![]() 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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