Any part of a computer may be called a "modem".

This has to be one of the most common things heard while doing tech work.

User's definition of a "Modem": The big box thing down on the floor or on the desk.

Of course, any part of the computer is fair game. It also did not seem to matter that the problem being experienced had nothing to do with the actual modem or the internet.

Virus: Something is wrong with my modem.
Microsoft Word is not launching: Something is wrong with my modem.
Smoke and flames are pouring out of the monitor: Do you think it is something wrong with the modem?

It seems that some users tend to hear certain computer terms and then grasp onto them forever, even if corrected several times.



There was one instance that was extra maddening when I diagnosed a PC to have a bad mainboard. Of course, this customer referred to her computer tower as the "modem". The cost of getting a replacement motherboard for her system would have cost more than going to the store and buying a new one.

This customer lived in the middle of nowhere so their only option, other than internet through a wireless carrier or satellite, was through a dial up connection. There was nothing wrong with her actual modem, so I told her to make sure to get a mid size to full tower computer as a replacement so that we could reuse it (since at this time systems were not coming with internal modems anymore). I described, in detail, what she needed to look for and tell the salesperson and also warned her NOT to get a slim or mini computer.

Finally, a couple of weeks later I received a call that they got the new computer but her son could not get it on the internet. I went over to find that they not only got a slim mini tower (it said "slim AND "mini" on the box), but that they were trying to use the Ethernet port as a modem.

So the moral to this story is if a user uses a computer term, it does not mean that they understand it.