Can you use the internet without a modem ?

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KaylinGov

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So I had a tp-link WiFi modem initially supplying WiFi to my entire house but yesterday we experienced a power outage that I think may have fried the device or power cable. When the power came back on this morning, the device did not power on (tried it on different plug points in the house, does not turn on at all neither does any device pick it up). Now if it were any normal day, I'd just go buy another modem or power cable but

1) I haven't seen any place that carries its kind of power plug (9V, 0.85 A output). Regardless, I dont know if the plug or the modem is fried so there's no point in buying a plug if it's not going to power on the device. The only other power plug I have, is my hard drive power plug, which I don't want to take a chance with and connect to the device as the hard drive power plug rating is 12V, 1A.

2) Our ADSL line is cancelled at the end of the month, so there's no point in me buying a new device as I'm not planning to renew it any time soon.

Basically what I'm asking is if anyone has any advice on how to proceed with the situation or if it is possible to somehow connect the cable that goes into the modem from the telephone line to a laptop to use the internet without the use of a modem (as I believe the DSL cable is an RJ11 connecter and not the typical RJ45/Ethernet connecter head). Thanks for the help
 
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KaylinGov said:
So I had a tp-link WiFi modem initially supplying WiFi to my entire house but yesterday we experienced a power outage that I think may have fried the device or power cable. When the power came back on this morning, the device did not power on (tried it on different plug points in the house, does not turn on at all neither does any device pick it up). Now if it were any normal day, I'd just go buy another modem or power cable but

1) I haven't seen any place that carries its kind of power plug (9V, 0.85 A output). Regardless, I dont know if the plug or the modem is fried so there's no point in buying a plug if it's not going to power on the device. The only other power plug I have, is my hard drive power plug, which I don't want to take a chance with and connect to the device as the hard drive power plug rating is 12V, 1A.

2) Our ADSL line is cancelled at the end of the month, so there's no point in me buying a new device as I'm not planning to renew it any time soon.

Basically what I'm asking is if anyone has any advice on how to proceed with the situation or if it is possible to somehow connect the cable that goes into the modem from the telephone line to a laptop to use the internet without the use of a modem (as I believe the DSL cable is an RJ11 connecter and not the typical RJ45/Ethernet connecter head). Thanks for the help
Click to expand...

No you cannot.

Try your hard drive power plug. If it will fit of course.

Those Amp outputs are very similar and it should be fine really.
 
MightyQuin said:
No you cannot.

Try your hard drive power plug. If it will fit of course.

Those Amp outputs are very similar and it should be fine really.
Click to expand...

I did try, device started smoking. Thing is, the modem should've accounted for a surge as it's one of the selling points on the box. Can't seem to find the warranty printed anywhere for south Africa either (USA online store states 2-3 years limited warranty though) but even if this does apply (device is just over a year old), I'm not sure if my warranty is voided or not by the surge.

is there really no device that will be able to help ? What about those old modems that desktop PCs used to come with ? Do they not make anything similar for laptops ?
 
Lol plugging a 12v supply into a 9v device and not expecting smoke..?
If it wasn't dead, you killed it.
 
KaylinGov said:
I did try, device started smoking. Thing is, the modem should've accounted for a surge as it's one of the selling points on the box. Can't seem to find the warranty printed anywhere for south Africa either (USA online store states 2-3 years limited warranty though) but even if this does apply (device is just over a year old), I'm not sure if my warranty is voided or not by the surge.

is there really no device that will be able to help ? What about those old modems that desktop PCs used to come with ? Do they not make anything similar for laptops ?
Click to expand...
Ypu're thinking of analogue modems. Adsl modems and analogue modems are not the same thing. They operate at different speeds and frequencies.

You'll need to buy a new router/modem.
 
KaylinGov said:
Basically what I'm asking is if anyone has any advice on how to proceed with the situation or if it is possible to somehow connect the cable that goes into the modem from the telephone line to a laptop to use the internet without the use of a modem (as I believe the DSL cable is an RJ11 connecter and not the typical RJ45/Ethernet connecter head). Thanks for the help
Click to expand...
No.

I suppose you could still connect via dial up if your laptop has a built in modem and if your ISP still offers it.
 
12v power supply on a 9v modem = 25% faster interwebs! And brighterblinkenlites!

Seriously though, it shouldn't make much of a difference. Modem was probably already fried.
 
KaylinGov said:
So I had a tp-link WiFi modem initially supplying WiFi to my entire house but yesterday we experienced a power outage that I think may have fried the device or power cable. When the power came back on this morning, the device did not power on (tried it on different plug points in the house, does not turn on at all neither does any device pick it up). Now if it were any normal day, I'd just go buy another modem or power cable but

1) I haven't seen any place that carries its kind of power plug (9V, 0.85 A output). Regardless, I dont know if the plug or the modem is fried so there's no point in buying a plug if it's not going to power on the device. The only other power plug I have, is my hard drive power plug, which I don't want to take a chance with and connect to the device as the hard drive power plug rating is 12V, 1A.

2) Our ADSL line is cancelled at the end of the month, so there's no point in me buying a new device as I'm not planning to renew it any time soon.

Basically what I'm asking is if anyone has any advice on how to proceed with the situation or if it is possible to somehow connect the cable that goes into the modem from the telephone line to a laptop to use the internet without the use of a modem (as I believe the DSL cable is an RJ11 connecter and not the typical RJ45/Ethernet connecter head). Thanks for the help
Click to expand...

So what is your new internet connection method after the end of the month? Fibre? Fibre not installed yet?
 
Sinbad said:
Lol plugging a 12v supply into a 9v device and not expecting smoke..?
If it wasn't dead, you killed it.
Click to expand...


Yeah pretty much, I was desperate. Either way I looked at it, the device was dead, cos I tried a similar plug to the original and got nothing.
 
supersunbird said:
So what is your new internet connection method after the end of the month? Fibre? Fibre not installed yet?
Click to expand...


Nothing actually. I was only planning on getting the network back once fibre rolls out (which hasn't even started in our neighbourhood). Nobody else in the house was willing to foot even a portion of the bill, but everyone wanted to use it so I cut it cos I can't afford it anymore.

Back to mobile data. 2GB pm at that too.

Yikes, there goes all my streaming and gaming.
 
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bwana said:
No.

I suppose you could still connect via dial up if your laptop has a built in modem and if your ISP still offers it.
Click to expand...

Nope checked it out, no built in modem unfortunately. Anyway, situation got a bit more complicated since I posted. I don't know whether to add it in as an edit or comment on the thread cos it doesn't really relate to the initial question I posed.
 
KaylinGov said:
So I had a tp-link WiFi modem initially supplying WiFi to my entire house but yesterday we experienced a power outage that I think may have fried the device or power cable. When the power came back on this morning, the device did not power on (tried it on different plug points in the house, does not turn on at all neither does any device pick it up). Now if it were any normal day, I'd just go buy another modem or power cable but

1) I haven't seen any place that carries its kind of power plug (9V, 0.85 A output). Regardless, I dont know if the plug or the modem is fried so there's no point in buying a plug if it's not going to power on the device. The only other power plug I have, is my hard drive power plug, which I don't want to take a chance with and connect to the device as the hard drive power plug rating is 12V, 1A.

2) Our ADSL line is cancelled at the end of the month, so there's no point in me buying a new device as I'm not planning to renew it any time soon.

Basically what I'm asking is if anyone has any advice on how to proceed with the situation or if it is possible to somehow connect the cable that goes into the modem from the telephone line to a laptop to use the internet without the use of a modem (as I believe the DSL cable is an RJ11 connecter and not the typical RJ45/Ethernet connecter head). Thanks for the help
Click to expand...

So firstly, thanks to all of you who helped on the topic. Really appreciated it. Unfortunately, things got even more complicated as the day progressed and now there's another issue other than just buying a new router.

I eventually managed to find an old router (one of those Duos ones telkom gave out for free years ago) and after a while of undoing what they do to program these (they changed the DNS from the standard IP, changed the username and password for the router as well). I managed to connect everything and the internet was back albeit now moving at half the speed it used to.

Enter issue two.

While connecting everything back (I.e. the line splitter and filter from the telephone box on the wall) I discovered that the phone line stopped working. We have a cordless phone at home and even though it was detecting the base and was ringing when we made calls to it, we could not make any outgoing calls or answer any calls on the line. I then removed the line splitter and filter to connect it directly to the wall and got the same issue. At this point, I assumed whatever blew the modem blew the phone as well somehow, so I switched to one of the old phones with the cord (connecting it directly to the wall, which made the phone give the working dial tone). I then connected the splitter and filter back to then encounter the same issue with the telephone line not working and the data line working.

Thinking it was probably the splitter, I dug up an old splitter and then connected that instead of the older one and the old phone worked (cordless gave the same issue where it rung but we could not make or answer calls) but attaching the filter caused very loud static noise on the phone, so I did away with the filter and began setting up the router again...

Only now the DSL light on the router wouldn't stop blinking...

* Sigh *

So here I am at this point in time, an old router, an old phone and two different splitters (one which makes the data line work and one which makes the telephone line work but neither which makes both work at the same time). The cordless phone still does not work (outside of the operation I've already described) and neither does the modem I initially had.

I have already phoned telkom to report a fault (which they have confirmed as a line fault, but have not decided if it is an error on their end or our end, with us liable for a call out fee of about 310 ZAR if it is an error on our end) and they informed us it would take 5 working days to sort out depending on the technicians workload (I'm already only expecting this to be resolved next year as Christmas and Boxing day are in 4 working days). As for what caused this, I have no clue. Unsure if it's a power surge (as due to the blackout last night, a new power box had to be installed in our road, in addition to resolving the issue elsewhere) or lightning hitting our telephone line. If anyone has anymore advice (even though it goes off what the initial question and problem was) it would be appreciated.
 
I bought a tp link at game for R400, on sunday. Any device connected to a telephone line will die with a bad surge.
You should get a multimeter to test your power supplies. on Dstv power supplies you can test it with a 20 watt 12 volt globe. [car turn signal bulb]. You do get adsl/modems that can do 3g [gsm] and adsl.
 
KaylinGov said:
Nothing actually. I was only planning on getting the network back once fibre rolls out (which hasn't even started in our neighbourhood). Nobody else in the house was willing to foot even a portion of the bill, but everyone wanted to use it so I cut it cos I can't afford it anymore.

Back to mobile data. 2GB pm at that too.

Yikes, there goes all my streaming and gaming.
Click to expand...
Whoopee. Block everybody from using your ADSL line until they pay a part of the bill. Fair is fair.
 
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