warner sucks. Best of all? The money doesn't go to a money-sucking corporate scum brigade.