The word â€œmodemâ€ is commonly known around the world, compliments of the growing popularity of the Internet in this Information Age. But relatively few outside the Information Technology career fields understand why modems and Internet Service Provider (ISP) equipment are not interchangeable.

Modems v. ISP Equipment

â€œModemâ€ is actually an abbreviation of â€œmodulator/demodulatorâ€ and is an electronic component that is usually fitted internally in a hard drive configuration commonly called a â€œtowerâ€ for PCs and in laptops. The modem is the device that actually electronically connects the userâ€™s computer to the world wide web.

An Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides a user a landing pad when on the Internet. A user engages the internal modem in a PC or a laptop to the ISP via equipment they provide, and â€œdockâ€ on the Internet somewhere on an ISP serverâ€”a marina on the Internet ocean, for example. From that docking space, the user can travel virtually anywhere on the Internet.

ISPs provide â€œautopilotâ€ equipment directing the userâ€™s computer to their servers (marina) and assigns a docking space. The â€œautopilotâ€ equipment how an ISP tracks usage or â€œbandwidth,â€ which has nothing to do with physical width of a space but bytes (tiny bits of data) sent and received.

Air Cards v. WiFi

Air cards come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. Most physically connect to a computer via the Universal Serial Bus (UBS) port and are portable, which is why they have become very popular with laptop users, though users also use them with desktop computers, as well.

Air cards or ISP modules usually fit within a userâ€™s hand and can direct any computer with a USB port to the userâ€™s ISP; they donâ€™t have to be used with only one computer. Many people who travel or visit friends carry their own air card and leave laptops and personal computers at home. Since the air card directs the Internet docking request to the ISP servers, what computer is used is irrelevant.

However, using an air card does not mean that a modem is not required. Consider the air card a signal homing device, but the modem is the computerâ€™s sending device. The signal must be generated (the modem), then itâ€™s directed to a specific ISP (air card), which is how Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) access is possible on public networks. No specific ISP is used, and the computer is able to pick up and use a local WiFi signal to connect to the Internet and completely bypass ISPs.

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