Is a router necessary? !

[Siddhant Mishra]

Hey I connected my Ethernet port directly to my laptop ...

 no signal .....but when I connected a Ethernet cable from the wifi router to the laptop it worked...? Why is that so ?  Or is it that to gain access over Internet ..a router is necessary? 

[Zagna]

Depends on what router is it and what kind of signal comes from the wall socket.

[RoxBox]

Usually yes if you're at home. At a Walmart or something it may be different.

[PineyCreek]

Routers = the thing that handles the network layer (layer 3), i.e. IP addresses.  Or a layer 3 switch.  Definitions have kind of blurred in the last couple decades.  Unless you have some other form of telecom equipment in your home (ISDN, T1, T3 equipment), or direct fiberoptic connections with an arrangement with the telecom company...yeah, you have to have something with routing capabilities connected to the incoming connection (WAN).  Or you're using software-defined networking on a computer with a NIC or 3 in it, but the chance of you using that in your home is pretty rare. pfSense? Guess you could do that.

[LogicWeasel]

1 hour ago, Siddhant Mishra said:

Hey I connected my Ethernet port directly to my laptop ...

 no signal .....but when I connected a Ethernet cable from the wifi router to the laptop it worked...? Why is that so ?  Or is it that to gain access over Internet ..a router is necessary? 

Yeah, that's why everyone has one at home, routers allow routing to the internet.  Perhaps checking out a tech quickie on routers is what you're after (I'm sure he's got some videos on this topic and related ones).

[Kalm_Traveler]

8 hours ago, Siddhant Mishra said:

Hey I connected my Ethernet port directly to my laptop ...

 no signal .....but when I connected a Ethernet cable from the wifi router to the laptop it worked...? Why is that so ?  Or is it that to gain access over Internet ..a router is necessary? 

'your ethernet port' where, and which connects to what?

 

A router routes traffic between separate networks (so for example between your internal network in your house/company and the external-to-you network of the public internet). 

 

If you wanted your computer to be directly connected to the internet, no you wouldn't need a router but being exposed like that I would place bets on how long before someone found your machine and started hammering it with exploit attempts etc.

[Donut417]

11 hours ago, Siddhant Mishra said:

Hey I connected my Ethernet port directly to my laptop ...

 no signal .....but when I connected a Ethernet cable from the wifi router to the laptop it worked...? Why is that so ?  Or is it that to gain access over Internet ..a router is necessary? 

Depends on how your internet is delivered. Generally Ethernet is not use to get internet to your home. Commonly it would be delivered by  xDSL (Phone lines), Docsis (Coax), Fiber, LTE, Wireless, or Satellite. Depending on the type used, you generally will have some box known as a modem for all but the Fiber, Fiber uses a media converter at the home to change it to a connection you can use on your end. 

 

Typically you can just connect your computer to the modem directly and have internet. This is generally a bad idea because you dont have a firewall which you would have with a router. Also, typically at least in the US, most ISP supply gateways which are modems and routers in one box. Though many times they are old and shitty. But techincally you dont need a router. However its best to have one because A) Its a hardware firewall, B)NAT, this allows you to share the 1 IP address the ISP gives you with multiple machines, C) Routers provide you with an internal network, so you can share files between  your computers and such. 

 

 

[Kalm_Traveler]

1 hour ago, Donut417 said:

 Depending on the type used, you generally will have some box known as a modem for all but the Fiber, Fiber uses a media converter at the home to change it to a connection you can use on your end. 

Trying not to sound too nitpicky, but technically all the interfaces used in broadband today are media converters, and not modems. Modem is an abbreviation for 'modulator - demodulator' which is what dial-up modems do between the digital data signals from your PC to analogue signals for the POTS line and vice versa on the other end, hence their name.

 

Marketing departments don't seem to understand this, so they've been calling DSL converters and Cable converters 'modems' erroneously for decades now. Since DSL (digital subscriber line) and cable internet are never analogue signals, no modulation or demodulation take place thus their media converter devices are not modems.

[dalekphalm]

23 minutes ago, Kalm_Traveler1 said:

Trying not to sound too nitpicky, but technically all the interfaces used in broadband today are media converters, and not modems. Modem is an abbreviation for 'modulator - demodulator' which is what dial-up modems do between the digital data signals from your PC to analogue signals for the POTS line and vice versa on the other end, hence their name.

 

Marketing departments don't seem to understand this, so they've been calling DSL converters and Cable converters 'modems' erroneously for decades now. Since DSL (digital subscriber line) and cable internet are never analogue signals, no modulation or demodulation take place thus their media converter devices are not modems.

While you're technically correct that the industry is using the wrong word, it's still the correct term to use because that's the industry standard.

 

If I go to a store and ask for a "DSL converter", such a named product doesn't exist. If there was a particularly techy employee working, he might "understand" that I'm looking for a DSL modem.

 

Same goes for it I go to an online store and search for the same term, I won't get any results.

 

So I get you, but if you actually want people to stop using the term modem, first convince networking companies to stop branding them as modems.

[Kalm_Traveler]

1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

While you're technically correct that the industry is using the wrong word, it's still the correct term to use because that's the industry standard.

 

If I go to a store and ask for a "DSL converter", such a named product doesn't exist. If there was a particularly techy employee working, he might "understand" that I'm looking for a DSL modem.

 

Same goes for it I go to an online store and search for the same term, I won't get any results.

 

So I get you, but if you actually want people to stop using the term modem, first convince networking companies to stop branding them as modems.

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