do most come with routers?

are they only essential for specific requirements?

are they a theft concern for people cruising the neighborhood?

are more routers better?

The router and the computer are two separate pieces of equipment.

Conversely, what you're calling a router, if I'm reading you correctly is really a WiFi router, a single device which is really a combination of several devices. This is the device that attaches to your cable modem and provides WiFi service, it's a combination of a wireless access point and a router. A router manages network traffic between the local network (if you have more than one device, computer or other, attached to it forming a local network), and and outside network, usually supplied via the cable modem or similar. The wireless access point component has the radio transceiver that creates the WiFi signal and bridges that signal into the network.

To make this even more confusing, while also more convenient, most cable (and similar) companies are supplying a combination cable modem / Wifi router. This a single box, that connects to our cable wire and provides the entire network connection service, including the WiFi signal. If you're using VOIP phone service, it's likely provided by this box also. From what I'm seeing, this is what most people are using now.

As far as security, this is configurable. The issue with people cruising neighborhoods is for them to try to catch someone who has an unencrypted (unsecured) WiFi signal. The encryption can be turned on and off optionally. If you get data service from your cable/phone provider, and they set up the combination modem/WiFi router described previously, the encryption will be defaulted on, and the encryption key will likely be on a sticker stuck on the box. If the encryption is on, your data is generally safe from being sniffed from outside.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
do most come with routers?

are they only essential for specific requirements?

are they a theft concern for people cruising the neighborhood?

are more routers better?

so its possible to have two small small boxes next to the computer tower .
#1 is a modem and
#2 is a router ?
or just one box that does both?

These days the modem usually has a router built in but you can still have both. As long as your Wi-Fi is encrypted, you shoulder have much problem with people cruising.

Without the router, your computer and everything on your local network would be completely open and exposed tothe world.

so what do the new tv's have ?

it allows your tv to get netflix and amazon and such?

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
so what do the new tv's have ?

it allows your tv to get netflix and amazon and such?

Smart tv's have Wi-Fi adapters that allow them to communicate with the router.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
so its possible to have two small small boxes next to the computer tower .
#1 is a modem and
#2 is a router ?
or just one box that does both?

you can have both, i just changed service with cox from phone/internet/tv + my own router, to a combo modem/router that's almost twice the speed on download checks with ookla & cox.

@bendable, gone are the days of dial-up modems, which used the telephone line as the communications medium and connected your computer to another. This is how America's Out of Luck (AOL) got its start, and before that, computer bulletin boards.

These days, the Internet is "always on." Unless you want to live in a cave isolated from the rest of humanity, you will have some form of service provider running a line (copper, fiber, who cares?) to your house, and then installing a box to the end of it. On the outside of your house, you have the Internet, or in tech-speak, a Wide-area network (WAN). The box in your home serves not only as the modem, but also as a router, which allows you to connect multiple devices. Your side of the box is your Local Area Network (LAN). Typically on the back of the box you will see a WAN port and one or more LAN ports. The WAN cable is the outside world coming in, the LAN ports (optionally) are used to connect your wired devices.

Most homes these days use wireless, which the box (router) also provides. This is a radio signal that you configure each device to connect to. To protect your LAN, you should assign a strong password so that "sniffers" can't piggyback on your network, and possibly intrude.

Most routers these days also offer firewalls, which helps control who gains access to your LAN. This includes the password and network identifier that you see when you scan for networks. More sophisticated firewalls allow you to create "virtual LANs" (VLAN), offer port-forwarding and other features for more complicated environments.

In my modest home, I buy Verizon FiOS service. I bought my own router, so all Verizon had to do was connect their service to my house. At last inventory, I have 22 devices connected to my LAN, which include IP security cameras, smart devices, TVs, computers, phones and tablets. Some of these devices need to never have their addresses change, others can lease an address from the router (which servers as the "keeper" of these addresses) via Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP).

Well, I've gone further down the rabbit hole than I intended. The simple answer to your question is, as I stated first, "Yes. Unless you want to live an isolated existence. And then, even if you want to have more than one device connected together, you will need a router."

Most cable companies require a modem to turn the signals into something your home system can use. (think coax cable and Comcast). The modem has one port that can go to one device and it is usually a router. Sometimes they are built together in one box. But there still needs to be a modem.

Fiber has an ONT (optical network terminal) Think Verizon. That also has a port to plug a device into again most people plug in a router.

You get one IP address from the ISP, that is called the WAN address. Wide area network.

The router lets you add all the devices you want, for all practical purposes and keeps your stuff away from the basic snooper.

Home routers usually have one WAN port to connect from your ISP and 4 to 5 ports to plug in your own devices, Desktops, laptops, etc.

Newer ones also have the equipment to broadcast WiFi. Anything connected to the WiFi can normally access what is on your network and connect to the internet through the router.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
so its possible to have two small small boxes next to the computer tower .
#1 is a modem and
#2 is a router ?
or just one box that does both?

Yes, one additional thing that most cable termination devices have is a (small, usually 4 ports) ethernet switch that provides multiple jacks for cable-connected ethernet devices (looks like a wider version of the classic telephone jack). These can be separate boxes as well. There is a whole body of terminology associated with networking equipment, learning this language can go a long way towards understanding how things interconnect.

They aren't "mandatory" unless you want your computer to talk to other computers, in which case they pretty much are.

thanks to all those choosing to enlighten ,
it's appreciated