I live in Chicago and have RCN as my cable\/isp . last week I get a letter say that the modem rental rate be go up $ 2\/month . buy this modem , hook it up , call RCN with my MAC address , reboot my computer , and voilum ! only get 4 star because it be just a cable modem afterall . if it have some other feature , it could have get a 5 . Mine be ship with a cd . if you explore what be on the cd , you will find the install instruction . if you hav not install electronics or know how to explore you cd for the installation guide , you may have some difficulty get this to work , and you might end up post a bad review on amazon when really , it be just you . if you be spend more money to rent , than it would be to buy a modem , this be a solid buy .