Hi there I had a few questions about ethernet.
I know enough to understand that there is such thing as an ethernet cable that you plug in into a box for Internet on your computer.
What I don’t understand is how the system itself works and if there’s more to it. Is there a box that is specific to ethernet and how is it different from your modem that you get from an Internet service provider?
I’m getting a new remote job and they are sending me an ethernet cable to ensure we have reliable internet. Is it possible that they might be sending me a cable/ethernet box as well with additional internet or is that impossible between state lines?
If it’s the later, how do you get this, do you pay by the month like your Internet service provider (ISP), and roughly how much does it cost?
Thank you in advance!
LL
In: Technology
Ethernet is just a network cable. you plug it into your computer and your wifi router and it connects tthe computer to the network without using wifi. that router is plugged into your ISP’s motem/cable box/whatever with another ethernet cable and it connects you to the internet you already have.
Ethernet is basicaly like saying “wifi, but over a cable”
The modem is a box that acts like your house’s personal gateway to the internet. You will then usually have another box called a wifi router connected to the modem. The router is what allows other devices in your home to connect to the internet wirelessly, but this comes at a cost. There are a lot of things that can cause interference with wireless signals. But you also have the option of connecting a cable from your device to the router directly, and we call that cable an ethernet cable. Wired connections (ethernet) are faster and more reliable than wireless (wifi), at the cost of being physically tethered to a single location.
In order to transmit anything from one device to another, you need to ensure both devices can understand each other. On a small scale it can be fairly easy to make that happen if you know how to. On a scale such as a city, country, or the entire planet, a system where everyone establishes their own network’s communication isn’t so effective, you end up with millions of different techniques that are ultimately unable to communicate with one another.
To avoid that problem, we landed on a single technique that would become the international standard of network communications, and that standard would be Ethernet.
Ethernet effectively just provides the groundwork protocols that ensure any 2 networked devices can communicate with and understand each other as they send data back and forth. Of course Ethernet also involves a variety of security, scalability, etc., but generally the overall workings of it are unimportant if your network is little more than a few personal devices connected to a router.
To put it simply, though, if ever you’ve used the Internet, you’ve worked with Ethernet. If you’ve ever had a home computer you plugged directly into the router, it probably used an Ethernet cable, or even if you just use wireless connections, it probably works on Ethernet protocols. If you have a router in your home, and if you have a computer in your home, both are almost guaranteed to already have Ethernet ports on them, and from there all it takes is plugging either end of the Ethernet cable into the different ports; effectively no different from plugging in a power cable, the plug goes in the hole shaped like the plug; and usually Ethernet protocols will automatically establish the necessary configurations and provide a cabled connection to the rest of the Internet with little to no extra input needed.
Ethernet is a set of rules for how computers can talk to each other, just like Wifi. They’re both defined by the same group actually.
A modem is a device for translating between computer native network systems, like Ethernet and Wifi, and other systems like the phone network or cable. Since your computer doesn’t natively know how to speak to phone networks, you generally need one of these to connect to the Internet through your ISP.
Most Modems have Ethernet ports on them. More of them than come with WiFi- often you’ll see the modem connected to a separate Wifi router over Ethernet rather than having the two come in a single box.
“Is there a box specific to ethernet” – No; Ethernet is just a type of cable, just like you have a USB cable or an electrical cable. Ethernet is the best way currently to quickly transmit data from one computer to another. Basically all home networking equipment today uses Ethernet ports as a way to connect devices.
“How is it different from your modem” – A modem is just the device that switches between data transmitted on an ethernet cable to data transmitted on a coaxial or fiber optic cable (which of those two is ISP dependent).
“Is it possible that they might be sending me a cable box with additional internet” – No, they’re not doing anything more than sending you a way to connect your computer to your home network that *might* be more reliable/faster than using Wi-Fi. They’re not changing your internet in any way. They’re not installing a second connection to the internet. They’re not sending you anything you have to pay for. Think of it the same as when you buy a new phone they send you a USB cable to charge the phone.
Nowadays, when the ISP comes by to install the internet, they install a modem, but that modem also has the capabilities to act as a router a wireless access point. You are probably used to connecting to the internet via wi-fi. However, you can also connect your computer by running an ethernet cable from your computer to that modem/router/AP box the ISP provided. If you already get really good internet speeds with your current set up, then there is no need to use the ethernet cable they are sending you.
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