Everyone knows what a modem is. It is what usually connects the phone and internet to the cable wiring outside your home. You can’t have access to the internet without it, since the modem is the device that providers use to send and receive data signals for you
Router – is that the same as the modem?
Before we delve into how a modem works, it is important to know that a router and modem are not the same, though they work collectively to provide an internet connection to devices. They are also used interchangeably at times. To be clear, a router basically provides a wireless signal to devices to connect to the modem.
The modem is like a translator for the router. If there was no internet connectionto the modem, the devices would still be connected to the modem, they just won’t have any working internet connection. You will also find that most modems have router and modem built-in together.
The router’s capabilities to allow you to connect your devices wirelessly come with several benefits. With Xfinity Home, you can view cameras inside your homes if you are far away or abroad. This is only possible because your smart home devices are connected to the router wirelessly. You can also control the settings of other smart home devices with the help of a router like door locks, garden sprinklers, etc. Even if you don’t have an internet connection, you can still manage your devices with the help of the router, but only if these devices are connected to the same network.
Functions of Internet Modem
An internet modem has two functions; sending and receiving data from your ISP. The sending function of the modem modulates data into signals, compatible with the phone line, and receiving function of the modem demodulates the receiving data back into digital data. That’s where the modem got its name modulator-demodulator from, though it is abbreviated to a modem.
Types of Internet Modem
There are currently three types of modems being used for the internet all over, namely Digital Subscribers Line (DSL), cable and fiber connection. A DSL modem enables the transmission of data over telephone lines through an Ethernet wire. The cable modem connects you to the internet through cable TV wires made of copper, and fiber does so through fiber-optic cable wires. The kind of internet connection you have signed up for comes with the required modem device needed for an internet connection.
Functions of Internet Modem
You can find below some of the important functions of an internet modem:
- Decoding.The one major function of an internet modem is to transmit signals to other internet modems.It also decodes all signals allowing it to send digital data from one node to another.
- Data Compression.Internet modems require a data compression mechanism. It allows decreasing the amount of time it takes to send and receive data, cutting down on percentages of errors in the transmission of signals. This data compression also helps to reduce the size of signals required for sending data.
- Flow Control. Each internet modem has its own speed of sending signals. This can be an issue in sending and receiving signals for internet modems. In the flow control technique, if the slower internet modem sends signals to the faster one, the faster internet modem would pause. This allows slow internet modem to catch up to the faster one so they can continue with the data transmission process.
Uses of Internet Modem
Modems have many uses in different scenarios;
- For instance, customers pay through credit cards or debit cards, but what they don’t know is that modems play a huge role in data transferring as well as returning approval for the same. They are used in ATM machines, ticket machines for the airport, trains, etc., or paying through hotels or shopping malls.
- Modems are also used in remote areas to save money and time in travel costs. For example, gas stations, cooler call centers, vending machines inventory, stoplight timing control, etc.
- Internet modems are also used for communication between two machines without any user interaction, for instance, medical devices send patient’s test reports to their doctors’ computers.
In short, internet modems are used to send and receive data between various devices. It acts as a decoder to translate signals for digital devices and then encodes data to be sent to other internet modems.
