A router mediates between networks. In your own four walls, the device connects your home network to the Internet, to which the Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides access. The ISP - such as Vodafone or Telekom - provides you with a rental router. You can find out which other important tasks a router has in this tipps + tricks article.
How does a router work?
The router is the heart of your network. The term router comes from English and means something like distributor in German . In short, the device is a network device that connects different computer networks together by forwarding packets of data from one network to another. In the private network, this is your home network and the Internet. As a rule, the router is physically connected to the modem via a network cable via the Internet port (DSL) or cable connection and, in turn, via WLAN or Ethernet cable to all physically used devices in your household. The router in your home network is the component that enables communication between your PCs or smartphones and the Internet.
The FritzBox is probably one of the best-known and most widely used routers. Tip: Even if a router and modem are used in the same context, they are still different devices. Modern devices such as Fritz boxes combine both properties, including WLAN, in one device.
In order to better understand how the device works, we give you a brief overview of what happens when you open heise.de in the browser on your computer:
- You send a request to call up the website - this first lands on the router.
- The router takes the information for correct forwarding from the incoming data packets.
- The request now lands on the web server of the target page.
- Their response comes back to the router in the form of data packets and is read out by the router.
- The router decides to which device the response will be forwarded.
- If you receive the answer, heise.de will be displayed in your web browser.
The routing takes place via internal and external IP addresses. If you want to know exactly what an IP address is, read our relevant article. If you use the WLAN instead of a wired connection, the process changes. The radio waves cannot be aimed specifically at a terminal device. This is why your wireless router transmits in all directions and your computer receives them at the same time and evaluates the data packet. At the same time, however, all other devices in the network also receive the same information.
Not all routers are the same
Not every router has the same structure and functions. If we generalize different router models, there are two types that are currently important:
- WLAN router: A WLAN router is connected directly to a modem via a cable. This enables it to exchange information between the Internet and your home network. The router then creates a Wi-Fi network and communicates with your devices such as game consoles, computers, tablets and smartphones via built-in antennas.
- Wired Routers: A wired router connects directly to computers using wired connections. The router is connected to the Internet via a port via a DSL connection - or via cable if you use cable Internet. The other ports can be used to connect to other computers on your network using Ethernet cables.
WLAN routers are most often used in modern networks..