Modems, routers, and switches are some of the mandatory things for networking. By connecting your device with a router/ switch/ modem which works like a node connection, it will build a network. The connection makes it possible for further communication. However, there are a few types of protocols a network follow, and has diversity depending on the machine one would use.
How these devices connect with each other to execute the work of exchanging data signals and what is the best way to connect them are our concerns here. Do the modem to switch to router connection work? Let’s explore them.
What is a Modem?
Modem helps data to convert into a signal to go through the cable easily. It helps the data of a computer to be modulated and go to the other devices it is connected with and converts them to data again.
Only one device especially a Computer uses a modem for signaling data through a phone cable. The other devices connected with it cannot command it directly but only the computer, the main device that is connected with it first will have the upper hand. The modem helps the computer send and receive the signal through the phone cable.
What is a Switch?
The switch is a fundamental key for building a network in a building or a certain area. It allows the device to be connected to the same network and connect with each other. The devices are especially computers, printers, modems, wireless access points, etc. A switch can connect with a modem directly.
The devices can connect with each other and can exchange data with each other without the intervention of the Network itself. If the devices are connected together, the switch won’t go or check the IP but rather send the data to the destination straightly.
What is a Router?
A router, connected to a modem either by a cable or a switch sends and receives data packets between the networking devices. A router is a medium for the devices to connect to the internet simultaneously.
It helps the data signals to go to the connected devices through the fastest path it figures. By connecting to a modem directly and then connecting itself to all other devices to make a path between themselves, the router works the best. Since a modem cannot be connected to multiple devices altogether but rather works with a single computer, a router becomes the path between them.
How to connect a modem, a switch, and a router?
The most used and successful connection between them is to connect the modem to the router following up the switch. These three works together to conduct the best networking ever. Without one of them working, the whole co-work collapses.
The internet will give a public IP to the modem connected with it while the router makes it happen for devices to get different private addresses. That way every device can get equal and simultaneous service from the main internet as well as not getting exposed to the public internet. The switch helps the router have more ports to get more devices connected to it. That way the router will have more room for devices expanding the network.
Modem to switch to router
It is, of course, possible to connect a modem to a switch and then to a router. However, that is theoretical. But will you be willing to do that only to give one device the whole connection?
The modem helps the router get a public IP address and the router divides it into different private IPs for the connected devices. However, if you connect a switch to the modem first, the switch will be connected to the internet directly. Since the switch exchanges data between the devices directly, the device connected to it will be directed to the public IP altogether. In this case, only one device will be connected since the public IP will only connect to one device, and the other ones will fail to connect to it. Apart from this problem, the device will use a public IP which is not safe for the data it will store or exchange.
In other words, why should you use a switch to connect with a modem if you can directly connect a single device to the modem? Whether you use a switch or not in this case, both have the same result. That’s why the device that you should connect to the modem is a router.
This is why the configuration of the modem to switch to the router is not possible or a good path. Even though one can prove theoretically that a Modem to switch to a router is possible, they cannot do it in real. Let alone connecting to a whole lot of devices, it can not make a single device have a good connection.
