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Routers have become important and common items in the server rooms of many businesses. Where once these devices were relegated to professional information technology firms and the domain of computer geeks, now they have become an important network tool.

 

Despite the importance of routers for the daily running of many businesses, very few people know about them or know how they work. Even fewer really care. Routers find them in the domain where the average person tries to think about them only when something goes wrong. However, having some knowledge of how these devices work can be useful, if only to explain to tech support what is wrong with the router.

 

At its simplest, a router is a networking device. It has the hardware and the software that allows it to route and forward information to where it needs to go. A router acts as a connection between two or more networks – in most cases the internet service provider (ISP) and a home or office network. The router’s job is to take incoming information and to forward it to the correct destination.

 

For example, in an office network there are three computers connected to a router with a switch. One of the computers sends a request to download the user’s email, another user tries to surf to a site on the internet and the third user is trying to access another computer on the network. The router takes these requests and after getting the information, sends the information to the right server via the correct network. It acts as a sort of traffic officer for the network, ensuring that the information and data packages get to where they need to be.

Routers may all have the same basic function, but routers are not all created equal. When purchasing a router there a few things that are useful to keep in mind. First and foremost is the capacity of the router. For a small home network a simple router will do the trick, but when you get to large corporate offices, you may find that the company has a host of routers connecting all the computers together. This is because a company may have multiple networks and multiple connections to other branches, and a router is used to correctly determine which route to take (which network to use).

 

The next consideration is a firewall. Some routers come with a firewall installed. This firewall protects your computer and network from hackers and outside influences. If the router you are planning on buying does not come with a firewall it is imperative that you invest in good firewall software – or choose a router that has a firewall built in.

 

Finally there is the wired versus wireless consideration. With a wired router you need to have enough cables available to connect the computers in the network to each other. On the other hand, a wireless network does not require extra wires for the network to function. On the other hand, the farther away a computer is from the router, the weaker the signal will be and the slower the speeds.

 

Routers are useful tools in the home and in the office. Most people only see routers as the device that connects them to the internet, but they are used throughout the world to create the networks that people work on every day.

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