The ugly comcast TELEPHONY modems

Networking Networking Hardware
1

Does anyone know how to use phones without the Comcast specific modems>?

It almost seems like a scam the way that they rip you off to either rent the box for a monthly fee, or BUY an expensively specific ‘telephony modem’ that WILL LIKELY be deprecated and unsupported by the same time next year.

what gives?

2

No, you cannot use their phone service without their black box. You can run a PBX or an Asterisk box though and do it all yourself.