Check your monthly bill and you’ll probably see an “Equipment rental” or “Modem rental” fee that’s costing you somewhere between $8 and $15 per month. Rather than renting your modem from your Internet service provider, you can buy your own and hook it up. RELATED: Buy Your Cable Modem Instead of Renting It to Save $120 Per Yearīuying your own modem is an easy way to save money on your Internet bill. And using your own devices instead of the ones your ISP provides can save you some money. Using separate devices offers more flexibility in what you can do with your network and lets you make sure you’re using the best quality devices you can. While a combined unit has its attractions-just having one device cluttering up your office being one-there are also disadvantages. Some ISPs also bundle a phone interface into the same box so you can use their VOIP offerings. That device has the electronics and software in it to provide both functions, acting as a modem that communicates with your ISP and functioning as a router to create a home network. Some ISPs offer a modem and router in a single device. The router keeps track of what traffic goes to which actual device on your network. To the Internet, all the traffic coming from your house looks like it’s coming from a single device. In addition, the router offers some protection to your devices over being exposed directly to the Internet. It lets you connect multiple devices to the Internet through one physical Internet connection and also lets those devices communicate with one another over the local network. The router sits in between your Internet connection and your local network. The simple way to think about routers-especially on your home network-is like this. Many also contain wireless radios that let you connect Wi-Fi devices. In addition, most routers also contain built-in switches that let you connect multiple wired devices. In the case of your home network, your router has one connection to the Internet and one connection to your private local network. RELATED: What's the Difference Between Private and Public Networks in Windows?Ī router connects multiple networks and routes network traffic between them. RELATED: Should You Buy a Router If Your ISP Gives You a Combined Router/Modem? What a Router Does So why bother to understand the difference? Because that understanding can lead to better decisions, like buying your own modem so you can stop paying $8-$15 a month to rent one from your ISP.
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