Just hope to help those who may not use these terms on a daily basis to understand more of what they mean so when you post questions, you can provide more accurate information to others so we can provide more accurate feedback:
1. MODEM - A modem (modulator-demodulator) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data. Modems can be used over any means of transmitting analog signals, from driven diodes to radio.
The most familiar example is a voice-band modem that turns the digital data of a personal computer into modulated electrical signals in the voice-frequency range of a telephone channel. These signals can be transmitted over telephone lines and demodulated by another modem at the receiver side to recover the digital data.
DSL and Cable modems fall under this description.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modem2. ROUTER - A router is an electronic device that interconnects two or more computer networks, and selectively interchanges packets of data between them. Each data packet contains address information that a router can use to determine if the source and destination are on the same network, or if the data packet must be transferred from one network to another. When multiple routers are used in a large collection of interconnected networks, the routers exchange information about target system addresses, so that each router can build up a table showing the preferred paths between any two systems on the interconnected networks.
DLink, Netgear and Linksys and other MFRs router devices fall under this description.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Router3. HUB - An Ethernet hub, active hub, network hub, repeater hub or hub is a device for connecting multiple twisted pair or fiber optic Ethernet devices together and making them act as a single network segment. Hubs work at the physical layer (layer 1) of the OSI model. The device is a form of multiport repeater. Repeater hubs also participate in collision detection, forwarding a jam signal to all ports if it detects a collision.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_hub4. SWITCH - A network switch or switching hub is a computer networking device that connects network segments. The network switch, packet switch (or just switch) plays an integral part in most Ethernet local area networks (LANs). Mid-to-large sized LANs contain a number of linked managed switches. Small office/home office (SOHO) applications typically use a single switch, or an all-purpose converged device such as a gateway to access small office/home broadband services such as DSL or cable internet. In most of these cases, the end-user device contains a router and components that interface to the particular physical broadband technology, as in Linksys 8-port and 48-port devices. User devices may also include a telephone interface for VoIP.
Some DSL modems may have a built in router and also may have additional LAN ports in the back, this is a built in SWITCH. So in effect you have a 3 in 1 device, MODEM, ROUTER and a SWITCH. Most Cable MODEMS to date I've seen are a single function device, MODEM Only.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_switchAny other terms your interested in knowing more about ask or check out Wikipedia. Good stuff there.
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Topic: TERMINOLOGY 101 (Read 5848 times)