Cable Routers
 A
common misconception is that cable routers are "glorified hubs/switches".
This isn't necessarily true, although a router could be used as
an expensive hub or switch. Routers offer many extra features and
benefits over the simple repeating of data packets over a Local
Area Network (LAN).
A cable router looks very similar to a hub or
switch, in that it has a collection of ports on the front or back,
and accepts/sends data depending on where it is destined.
But the scope of a cable router goes much deeper
- the ports can be used to connect directly to other routers, hubs
or switches. In this capacity the cable router very quickly becomes
something of a "traffic controller", routing or directing
data traffic to it's correct destination.
The cable router comes with pre-loaded software
that holds a "routing table" of the current network, always
learning the quickest and most efficient routes for data to take
to achieve it's destination. The cable router makes it incredibly
easy to create networks between offices, countries and even continents
while keeping them efficient and scalable. In fact the cable router
is the single most used device on the Internet today - every web
site you view will travel through 8-20 cable routers along the way.
A cable router will read the Layer 3 logical addressing
information contained in each packet to determine where the data
should be sent. It compares this to the internal lookup table, and
either forwards the packets to destinations that hubs or Layer 2
switches simply cannot find, or determines that the packet cannot
be routed in this direction and drops it completely. Routers most
commonly translate TCP/IP or IPX packet header information to calculate
addressing information.
Although complex in nature, routers have become
commonplace in business and in homes. If you are using broadband
right now, you are using a simple router device that determines
whether or not traffic coming from your computer should be kept
in your home or transmitted over the Internet.
Routers can also include other features, including
Network Address Translation (NAT) to forward packets to particular
computers even though a packet's logical addressing information
directs otherwise, a firewall to prevent stray or malicious data
from entering a network controlled by the router, or port forwarding
to ensure any incoming connection on a particular port (e.g. web,
e-mail, ftp and so on) is always received by a particular device
on the network controlled by the cable router.
Most suitable cabling for routers: Shielded
Cables, UTP Cables, Fiber
Optic Cables
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structured cabling in the UK, France, Germany and Spain
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