Re: Actually, a router is a router, and "modems" no longer really exists...
Sure, even your wifi access point is modem... did you know? Why don't yo call it the "wireless modem"?
Even Ethernet signal, when it gets to the wire, needs to be "modulated" (it uses some form of PAM), because until you can't control each single electron moving through the cable you have to deal with "waves" - why don't you call your Ethernet card a "modem"? (Oh, the old Ethernet MAU....)
Even data written on your magnetic spinning hard disks needs modulation/demodulation, is your hard disk a "modem"?
Each bridge/router designed to interconnect two different network using different transport layers embedds the necessary hardware to communicate over them in the proper format - including "modem" circuitry, if necessary.
"Modem" is just a part of any devices requiring it, the part that turns one signal into another signal and back for the required underlyng medium. But from a networking point of view what you call a "modem" is actually a "media converter" - transforming one signal format into another (which may require modulation/demodulation, if the transport layer needs so).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
