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Umm, hold it, were you talking about a router or an access point? You CANNOT connect to the internet without a router of some kind (may sometimes be called a modem, but it will incorporate a router function), but an access point is for wireless (WiFi) - some routers also have WiFi support E.G. there is certainly a Belkin router that supports wireless G as well as the necessary routing function...



This is nitpicking, but the true definition of a router in a home use context is "a device that allows sharing of one connection". The device that actually connects is not a router. It has become an interchangeable term in the last 10 years or so, but to say "you can not connect without a router" is incorrect. And with cable and DSL, modem is not technically correct either, since with digital signal, there is no MOdulate/DEModulate going on.

So to the original poster, you need to get your terms straight. The MODEM (and I will defer to the masses in using that term) is the connection device. The router shares your one connection with many workstations on your network. Networking school defines router as "a device that connects networks", and that is accurate here as you are connecting your (inside your house) network to your (internet provider's) network. So if you have one computer, you can indeed connect without a router.

Now, the topic was SKYPE, or some other VOIP type communication device/network (Vonage, VOIP.com, etc) and THEY confuse the issue further by calling THEIR device a router. And then you get the combo devices that are a router and DSL modem in one (2Wire, Sagecom, Netopia) and I don't know WHAT to call those!!! Mouters? Rodems?