What Is A Modem And What Does It Do?

A modem is a very important piece of network hardware that allows a computer to send and receive data through a telephone line or cable connection. In simple words, its the device that connects a computer to the Internet. The word modem is actually made by combining parts of two different words  Modulator and demodulator. As this suggests, a modem is a device that both modulates and demodulates signals that encode and retrieve information, respectively. For starters, modulation is a process of adding meaningful information to a carrier wave so that it can be transmitted over long distances. It should be noted that if you intend to connect to the Internet wirelessly, or want to get multiple devices connected to the same network, a simple modem wont be enough. In that case, you will need a different device called a router.