Most modem/router combos today are designed for both wired and wireless connections. But to get information to and from the world wide web, you need a modem and an internet service plan. If you don’t need internet access, you could use a router on its own to create a local network and share files among your devices only, such as printing to a shared printer or streaming movies and music from one part of the house to another. If you have only one computer, all you need is a modem and an internet service plan to connect directly to the internet and surf the web, download and upload data, and so on. Inside the home is the fiber residential gateway, which your internet provider might refer to as a fiber router.ĭo I need both a router and a modem for cable or DSL service? For fiber, the provider’s technician installs a device called an optical network terminal (ONT) either inside or outside of your home. But fiber equipment is different than typical cable and DSL equipment. Your home network is a local area network.įiber-optic internet with its super high-speed technology is available to more and more homes each year. This makes sense because the internet is a network it’s a wide area network. A business may have a gateway that connects two different local area networks (LANs) to each other, while in a home, the gateway is the modem/router that connects all devices to each other and to the internet. So, what’s a gateway?įor home networks, a combination modem/router device is often called a residential gateway. Another service a router usually offers is a firewall, which prevents a lot of malicious traffic from getting from the internet to the home network. It also shares the internet connection among those devices that need it. The router “routes” data between those devices. Where cable internet service uses the same technology as cable TV service, DSL internet access requires a telephone line.Ī routeris a device that connects your computers, printers, game systems, DVRs, media players, and mobile devices to each other to create a home network. High-speed internet services use broadband modems designed for cable or digital subscriber line (DSL). It receives signals from the internet provider and decodes them into something everything on the home network can understand. The difference between a modem and a routerĪ modem is the device that connects a home network to the internet. We’ll also cover what internet providers mean when they call hardware a “gateway.” To make it easier to understand, let’s explore the difference between a modem and router. It can be really confusing if you’re unfamiliar with the terms, especially during troubleshooting. When it comes to getting online, internet service providers may use a lot of different terminologies.
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