erin, is this through your cable company?
if so, you need a modem and a router.
We can come by between classes. Usually I use that time to copy over my class notes with a system of different colored pens. But it's been pointed out to me that that's, you know...insane.
Willow ,'Showtime'
Buffistechnology 3: "Press Some Buttons, See What Happens."
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le nubian - Oct 26, 2009 9:10:47 am PDT #11500 of 25501
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."
amych - Oct 26, 2009 9:11:30 am PDT #11501 of 25501
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?
You need both, erin_o -- the modem will typically be supplied by the cable/satellite/dsl/whatever company (unless you're using dialup), and exists just to get the signal inside the house. The router is for translating the signal to wireless, as well as allowing you to hook up several computers or other devices.
Jessica - Oct 26, 2009 9:11:35 am PDT #11502 of 25501
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Some ISPs will give you a combo modem-router, but they may want to charge you for every computer you plan to connect to it. I'd say let the cable company give you a modem and buy your own router. (Also easier to upgrade that way.)
erin_obscure - Oct 26, 2009 9:13:14 am PDT #11503 of 25501
Occasionally I’m callous and strange
thank you all! Yes, through cable company. Why would i want to upgrade my router? Speed issue?
amych - Oct 26, 2009 9:17:11 am PDT #11504 of 25501
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?
Why would i want to upgrade my router? Speed issue?
Speed will be pretty comparable for anything you'd be likely to buy now. Upgrade reasons would be more like, you have an unquenchable need for more ports to plug your gadgets into; or you want one of the fancy Apple things that also works as a backup drive/iTunes server/toaster/no not in the Cylon sense/okay maybe that too.
tommyrot - Oct 26, 2009 9:19:06 am PDT #11505 of 25501
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Using your own router can make your computer more secure than connecting your computer directly to the cable-modem.
tiggy - Oct 26, 2009 9:58:16 am PDT #11506 of 25501
I do believe in killing the messenger, you know why? Because it sends a message. ~ Damon Salvatore
our cable company supplies the router too, erin. though if it's a monthly charge, i recommend forgoing it because you can get one for $60-70. unless you're skeered of trying to set it up yourself. in that case, i'd recommend bribing a geeky friend.
Tom Scola - Oct 26, 2009 10:02:51 am PDT #11507 of 25501
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
I'd recommend getting your own router, too.
Time Warner Cable Exposes 65,000 Customer Routers to Remote Hacks
A vulnerability in a Time Warner cable modem and Wi-Fi router deployed to 65,000 customers would allow a hacker to remotely access the device’s administrative menu over the internet.
le nubian - Oct 26, 2009 10:06:34 am PDT #11508 of 25501
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."
to supplement what tiggy said, best buy has decent deals on routers. I typically like linksys routers (mostly because I'm used to them and can get to the admin panel settings in my sleep) and I understand some linksys routers have 1 step setup that might be easy.
Gudanov - Oct 26, 2009 10:11:02 am PDT #11509 of 25501
Coding and Sleeping
This is what I use.
It's cheap and it's never failed for me. You can get a faster wireless connection than g, but it's adequate if your network usage is mostly Internet and printing. I've reset it once and it turned out it was the modem that needed to be reset instead. The Linksys router I had before was a pain. That's just my experience. My BIL has a D-Link that has been trouble for him, but he tends to futz around with the security settings all the time, so that might be more of a user issue than a hardware issue.