Network Routers advantages and disadvantages
The router allows the computers to communicate with the devices in the other networks. It can connect multiple users to the Internet. Connecting to the Internet requires a publicly unique IP address. The Internet offers only a single IP address or charge fees for large amounts of publicly routable addresses.
Routers advantages
Routers work on LAN and WAN. They offer path selection, they can filter the broadcasts while leading them between two interfaces, they can be connected to many media and architectures that facilitate the work in some companies, they can connect different network architectures, such as Ethernet and Token Ring.
The router offers Internetwork communication. It can choose the best path across the internetwork using dynamic routing techniques. It can reduce the network traffic by creating collision domains and broadcast domains.
Routers use NAT (Network-Address-Translation). So, you can add the router with network address translation enabled, Connecting to the Internet through the router with NAT allows the router to use a single public IP address and series of UDP ports to share the connection, connecting the large organization’s computers to the Internet becomes virtually impossible without NAT.
Routers
Routers don’t forward the broadcasts by default. They save the bandwidth of network. They can filter the network based on layer 3 (Network layer) information (IP address). They offer packet switching, and they offer packet filtering.
The routers can deliver the packets of data in an organized way, So, lowering the data load, The routers enable stead and reliable connection between network hosts. They make use of alternative parts in case the main parts fail to transfer the data packets.
There are another advanced version of network routers which are the wireless routers, The wireless routers establish the communication link between the devices and the networks without the use of wires, They will enable you to work any where you want to in your home including your lawn and swimming pool.
The routers can determine the best path/route for the information or data to reach the destination. They are adaptable devices, maintaining constantly changing routing tables to forward the traffic to its destination in the most efficient way possible.
If the external network component fails, The router will be able to recognize this and route traffic to avoid the failed component, Large-scale cross-network communication would be very difficult without the routers to proactively manage the traffic in this way.
The routers offer a convenient platform for other network services, because the routers always sit at the edge of the network, They can be combined with hardware firewall to create a single device which both routes the traffic & manages the network security.
The routers which are integrated with the modems and the wireless access points are common, with the wireless modem-router often the only hardware needed to create the small network.
Routers disadvantages
The routers work only with the routable protocols, not all protocols are routable, The routable protocol is the network addressing standard which gives the devices unique addresses which can be used across multiple networks, The contrasts with non-routable protocols that only assign local addresses to the devices.
The router is slower than the bridge or the repeater because it should analyze the data transmission from the physical to the network layer, Repeaters and bridges only need to read two layers of information the data link and physical, Routers are more expensive than the bridges or the repeaters.
The router is more expensive than any other device that can play a similar role such as Hub, Bridge and Switch , Routing updates consume the bandwidth, An increase in latency due to a greater degree of packet filtering, the more data it has to filter, the slower the router’s function gets.
You will need to consider quality of service configurations, QoS helps prioritize one type of traffic such as the voice , over others when the bandwidth is limited, As additional services are added, more configuration becomes required to the router.
Routers are complex to maintain. They have security risks, compromised router can offer security problems, It can provide gateway for malware to access the network. Accessing the router in this way allows the users to intercept traffic as it enters& exits the network, So, unencrypted traffic can be read or altered by the third party.
There are many issues which come from the wireless router, particularly with Wi-Fi network connections, The problems can result from the cheap modem to the router combinations that most telecom companies use.
So, while such units offer a cheap Internet connection, It doesn’t provide better speeds than the 802.11g, that is referred to as the wireless g, After the release of the wireless g, The standards for wireless communication have increased further than the 802.11n & its successor.
You should have the wireless adapter using 802.11n or the 802.11ac technology on top of the router with capacity to provide such speeds to acquire the most recent wireless standards.
There is another problem which is the channel saturation. The people who live in the apartments may experience disconnections of the Internet. due to the 2.4GHz spectrum that is still being used in modern devices.
The latest trend among manufacturers is to adapt the 5GHz band aside from the older 2.4GHz, The routers are called dual band routers, which make it capable of connecting to either 2.4 or 5GHz wireless adapters, Dual Band Routers are a bit costly compared to the standard routers , So, prices vary from one manufacturer to another which depend on the model.
There are compatibility issues, It is required that your computer or network adapter should support the configuration for the 5GHz frequency, You can not access the benefits of the 5GHz range, if you have an older PC & its adapters can not use a 5GHz frequency, So, you should buy a cheaper router that support your needs.
There is a problem with 5GHz Range, The range of a 5GHz wireless connectivity will be shorter compared to the 2.4GHz due to the fact that it is on a higher frequency, So, you should be able to keep your devices within the range of both frequencies to take the benefits of the dual-band router.
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