Quote from LeeD:
I came to a large shop that sells computer hardware. They had 5 (five) wireless routers which are not ADSL modems but they didn't have a single ADSL modem which is not a router. WTF?
It makes sense from the manufacturer's viewpoint. ADSL modems are home appliances. If you already have a CPU and Linux (costs too much to not have Linux), then why not enable routing/NAT for a wider audience. Of course for the techie, it is just another box which needs to be configured. That is the nature of mass production.