Modem vs. Router: What’s the Difference?

While both a modem and router will help your devices connect to the internet, they have separate (and complementary) functions. Your modem is a box that connects your home network to your Internet service provider, or ISP. A router is a box that lets all of your wired and wireless devices use that Internet connection at once and allows them to talk to one another directly. Often, your Internet service provider will give a device often referred to as a gateway, one box that serves as both modem and router, but these are still different technologies. You need the features of both a modem and a router, integrated or not, in order to provide an Internet connection for all the devices in your home.

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from Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/modem-vs-router/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS%20Feed