So, what is a modem?

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Reanalyse

379 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3060775 9-Apr-2023 21:21

Rickles:

I've noticed recently that all the ISP offerings include something like - " ... BYO modem, or modem rental $4 per month ..."

When talking about pure fibre, surely the 'modem' is the ONT/box (router) on the inside wall?

Are they using modem and router interchangeably (and confusingly) 😆

Just to be a devils advocate, if the router has RJ11 ports for a telephone would not it contain a modem interface for that to work ?.

But you can also connect phones to the ONT which is a modem.

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SomeoneSomewhere

1754 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#3060779 9-Apr-2023 21:28

I don't think the phone ports are technically considered modems. Modems are normally implied to modulate a fundamentally digital signal into a synthetic analogue one, and extract said fundamentally digital signal from the supplied analogue one.

Phone ports however are encoding a fundamentally analogue (voice) signal into a digital one, and then decoding the digital signal to create an approximation of the original analogue.

Modems send a digital signal over an analogue carrier, telephony sends an analogue signal over a digital carrier. That's the best I can do.

Then you have the fun of FXS vs FXO ports.

Fuzzi9986

52 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#3061838 12-Apr-2023 12:30

Wombat1:

But the router is also a modem, as it still does contain the circuitry for a modem. Just because that circuitry is not in use does not mean its not a modem. Router is just as much an incorrect word as modem.

A gateway is probably the best term for such a device.

None of my routers I've owned in the last 5 years have had a modem in them, they are just routers/switches/APs

Tinkerisk

4146 posts

Uber Geek

#3061949 12-Apr-2023 17:55

Wombat1:

Edit: I see Fritzbox themselves refer to their Fritzbox as a "modem router"

Because it’s a router with an added modem, not a modem with an added router. 😀

You are welcome to continue to „argue about the emperor's beard,“ in any case we already know here in Germany what AVM sells from Berlin to the world.

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coffeebaron

6197 posts

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#3062077 12-Apr-2023 22:51

I recently enter a customer site with some Ubiquiti AP's. Yay a staff member said, is that the new modems?
Of course I said yes :). Sometimes easier to smile and wave, rather than try explain things.

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