ISP and router

Hello

I used to bridge my gateway and use my old router which is now not working. I now use the gateway not bridged so set up the router within it with a password and key and use WPA2 etc.

My older  pcs   are not compatible with AC, only the phones so all is working.

My question is, can the isp see my through my gateway's firewall and monitor my activity?  Should I get a new router and bridge again?

TY

Peter

makes absolutely no difference what you do on your side of the modem regarding routers and firewalls because all your internet activity passes through your isp so they can always record and monitor what you do on the internet if they wanted to.

 

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My question is, can the isp see my through my gateway's firewall and monitor my activity?

No. Just because the modem, router, wireless access point (WAP) and 4-port Ethernet switch are all integrated into one box, sharing one circuit board and one power supply, that does not mean they behave like 1 device. Those are still four discrete network devices. So no, your ISP cannot see through your gateway device and into your "local" network (LAN) (unless you grant them remote access). But as Terry noted, anything you do involving their side of the gateway device (the Internet), goes through their network and they can certainly see that traffic. But note most of that is encrypted so they can't actually see it in clear text anyway. And why would they pick you out of all of their customers anyway? Are you involved in illegal activities? Are you consuming really massive amounts of data 24/7? Are you sending out 1000s and 1000s of identical emails at a time?

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My older  pcs   are not compatible with AC, only the phones so all is working.

Note that pretty much all WAPs are dual-band these days so even though yours is AC compatible (a good thing, BTW), it should also support your older 11b/g/n devices too. Check the manual.

I see my ISP on my phones but not my desktop or laptop.

I am not paranoid, as the implication suggests. I just wanted information to obtain the best security for my network as most people would..

Incidentally, I spoke with a tech one day and they told me the could not see my information even if I wanted them to do so to help. I have Comcast.

 

So whether I should bridge and use a router of my own is debatable as far as this thread is concerned.

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So whether I should bridge and use a router of my own is debatable as far as this thread is concerned.

Not to me. If your network is not broke, don't fix it. And from here, it is not broke.

 

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So whether I should bridge and use a router of my own is debatable as far as this thread is concerned.

Not to me. If your network is not broke, don't fix it. And from here, it is not broke.

 

same here, i'd only add a bridge or another router if you needed to for some reason, maybe to extend your wifi signal range to spots it doesn't reach. so seeing how you don't seem to have a problem the extra hardware would fix i see no reason to spend money on such hardware.

 

am curious by what you mean by this though.

 

I see my ISP on my phones but not my desktop or laptop.

how do you see your isp on your phones? don't forget phones use a totally different type of network to make calls and such, so maybe it is this network your looking at on your phones.

 

what you'd see on a pc is not your isp's name but just their ip address, so if for example you ran a traceroute to googles web page you'd see the ip address of every connection it made to get there, and the first stop outside your network is always your isp's.

 

My language is not good regarding the functions and names in the digital world.

"I see the SSID on both phones but not on the pcs".

The pcs are older and are not compatible with AC.

So I have two [accounts] with my router one for US and one for US2; by that I mean I have a 5 Ghz and a 2Ghz account within the router. The older pcs see the 2 Ghz and the newer phones see the 5 Ghz.

I think I now understand what you are saying Peter.

 

For the record… your ISP is your Internet Service Provider.  You have an account with them.  There is nothing to "see" about them from your devices.  As long as your router can communicate with your ISP, it serves as the gateway to the internet.  If it can't communicate with the ISP, your devices on your LAN (Local Area Network) could still communicate with each other if desired - but no internet access.  The ISP connection makes you part of the WAN (Wide Area Network).  In this case the World Wide Web.

 

Your SSID is your Service Set IDentifier.  That is simply the "name" given to the radio signal broadcast by your wireless access point (in your case, built in to the box you refer to as your router)  Because you have two radio signals being broadcast (one at 2.4 ghz and one at 5 ghz), you have two SSID's being transmitted.  These are not separate accounts.  They are just different points of access to your access point.  Much like you have 4 choices to plug a cable into the switch portion of your router.  Using one versus the other is similar to unplugging your ethernet cable from port 1 and plugging it into port 2. Because your pc's cannot receive the 5 ghz signal, they cannot "see" it.  Your phones can receive either so they "see" both of them.

Tom

Thank you Tom for articulating my point of view.. I will not get the router.

This is my first message with the anniversary upgrade. I am not removing system files until I decide if I like tis. I tried once before but did not like it. I have an image of 1511 in case. I think the files disappear after a week anyway.

I notice Windows prompted me to update drivers but I declined. I will go to each site if trouble.

TY all

Peter