When Is A Router Not a Router?

When is a router not a router?

When you think the modem is a router.

Yep, I did that.

My Internet provider offered a better router at no cost. Of course, I jumped on the offer. And a few days later it arrived at my door.

It came in a box about six times larger than it needed to be—I guess they wanted to make sure it wasn’t damaged enroot. Inside was the new router, the power and Internet cords, and instructions.

I got everything out, and read the directions, which were so simple even I could follow them.

Easy: Just unplug the old one and plug in the new one.

There was just one problem: In my ignorance, I unplugged the modem and plugged in the new router. I powered it up, saw the blue light come on, and went to get my computer online.

It didn’t work.

No network.

What?

I rebooted the router. The blue light came on,

Still no joy.

So, I rebooted the “modem” and the router.

Still no joy.

I rebooted the router and the “modem” one more time.

No joy again.

Third time’s a charm. Right?

In this case, the third time was a revelation.

When I picked up the “modem” again, I noticed it had the old password on its label.

Revelation—this was the old router.

My system wouldn’t work because I had two routers plugged into each other.

Finally having figured out that the “modem” was a router, and the “old router” was the modem, I got the modem back online with the new router.

Everything now works fine.

And it only took me thirty minutes, and a lot of frustration, to accomplish a five-minute job.

The moral to this story is: No matter how simple the directions are, it helps if you have a clue about what you are doing.

For more, log onto williamblocher.com.