On routers and modems

How they work together in your home

Sometimes, it seems that all we really care about when we’re at home is being online, right – that the connections work fine when we have to take online conference calls, send attachments, or bingewatch Netflix all night. As long as all lights are green on one box and all wires are connected to the other box – everything works in perfect harmony. We are merry and fine.

Until otherwise – when the green light turns to red. We call a support line but struggle to follow instructions from the customer service representatives. Someone asks you to check if the cable is connected to the right port. Wait, port? What is that? Home networking just became a bit more complicated.

Well, aside from the handful of terms you need to know to figure out how things work, you also have to know the role of every device involved in the process of having a connected home. Let’s start with your router and modem. Understanding the relationship between the two is an important step to being in control of your network.