Setting up internet questions...........?

Question

We have everything through our cable company and one computer with a modem in one room right now. We now have 2 computers and want the one in living room on-line. Our modem is not wireless like we thought it was. Cable company now says we need a router.....we have this adapter (small little box with an antenna that is supposed to read the wireless modem - or so I thought). What is the difference between router and modem? Do you have to have the modem if you have a router? Can't you get a wireless modem as opposed to a router? Do I have to have the modem AND the router? HELP???? Laymans terms please -- thanks

Answer 1

Modem is only good for one PC. Modem just converts the cable signaling into Ethernet. The modem has no smarts.

The main thing you need to get connected to the Internet is an IP address. The cable company allocates you only 1 IP address.

The router does several things, the principle one being that it runs something called Network Address Translation, a.k.a. NAT. What NAT does is convert all the IP communication streams coming from each PC to use this single IP address.

On your in house network each PC will have a unique IP address assigned by the router. The router will get it's Internet facing IP address from the cable company. The router will maintain NAT translation table for each IP address it's serving to keep the conversations straight.

The other thing a router can do for you is run as a network based firewall. This adds an additional layer of security to your network without having to burden your PC.

Answer 2

Hi, woahhhhhhh u have alot of questions.
A modem is a device that dials up via ur telephone line and one modem is for one computer, and once that line is busy u cannot dial up from another computer unless u have too telephone lines. A wireless modem is like what the name says, it offers wireless connectivity but is still a modem and dials up from ur telephone line.

Now that ur ISP is a cable company u have to get a router. A router will have one connection inserted in your pc's lan card, and another inserted in the other pc's lan card. That router will then connect both pcs to the internet and simultaneously and manage their connections for them. There will be no more dialing up anymore as the router will be connected at all times. The router itself will be connected to the cable. There will be on average 4 other sockets with them for connection to differrent computers.

Now there are two types of routers one which is a router and a wireless router. If u have a laptop and u wanna connect to the net then u should get a wireless router, it will allow the laptop to detect the router and access the internet without a cable similar to a wireless modem.

Hope this information helps, and if u want to know anything else contact me. Good Luck!