Faithful readers may recall the story of a woman in Philadelphia who decided to go over her parents' phone bill only to discover they were paying $21 a month to lease three landline telephones — one of which they'd tossed out years ago. Failure to keep up with technology cost this family $6,000.

What's it costing you? Just because you may have rented a piece of hardware in the past doesn't necessarily mean it's automatically cost-effective to continue.

If you have not looked closely at your monthly cable and or Internet service bill lately, you should. You may be leasing a modem from your service provider. It probably made sense when you signed up for the service and were asked, "Would you like us to provide the modem as part of your service?" or something like that. And I doubt if it registered with you just what that cost would be on an annual basis or how long that would go on. Or that you might have the option at some point in time to provide your own equipment.

Internet and cable service providers routinely provide the modem when installing cable TV and Internet service, then charge a monthly rental of around $10 or so. At first that might not have sounded like such a big deal, but when you consider you're paying $120 per year — every year — for a $70 item, suddenly that sounds like a big rip-off.

Take the service provider Comcast for example. One of the most well reviewed modems on Comcast's long list of compatible cable modem devices, ARRIS SURFboard SB6141, retails at Amazon for about $69.99 with free shipping. The Arris claims compatibility with major cable providers like Comcast/Xfinity, Cox, Charter, Time Warner, Mediacom, Bright House (note it is NOT compatible with Verizon FiOS or AT&T U-verse as they use a different system with modems which are proprietary to their network).

Now that is only one example, but let's go ahead and do the math. If you were renting a modem for $10 a month and decided to cancel that rental arrangement in favor of buying your own compatible modem for $70, in the first year you would save $50 ($120 - $70 = $50). Then $120 ($10 x 12 = $120) every year thereafter.

Once you have your modem in hand, setup should not be difficult. I've heard from numerous Comcast subscribers who tell me that the customer service reps walked them through the setup process, made sure it was working properly and instructed on how and where to return the rented unit. Other companies would operate similarly.

In all, this should not take more than a couple of hours, tops. When you think of the potential savings, that's not a bad wage for the time involved, and if you already own a wireless router simply connect it to your new modem to connect to the Internet wirelessly. If not, you can purchase a basic model for under $20.

One last thing to consider when switching from renting to owning: Tech support issues might be more difficult to deal with if you own the modem rather than rent it from the service provider. With a rented unit, your service provider will replace a defective modem free of charge. But if you own it and run into issues, the company could conclude that it's your problem, not theirs. I only tell you this to be certain you understand that with ownership comes responsibility. Is this a potential problem? Yes. Is there a high likelihood that it will happen? No, not in my opinion. Positive and trouble free feedback on making this move far outweigh the negative. Still, it is something you should consider as you look at taking a relatively small risk to reap a super-size reward.

Would you like more information? Log on to EverydayCheapskate.com, where this column is archived complete with links and resources for all recommended products and services. Mary invites questions, comments and tips at [email protected], or c/o Everyday Cheapskate, 12340 Seal Beach Blvd., Suite B-416, Seal Beach, CA 90740. This column will answer questions of general interest, but letters cannot be answered individually. Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com, a personal finance member website and the author of "Debt-Proof Living," released in 2014. To find out more about Mary and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: William Warby