![]() Shop around, and you'll see all-in-one devices that combine the two into a single piece of hardware, often called a gateway. That doesn't mean that you need two separate devices, though. Rick Broida/CNET Gateways combine a modem and router into oneĪ wireless home network needs a connection to the web (the modem) and wireless access to that connection for your devices (the router). This T-Mobile gateway acts as both a 5G modem and a wireless router. If you're a hardcore gamer, then you might want to invest in a feature-rich gaming router to help optimize your connection with whatever server you're playing on, and to keep latency as low as possible as you're lining up headshots. If your home is larger, then you might want to upgrade to a mesh router that uses multiple devices throughout your house to relay a stronger, more reliable Wi-Fi signal from room to room. If you live in a small home and don't use the internet too heavily, then a basic, stand-alone router might be all you need. There's a wide range of Wi-Fi routers available for use in people's homes, and a wide range of strengths and weaknesses between them. That's also why it's important to set a strong password for your network - without one, anyone within range will be able to use your connection and potentially interfere with other devices. Any Wi-Fi device in range of that network can use whatever password you've set to connect wirelessly to the router, and through it, to the modem and the web. From there, that router broadcasts a Wi-Fi network. Instead of wiring each of your devices to your modem, you just wire a router to it. Your router connects your devices to your modem without wires Gee, if only there was a device for that, some way to "route" all of those wireless signals to the right place. For that, you'll need a way for those devices to connect to your modem without wires at all. 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. 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. In the early days of the internet, a modem was all most people used to get online. 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. ![]() Then, Amazon responds by sending the confirmation that your bulk order of red gummy bears is, indeed, in your cart. 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. When that signal reaches its destination, the receiving modem will demodulate and decode it back into readable data, and then send a response. 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. Short for modulator-demodulator, your modem's job is to act as the translator for your home network. 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. Let's get right to it, starting with the likely starting point for your home's internet connection: ![]() 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. 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. 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. There's no shame in that, but it's still well worth understanding how the Wi-Fi works. 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. Our home internet connections have never been as important as they are now, with millions of us continuing to work, learn and socialize from home.
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