You may have heard at some point that you need to have a router to access the internet. But, do you? Is it possible to connect your computer to the internet without a router?
If you have an ethernet cable, you can connect your computer directly to your modem without a router, but it isn’t recommended. If your modem has a built-in router, you can connect to the internet through the onboard WIFI or by connecting a cable without buying an additional router.
If you need to connect to the internet using WIFI, then you’ll need a modem with a built-in router, or you’ll need to purchase a router with WIFI. It’s possible to share WIFI from a computer that has WIFI hardware when it’s connected to the internet with a cable, but that means your computer is overly vulnerable to all of the machines that connect to it.
Connecting your computer to the internet without a router
To connect your computer directly to your modem without a router, you will need an ethernet cable. Plug one end of the cable into your modem and the other end into the ethernet port on your computer. It’s as easy as that.
Your internet service provider should automatically assign your computer an IP address, and you should be able to use the internet immediately. As mentioned, if your computer has WIFI, you can create a WIFI network that other devices can use. Typically, you would use a WIFI router to provide WIFI but, this can temporarily get you by.
In Windows, use the search function to find Mobile Hotspot. Once you’ve opened the hotspot utility, you can turn the hotspot on or off, change its name, or change the password. Of course, make sure you pick a password good enough to keep unfriendly people off your wireless network! Turning this on allows machines to connect directly to your computer, after all.
You don’t want to connect your computer directly to your modem because a simple router provides a very effective but non-intrusive firewall that protects your computers from the constant scanning and attacks taking place online. The type of firewall built into routers is called a packet filtering firewall.
A packet filtering firewall is very simple. By default, it lets everything out of the network, but it allows nothing in unless it originally started from inside the network. That means nothing outside can come in unless you ask it to by going to a website or trying to connect to a remote computer first.
Basic routers are an excellent tool for keeping your computers safe from malicious folks on the web. But what if you need to have some connections coming into your network? Maybe for gaming? Maybe for remote access? That’s where the filtering part of the packet filtering firewall comes in.
In your router, you can set up rules called access control lists which specify what computers on what ports can connect from the outside into your network. Usually, I wouldn’t recommend ever doing this, but you may have a real need. Just remember, when you set up one of these rules, you’re putting a small hole in your defenses.
As I mentioned, some modems come with a router built-in. The modem/router combo is great because you get all the benefits of a router without buying one. It’s perfectly acceptable if you have this modem/router combo type of modem and still would like to buy a router for extra features.
Just connect your second router to the modem/router the same way you would connect any computer. However, if you plan to connect to it remotely, you will also need to change the correct settings in the modem/router combo.
When I connected my computer to the internet without a router
When I was first fumbling around trying to figure out computers, WIFI was a thing but still not widely used. In addition to this, like most people who owned computers, I only had one computer, and it could only connect to the internet using a cable.
One computer, one port to connect to the internet, no problem. I was online.
At about the same time, I was playing with software firewalls on my Windows computer. Most people find them to be kind of annoying since they can get in the way of what you might be doing on the internet, but I didn’t care. I was just learning about them. It was easy to shut off if I wanted to.
I would try one for a while and see what it could do and then uninstall it and try another one. Eventually, I found one that would give you a list of all the times your computer was scanned or probed for weaknesses. As new attempts took place, the list would scroll down, presenting the latest attempts at the top.
Well, to my surprise, the list scrolled by so fast I couldn’t read it. I had to click on it to get the scrolling to stop so that I could read it. People from all over the world were constantly scanning and poking around, looking for a way into my computer.
I have to say, it impacted me and changed my understanding of what kinds of things are happening on the internet. So, I searched around for a solution to this problem. After a few searches, I found a site that recommended using a simple router as a barrier between your computer and the internet.
I didn’t have a lot of money, but I was able to pick up a bare-bones non-WIFI router at the local computer shop for a reasonable price. So I got it home, hooked it up, and checked my software firewall.
Absolute quiet. No nothing. No scans, no probes, no attempted attacks.
The packet filtering firewall functionality built into my new little router blocked all the scannings, probing, and attempted attacks. I’ve always had a router ever since.
I have to admit, though, I did try connecting it up directly to the modem again just to see what happened. As I’m sure you can imagine, the scrolling returned to the same rate it originally had been.
Things have changed now, such that WIFI is a big part of life, so it’s pretty easy to justify a router these days. Just remember, that little router that’s giving you WIFI is also keeping the baddies out of your computers.