Routers Hardware Users List

A router is a hardware routing device. A router works at layer 3 of the OSI model—the Network layer—and so can communicate between various networks. Layer 3 is where the IP protocol examines the source and destination of packets between IP addresses. In the event that the destination is not listed, the router will either send the packet to a default router or drop the packets as lost. Routers are usually used to connect a LAN to a wide area network (WAN) because routers prevent broadcast traffic from bleeding between networks by isolating their own broadcast domain. If the network is being bombarded by IP broadcasts, the router allows you to segregate traffic using subnetting. Only the router allows broadcast traffic to flow between subnets. Because routers prohibit broadcast traffic and give you control over the TCP and UDP ports, they make exceptional firewalls.