Help w/ hooking up 2 computers to a modem
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From: Ken Blake, MVP on 14 May 2008 12:05 On Wed, 14 May 2008 03:20:31 -0700 (PDT), Industrial One <industrial_one(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > Wise cracks aside, lemme know if I understand correctly: a modem and a > router are interchangable. No. > Technically a modem is a dumb device that > only accepts and forwards connections, No. The term "modem" is short for "modulator-demodulator." Technically, it's a device that converts the analog signal on the telephone line to the digital signal needed by a computer, and vice-versa. Technically, any device that doesn't do that analog to digital conversion is not a modem (but see below). > a router is a computer itself > that manages the connections/packets more intelligently. I believe my > modem, is a genuine router. Let me know how I can verify it. A router is a networking device. It's one type of device that permits you to send data from one computer on your network to another computer on the network. Note that a router has nothing to do with connecting to the phone line (or cable service). As a matter of fact, by itself, it has nothing to do with the internet at all. A device that connects to a high-speed internet connection is properly called a "gateway," not a modem, because that high-speed internet connection is digital to begin with. So there's no analog to digital conversion, no modulating or demodulating is required, and the term "modem" is technically inappropriate. However, the difference between a modem and a gateway is not widely known, and the term "modem" is widely used for both types of devices. Some people strenuously object to this usage, because it's not technically correct. My personal feeling is that, leaving aside the analog to digital conversion issue, both devices do essentially the same thing--they connect a computer (or network) to the internet. Since there is no term that is really correct for any device that connects a computer to the internet, and since the term "modem" is so widely used for this, I think insisting that a gateway not be called a modem is just rigid and inflexible. Despite the original meaning of the term, for all practical purposes, calling that DSL or cable device on your desk a "modem" is far and away the best thing to do. Like so many English words, the word "modem" has changed its meaning over time. A router by itself doesn't connect to the internet. If you have a device that does, it's a combination of a router and a DSL modem in a single box. Such combination boxes are becoming more common, but some of us have individual boxes. In my home, I have a separate cable modem and a router. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience Please Reply to the Newsgroup |