What is the difference between modems

All of that depends on the hardware running our home networks -- typically a modem and a router , or a gateway device that combines the two -- but for a lot of us, that hardware is hard to understand and best left to technicians and tech-savvy friends and family to set up on our behalf.

There's no shame in that, but it's still well worth understanding how the Wi-Fi works. A good start is to build a sense of familiarity with what those different devices are doing, and how they work together to get you online. From there, you'll have a much easier time fixing problems as they arise, and you'll have a better sense of when and how to best upgrade your network, too. What's more, plenty of home internet providers will let you skip an equipment rental fee if you use your own modem or router, so buying your own hardware could save you money over the long run, too.

Let's get right to it, starting with the likely starting point for your home's internet connection:. Bring your home up to speed with the latest on automation, security, utilities, networking and more. The internet is also known as the world-wide web because that's basically what it is -- a massive web of computers and servers that can pass information back and forth in mere milliseconds.

Smartphones and other cellular devices can connect to that web with a wireless connection to the nearest cell tower, but non-cellular devices like smart home gadgets, gaming consoles and your computer need another way to access the web and get online.

This Arris Surfboard is a good recent example of a modem -- its job is to encode your internet traffic and send it out into the web, then decode the signals you receive in response. That's where your home's modem comes in. Short for modulator-demodulator, your modem's job is to act as the translator for your home network. It takes whatever data you want to send out into the internet -- a Google search, a request to refresh your Twitter feed, an email, you name it -- and it modulates that data into an encoded electronic signal that can travel through the web.

When that signal reaches its destination, the receiving modem will demodulate and decode it back into readable data, and then send a response. Here's a practical example: When you're at home shopping on Amazon and you click "Add to cart," your modem sends that request to Amazon's servers. Then, Amazon responds by sending the confirmation that your bulk order of red gummy bears is, indeed, in your cart. All of that happens within a fraction of a second, and you see it play out on your screen because your modem is connecting you with Amazon through the web.

Thanks, modem! In the early days of the internet, a modem was all most people used to get online. You'd plug your modem into your home phone line for a dial-up connection with your internet service provider, and then you'd wire the modem to your computer to connect that computer to the web.

Wired connections to the modem like that are great for a connection that's as fast and reliable as your ISP allows, but they aren't practical if you want to be able to connect from anywhere in your house, or if you want to use things like wireless smart home gadgets. For that, you'll need a way for those devices to connect to your modem without wires at all. Gee, if only there was a device for that, some way to "route" all of those wireless signals to the right place This Asus router offers wireless access to your modem's connection with the web hence the antennas.

Have you ever asked, "do I need a modem and router? A modem is a device that connects your home, usually through a coax cable connection, to your Internet service provider ISP , like Xfinity. The modem takes signals from your ISP and translates them into signals your local devices can use, and vice versa. The connection between your house and the Internet is known as a wide area network WAN.

Each modem has an assigned public IP address that identifies it on the Internet. A router connects your devices to each other and, in hard-wired connection setups, to the modem. The router connects to your modem and then to your devices laptops, smart TVs, printers, etc. The router creates a local area network LAN within your house, allowing your devices to share files and peripherals like printers.

Buying a wireless router means you can choose the model that's best suited for your home or office or has advanced features for gaming and other activities if you need them. In some scenarios, one wireless router isn't sufficient to cover an entire home or office due to a vast space or one with a complicated layout, multiple floors, or impenetrable walls.

To avoid dead zones, purchase range extenders that connect to the router and expand its reach. However, that usually means less bandwidth in areas near the extender, which translates into slower browsing and download speeds. That's when investing in a mesh network might make sense. A Wi-Fi mesh network consists of one primary router and several satellites, or nodes, that relay the wireless signal from one to the next, like a chain.

Rather than extenders that communicate only with the router, mesh network nodes communicate with each other, and there's no loss of bandwidth. The signal is as powerful as if you were next to the primary router. There's no limit to how many nodes you can set up, and you can manage it using a smartphone. Whether you need a range extender or a mesh network depends on the size of the space and how much bandwidth is required.

You need a modem and a router to set up a home network. If you're connecting a single computer to the internet with a wire, you can use only a modem. There's no case where you can use just a router. You'll always need a modem to decode the signal from your ISP. When you want to speed up your network, the router is usually what you want to focus on. It has bandwidth limits, and it distributes the signal to all your devices. Your router creates and manages your Wi-Fi. The modem usually doesn't cause a slow connection.

Generally, you'll get one from your ISP, and they'll give you one suitable for your subscription. If you plug in your computer directly to your modem and run a speed test , you can test whether you're getting your advertised internet speed. If not, contact your ISP. There may be a connection issue, or your modem may be outdated.

In this case, they may swap it out for a newer model. Modems typically look like small black, skinny, square boxes. Frequently, they have between two and four antennae but not every modem includes an external antenna. The images at the top of this article give you a good idea of what a modem looks like but every manufacturer uses a different style and shape. Modems will also include between two and four ethernet ports, one or two USB ports, and range between six and nine inches wide to six to eleven inches long and about two to three inches high.

There are also modems with integrated routers that perform both functions. These modems can be rented from your ISP or purchased directly. These combo devices might include a VoIP function if you have a cable, internet, and phone package.

Combination devices are not usually the best option. If one part breaks, the whole thing is useless, and you can't upgrade one device at a time.