Smart Router Definition

A router is a device that communicates between the internet and the devices in your home that connect to the internet. As its name implies, it “routes” traffic between the devices and the internet.

With the right kind of router in your home, you may be able to enjoy faster internet service, help protect your family from cyberthreats, and avoid those maddening Wi-Fi dead spots.

You don’t have to be a computer genius to know what a good router has to offer. All it takes is to know what you need it for. Understanding how routers work will help you choose the right equipment for your home.

How do routers work?

A typical home has a range of internet-connected devices — personal computers, tablets, smartphones, printers, thermostats, smart TVs, and more. With your router, these devices form a network. A router directs incoming and outgoing internet traffic on that network in the fastest and most efficient way.

The information traveling on your home network could be an email, a movie, or a live feed from your baby cam, each of which takes up varying amounts of bandwidth. Making sure that information is delivered quickly and correctly is a big task — and getting bigger. As you add more and more devices — think Internet of Things — you ask your router to do more.

How modems differ from routers

A router and your devices aren’t the only components on your home network. There’s also the modem. In fact, without the modem, all you’d have is your local network with no access to the internet.

The modem’s job is to bring the internet service from your provider into your home. It then connects to your router, delivering that internet connectivity to your home network.

When most internet service was delivered over telephone lines, modems enabled communication between the digital devices in your home and the analog signals used on telephone lines. With today’s internet connections, including cable and satellite, modems play a similar but different role.