Network Routers

Network routers are hardware devices that join two or more networks together. They can be connected with wires or they can be wireless. They’re used in businesses, home networks, and on the Internet. In fact, the Internet wouldn’t even be possible if it weren’t for routers joining the networks together.

What Network Routers Do

Network routers ensure that information doesn’t go where it is not needed, “directing traffic” as it were. They also make sure that the right information goes to its proper destination. For example, when you send an email, you want it to go to its intended recipient. A router makes that possible.

Routers serve a third function: protecting networks from each other. This way, traffic on one network won’t spill over to the other unless it needs to. This prevents “traffic jams” on the networks, clogging bandwidth. Routers can also translate between protocols if the networks it joins use different protocols.

Home network routers are also called broadband routers, residential gateways, and home gateways. They can be used as added protection to keep out unwanted traffic, filtering messages according to IP addresses. They also facilitate the ease of connecting a home network, since they combine router functions with functions of network switches and firewalls.