Basics Of A Router

Router is a computer device that receives or transmits data packets to and from the Internet to a destination in the process called routing. Router is the essential component of the computer networking that enables any sent data to arrive at the correct destination.

As an illustration, imagine that the Internet is the world and a computer is a household. Other computers connected through the Internet are households around the world. Say one household will send a letter to another household in any part of the world. The letter has the right address? And that address would determine the destination of the letter. But without reading the address, the letter should not reach the right recipient. The letter would not be able to reach the intended recipient if there's no way. This medium is the mail. And the mail computer data is the router.

A router (broadband router) is a device that allows two or more computers to receive data packets from the Internet under one IP address at a time.

Remember that to connect to the Internet, a computer must have a unique IP address from the rest of the computers. Therefore, each computer connected to the Internet has its own IP address. It's like having a fingerprint or ID card as an access badge to enter the site. With the presence of the router, this "fingerprint" or "ID" could be shared by two or more computers simultaneously.

In simplest form, a router makes two or more computers using the Internet to the same thing with an access passage.

One last thing: a computer with cable modem could also be considered as a router. In this, the computer will make the process of routing like normal routers. Other computers are then connected to the computer with an internet connection anyone with Internet connection. The computer with cable modem has the direct contact with the Internet and those who will come with sharing the connection.

Why would you need a router?

For households with two or more computers that want an Internet connection to all computers on which they have, taking subscription for each would be too. The solution is to buy a router allowing every computer in the house to have an Internet connection. In the definition of broadband router above, would act as a hub for existing Internet connection.

If the router is like a hub, would it affect the speed of the Internet?

It must be taken into consideration that once a single Internet connection is shared, the connection speed is affected. But there are some broadband routers that would bring minimal slowdown to the Internet speed and the effect may not even be great.

High Speed Internet will also depend on the type of application used in a router. While some inflict little effect on the speed like online games, others terribly slowdown your connection and even prevent you from using the Internet at all.

Usually, offices use a more sophisticated router to redirect Internet connections to many computers. These routers would give better data packeting compared to a typical router used at home that results to faster Internet speed.