Today, most people already find it difficult to imagine their lives without the Internet. Almost all of us know how to use the Internet to search for information, but sometimes we do not always know how data transmission is technically arranged. Therefore, in this article, in simple words, let’s understand what a router is.
When you connect the Internet, an Internet cable (twisted pair) is installed in the apartment. This cable gives you access to the World Wide Web, but the way the communication protocols are set up, you can connect the Internet via cable to only one device. This does not create any problems with the connection if you need to connect to the Internet, for example, only a computer, or only a laptop. But today’s reality is that almost every device in the house may need an Internet connection to work properly: computers and laptops, phones and tablets, TVs and game consoles. It is not possible to run a dozen cables for each device, and it would be inconvenient, so for such purposes use routers.
Home Networking
A router, or in other words a Wi-Fi router, is a wireless data transmission device. To put it simply, a router receives the signal from the provider and distributes it to all the necessary gadgets. Thus, on one subscriber connection, it forms its own intra-apartment local network.
How a router works
As a rule, your ISP provides one IP address. For additional addresses and a separate connection to the Internet for each device will have to pay. The function of a Wi-Fi router is to connect multiple devices at one external IP-address, with further distribution of traffic to internal addresses of the home network, which the router itself assigns. Just like several SIM cards can’t work with the same phone number, several different gadgets can’t be connected to the network with the same IP-address.
Exchanging data with servers on the same external address, creating internal ones for different home devices – that is the basic principle of the router.
Therefore, the Wi-Fi router works with two addresses at once: internal and external. Using the internal IP address, the devices submit a request to the router. The router remembers the address and passes the request on to the external IP. Then, the response comes to the external IP, and since the router previously remembered the address of the device that requested the data, it passes the response on to its destination. This process is called routing.
How to use a Wi-Fi router
So, after we’ve figured out what a router is and how it works, let’s take a brief look at how to use a Wi-Fi router.
For starters, it’s worth noting that modern routers are easy to use and ready to go without much complicated setup. However, there are a few important things to consider before accessing the Internet.