What Is a Router? Everything You Need to Know
When setting up your home computer network, you are likely going to want to communicate between the Internet and multiple devices. The most common and easiest way to do that is through a router. Routers often use an Ethernet cable to connect to a fiber optic network terminal (ONT) or a modem. An Ethernet cable is just a cord that physically connects two devices. A router uses your home’s internet connection along with your wireless and wired devices to create a local network. A router is also used for managing networks and hiding your personal devices from others.
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Some routers are individual units while others are combined with a modem known as a wireless gateway.
This article will look at what a router is, why you need it, and how it works, as well as answer other questions you might have about the device. If you are curious as to what routers are all about, keep reading to find out.
What Is a Router?
A traditional router shares a network connection with other wired devices in a home or office. It acts as a firewall and hub, with several ports for media streamers, game consoles, computers, and more. Routers also include a port to communicate with an ONT or modem.
Wi-Fi routers are devices that utilize a shared connection with both wireless and wired devices. It connects all the devices in your home to the Internet without having to plug each one into the modem. Routers can have up to eight external antennas or may have internal antennas in the device.
Wireless gateways are devices that act as both a router and a DSL modem. These often have many ports on the back for wired devices. The antennas can be external or internal, depending on the model.
You can imagine a router as a computer that only focuses on network traffic. It includes system memory, a processor, storage devices for diagnostic software and the startup configuration, and flash-based storage for the firmware or operating system. Several ports are available for Ethernet connections. There may also be USB ports.
Routers with external antennas tend to have better throughput and range than those with internal antennas. The antennas can be moved to get better signals, which isn’t possible with internal antennas.
To put it all together, a router acts as a network’s address and oversees local network traffic. The company that acts as your Internet provider apportions an IP address to the router rather than the modem. The most common kind of router today is the wireless router, so we’ll focus on that throughout this article.
Modems vs. Routers
Many people become confused about the difference between a modem and a router, but the two have very different purposes. If you do not have a modem, you can only access your local connection and have no method to connect to the Internet. Read more in our article on What is the Difference Between a Modem and a Router?
The modem connects to your provider and brings the Internet into your home. It also connects to the router to integrate across the entire network.
Modems used to enable connections between devices and signals using telephone lines. However, with the advent and popularity of high-speed Internet, in most areas of the country, modems don’t tie up the phone lines anymore, instead relying on either a splitter (DSL modem) or your cable lines (Cable modem) to connect.
To read more in-depth about modems, visit our article on What is a Modem?
Reasons to Use a Router
A router is mandatory when you want to use the same Internet connection for more than one device. Most Internet providers only offer a single IP address to the first device that connects to an ONT or modem. You can think of this address as a mailing address but for the Internet. It is required to send or receive data on the Internet.
Since only one address is provided, the router is the only device capable of receiving and sending data. When it shares the connection, it gives an address to every one of your devices, then receives and sends data on behalf of those devices.
In addition, routers are required if you want to handle all the devices on a network from a single central point.
Are ONT and Modems Required for Routers?
An ONT or modem is required for a detached router since it cannot read the signals that come from your Internet source. In addition, the router cannot send data to the provider without an ONT or modem to translate the data into appropriate signals that the company’s equipment can use and understand.
DSL and cable Internet use radio waves and copper wires to send data from one place to another. Fiber Internet is a more modern sort of connection and uses glass fibers and light signals. All three of these connections need something to translate the light or radio waves into data that the router can deliver and use on your devices.
How Do Routers Work?
Routers are responsible for creating routing tables (directories) that show all your wired and WiFi devices to send and receive data from the Internet. As these devices have one or more physical addresses, the router provides them with an IP address using dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP).
Each device that connects to the router gets an isolated IP address, whether it’s a computer, phone, or tablet. There is no need to manually configure this on your own.
Technical Attributes
When your device sends data packets to the router, it replaces the isolated address with its own and creates a ledger note. This includes the address of the destination (such as a game server, streaming service, or website). The ONT or modem receives the packet, converts it, and broadcasts it where it should go.
At the point where the router gets a reply from the ONT or modem, it looks at the initial destination address and delivers an appropriate response to the private address. The note is then deleted to show that the process between the device and website is complete.
How Wi-Fi Fits into the Mix
In terms of Wi-Fi, routers act like modems. The main difference is that radio waves are being used rather than telephone wires or coax cables.
If you use Wi-Fi to get to the Internet, the device turns data into radio waves and then uses internal antennas to move those waves to the router. It gets the waves, converts the data for Ethernet, and delivers it to the modem.
In situations where the router gets wireless response data from the modem, it takes the website address from it and checks it against the record in the table. It turns the data into radio waves, transmits that through the antennas, and deletes the record to complete the transaction.
Wireless connections are endlessly convenient, but the need to convert waves into signals creates latency. Even when using fiber Internet, the conversion adds some amount of slowness to the process.
What Happens with Ethernet?
While Wi-Fi is a bit complicated to use, Ethernet is not. There’s no need to remove or add data from radio waves. Instead, the router gets data from a wired device, changes the private IP address in the data, records what change was made, and then moves it to the modem.
When response data goes from the modem to the router, it gets the website address and checks the record in the table. The data is forwarded through the LAN port on the right wired device. The record is then deleted to complete the transmission.
Other Things Routers Are Capable Of
Have you ever read that connecting a computer right to a modem should never be done? This isn’t entirely accurate. If you have an updated antivirus and firewall on the computer, it’s completely safe to plug the computer into the modem. However, this is only true if you don’t plan to use additional devices.
Plugging a laptop into a modem isn’t much different from the days of dial-up Internet, although the web is far more populated and larger than it used to be.
However, there is another good reason to use a router. It’s all about network management. You can do each of the things listed below (and others) when you utilize a router:
- Deter specific wireless and wired devices
- Share files from central locations like USBs
- Allow or block access to certain websites
- Create a direct connection to specific devices
- Prioritize data, such as to a streaming service or video game
- Limit the hours when use occurs
- Create guest connections to avoid the need to share a primary password
Routers come with firewalls, which give you extra security between each of your devices and the Internet. Firewalls look at every data packet coming from the Internet to determine if they are valid. If the inspection fails, it will not move it to the destination. Common types of firewalls on routers include:
- Deep packet inspection (DPI) – This is a slower form of firewall that inspects every packet for proper formation and malware.
- Stateful packet inspection (SPI) – This is a quicker firewall since it examines where packets come from and where they are going before recording this data.
Final Thoughts
Routers are an essential part of today’s connected homes. It’s important to choose a router that you can easily control. The good news is that most modern routers are simple to install and use. They often come with user-friendly apps that help you with network management, user time limits, parental controls, and guest networks.
When you’re upgrading from an older router or setting up your first device, it’s important to understand what routers are and can do. This is the best way to ensure you choose one that meets all your needs.
Sources:
https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/router
https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-a-router-2618162
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/technology-explained-how-does-a-router-work/