Routers
Routers is an electronic device, that is very important for networking as it allows for devices
like phones, tablets and computers to be connected to that router to send information to it
which are packets and afterwards the router will perform as function called traffic directing
which normally forwards the packets from one router to another using nodes, and eventually
it will reach its destination where the packet was sent to. Routers can be used to connect to
a huge amount of networks on the same building, and or perhaps local area networks. A
router can have built in antennas to broadcast a WIFI hotspot to enable devices connect to
the router and share packets wirelessly without any cables so this can also reduce the
costs. . For the information to be sent the router there is normally a ADSL switch at the back
of the router allowing for a ADSL cable to be connected in the telephone socket.
Furthermore there will usually be 4 or more Ethernet ports to allow for Ethernet cables to be
connected allowing for good transfer rates. Routers are used very commonly because of its
good features and functions, some of these are:
Most routers come with built in security features to protect data going in and out of the
network, this can make sure no unknown hosts/ connections enter your network and can
protect your computer for DDOS attacks and IP signature etc. For example a router can
have a firewall, as there are two types of firewalls: hardware firewalls and software firewalls.
Your router functions as a hardware firewall, while Windows includes a software firewall. For
example this is especially useful in a large network, you can easily configure the firewall’s
settings from a single device. This also prevents users from changing them on their
computers.
Routers are very useful for businesses and personal use because of they are quite clever as
they allow for networking routing, so devices that use a lot of bandwidth will get more than
devices that are just surfing the web. However if they both using heavy bandwidth they will
both get equal amount of bandwidth. Furthermore the router can also adjust the signal to the
device allowing for a stronger relation so the transfer speed can be faster.
One of the main function of a router is to connect multiple networks, which means data can
be transferred from a network to another; this even mean that data can be transferred from
private network to the ISP’s network, and at the same time routers are able to connect from
one network, this can all be done over different networks.
Routers are very secure because of the encryption they use that can protect the network
from unknown users joining it and doing illegally activities or just simply using your
bandwidth. For example when digging through your router settings, you’ve probably
encountered a wireless security setting that let you choose between WEP, WPA, and WPA-
2. WEP is the weakest of them all while WPA-2 is the strongest. All of these allow for better
security.