Hello Friends, In today’s article we will talk about Router. After all, what is this router and how does the router work?
Router is one of the most used networking device in the world today, but what is this router?
If you have a network or Internet connection in your home or office, then there will definitely be a router around you.
If you still do not understand how this router looks, then you should look in the corner of your home or office, it is some box-shaped light flashing device.
What are the Routers?
Router is responsible for establishing or doing communication between computer networks. A router is a networking device that works at the Layer 3 or network layer of the OSI model.
Routers are responsible for receiving, analyzing and forwarding data packets between interconnected computer networks.
Router works to carry data from other devices in the form of data packets from one place to another and directs them to the right place for processing.
Routers often use IP addresses to know where to find information.
Routers allow your computer to access the Internet or retrieve files from servers. The router also ensures that the information goes back to the device that requested it.
How does Router work?
When you open your internet browser and type “www.101desires.com” to go to our homepage, your computer sends a data packet to receive the requested file.
These data packets go from your computer to your router. The router then sends the data packet to the modem.
The modem then sends information to find the 101desires.com website server, which is connected to the Internet by a router.
The data packet will then reach the router on 101desires.com’s servers, and the router will receive the file a user requested.
This file is then sent back to your router, which then sends it to your computer.
All this process happens in the blink of an eye and you do not even know that so much processing goes behind it.
Main Features of Routers
1. Router is Layer 3 or Network Layer device.
2. It connects various networks together and sends data packets from one network to another.
3. The router can be used in both LAN (Local Area Network) and WAN (Wide Area Network).
4. It transfers data in the form of IP packets. To transmit data, it uses the IP address defined in the path of the IP packet.
5. There is a Routing Table in the router which gets refreshed from time to time according to the changes in the network.
For transmitting data packets, it consults the table and uses the routing protocol Routing Protocol.
6.Routers share information amongst each other to prepare or refresh the routing table.
7. Routers provide protection against Broadcast Storms.
8.Routers are more expensive than other networking devices like hubs, bridges and switches.
Router making companies…
- Cisco
- D-Link
- HP
- 3Com
- Juniper
- Nortel
Types of Routers
Wireless Router – This type of router provides WiFi connection to WiFi devices like laptops, smartphones etc.
They can also provide Standard Ethernet Routing. For indoor connections, it has a range of 150 feet while for outdoor connections, it has a range of 300 feet.
Broadband routers – These are used to connect to the Internet via telephone and use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to provide high-speed Internet access.
These are configured and provided by Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Core Routers – Such routers can route data packets within a given network, but cannot route packets between networks.
These help to connect all the devices inside the network. It is used by ISPs and communication interfaces.
Edge Routers – These are low-capacity routers that are placed in the circle of the network. These connect the internal network to the external network, and are suitable for transferring data packets across the network.
Such routers use Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) for connectivity.
There are two types of Edge Routers, Subscriber Edge Routers and Labeled Edge Routers.
Routers – Routers are special types of routers that can work like bridges.
Like bridges, routers help transfer data between networks. And like a router, they also route data to devices within a network.
What is the difference between Router and Modem?
As we said, routers carry data packets over networks and over the Internet.
But Modem and Routers are often used interchangeably, so what is the difference between these two?
Modem only provides you internet access, it converts the analog information coming from the source into digital form.
A modem primarily takes data packets from your network and transfers them as electrical currents via Ethernet so that they can be quickly transferred over the Internet by cable or satellite.