Modem vs Router - What's the difference?

hello everyone in this Article we're going to talk about the difference between a modem and a router because a lot of people actually think that a modem and a router are the same thing but they are not they are different with two separate roles on a network so I'm going to explain the difference between the two now if you want internet inside your home or business you have to have a modem a modem is what brings the Internet into your home or business a modem establishes and maintains a dedicated connection to your internet service provider to give you access to the Internet now the reason why you have to have a modem is because of it two different types of signals that are used on a computer and on the Internet a computer only reads digital signals while signals out on the internet or analog as analog data comes in from the internet the modem d modulates the incoming analog signals into a digital signal so that a computer can understand it and a modem also modulates outgoing digital signals from a computer into an analog signal as it goes out on the Internet and this is where we get the word modem the word modem means modulator demodulator which is exactly what a modem does it modulates outgoing data from a computer and demodulates incoming data from the internet now a router comes in after the modem now there are different types of routers there are routers that are used in businesses and larger organizations and there are smaller routers that are used in homes and small businesses but they basically do the same thing but for this video we're going to use the small office/home office router that most of us are familiar with now a router is what routes or passes your internet connection to all of your devices in your home or business it directs it to all of your computers tablets phones and so on so that those devices can access the internet a typical small office/home office router like this one here will have a built-in switch with multiple ports so that you can connect multiple devices using an ethernet cable connection and it also functions as a wireless access point so that wireless devices such as tablets and laptops can have internet access now technically you really don't need a router if you only want one of your devices to access the Internet you can just plug that devices network cable directly into the modem and then you'll be able to access the Internet however like most homes and businesses you're going to have multiple devices that need access to the Internet and that's where you would need a router there are also different types of modems two of the most common types are cable and DSL modems so depending upon what type of internet you're going to use you need to use the correct type of modem cable modems are connected to your home using a coaxial cable cable is typically provided by the same company that provides you with cable television such as Comcast which is one of the largest providers in the United States and DSL modems are connected using a typical phone line DSL is provided by companies such as AT&ampT; which is the largest provider in the u.s. now a lot of times your internet service provider when they send you a modem or if you were to buy one at the store the modem might be a modem router combination so it will be a modem with a built-in wireless router in one physical device such as this one here so here is an example of several different networks on how they connect to the internet for example this network here on the left is using a cable modem and it's using a small office/home office router so that it's computers in the tablet can have internet access on a bottom we have another network and this network is using a DSL modem and it's also using a small office/home office router so that it's computers the laptop and the tablet can access the Internet the network here on the right is an example of a business network and it's using a cable modem and it's using a business router so we can connect its computers and its server and finally we have the network here on top and this only has one device that needs internet access so it doesn't need to use a router it can just directly connect to the modem because only one device needs internet access now if you're wondering how hubs and switches relate to routers and modems especially if you saw my other video where I explained the differences between hubs switches and routers well keep in mind that most routers will have a built in switch inside of them so there's no need to have a switch if you already have a router that has a switch built into it so for example a router like this may have a four port integrated switch so that you can connect four Ethernet cables for your wired devices so the only time but you may need to add a switch to this network is if you needed more wired connections for your devices so you can just connect a switch to your router and then add more connections to the switch so just to clear things up even more over here we have the Internet with all of its routers then as the internet is routed into this private network it first reaches the modem then it goes from the modem to its router with its integrated switch and then it's passed to all of its computers