Routers vs. Modems: What You Need to Get Online

to get internet For access to your home, you will need both a modem and a router. They are not interchangeable, and they perform two very different functions. If you think of your home as an island, the modem is the port where big cargo ships from the World Wide Web arrive, and the router is the warehouse sending delivery trucks to devices located around your island.

But here’s where confusion can arise: sometimes they are combined into a single device. So, if you’re setting up a new network or planning to upgrade your home Internet connection, it’s important to know the basics of routers, modems, and gateways.

If you’re in the process of upgrading your home Internet, you may also be interested in How to Buy a Router, Mesh vs. Router, Best Mesh System, and Best Wi-Fi Router.

What is a modem?

The modem (or modulator-demodulator) acts as a translator between your home and your Internet service provider (ISP). It translates (or modulates) your outgoing traffic, whether it’s searches or other online activities, and sends them over the Internet and demodulates your incoming traffic, so the router can route it to your device.

In the early days of the Internet, I would plug the ISP-provided modem into my phone line and connect it directly to the computer I wanted to go online to via an Ethernet cable. But that was before the days of Wi-Fi, when you could only go online with a connected device (it was also extremely slow). If you’re satisfied with a single device online, you can still do this with your modern modem, but most people will want to fill their home with wireless connectivity to connect multiple devices.

Nowadays, your modem is probably a box installed on the wall where your Internet connection comes into the house—or at least sits next to it. A standalone modem is usually smaller than a router, and they are often labeled, but you can also identify them by the cable they come with. If it uses a phone line, it will have a smaller connector (perhaps RJ11 or RJ22), the cable modem has a round coaxial connection, and the optical fiber modem, also called an optical network terminal (ONT), has a thin cable running through it. All will have at least one large Ethernet (RJ45) port for connecting to a router.

You connect your router to an Ethernet port, or you have a cable that you connect to a combination device, perhaps a gateway, that has a modem. And Acts as a router. While your ISP’s modem is probably fine for your needs, your ISP’s router probably isn’t that great, and you can almost certainly improve it by purchasing your own router.

What is a router?

Photograph: Simon Hill

Your router broadcasts incoming traffic from your modem to your device and routes outgoing traffic from your device to your modem. It directs the flow of traffic, creating a local area network (LAN) in your home that devices can connect to via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. Whether you’re browsing the web on your phone, streaming a movie to a TV, or gaming on your PC, you’re dependent on the router, and it decides how to split up your Internet connection and divide it among your devices.