"confusion"

I see that theres all these ads out there talking about cable connections and all with the companies talking about a monthly fee. Then I see people talking about buying a cable modem. If you buy a cable modem and use it do you still have to go through a company and pay their monthly fee?

You may elect to purchase a cable modem, given that your cable internet provider, (i.e. Comcast, Cox, Shaw, etc..), allows. Here is an afterthough...how long will you be using your Cable Internet? If you were to stay with cable internet for years to come, then you should purchase a cable modem. If you are like me and jump around from DSL to Cable in order to get freebie months, then you should rent one from the cable company. To answer your question, though, you would only avoid the monthly charge for a cable modem if you had your own, (my charge is only 5.00 a month). Otherwise, you must still pay the monthly charge for cable internet service. So I think the answer to your question is, no, you cannot avoid the cable internet monthly service charge by simply purchasing a cable modem and hooking it up...it simply will not work.