Could someone explain why we can’t just plug the average PC etc into a ‘raw’ internet line (like just entering a house) and have a mini modem on the motherboard do the translation work?
I know there’s a limit to IP addresses, and that it’s maybe easier to have a little box do the work where it enters a building.
… but apart from that?
That’s actually more or less how it used to work. You’d plug your computer directly to the internet and connect that way. You’d have to dial into the internet. Constantly being online was a novelty. Especially when you paid by the minute. But then people started having more than one PC and thus home routers became a thing.