A '''router''' is a [[computer]] device which aggregates the [[network]] needs of many computers, and distributes [[bandwidth]] from a central [[broadband]] connection.
A router works bt having a unique address on each port and a map of the network in an internal table. The router reads a packet from an incoming port, looks it up in the table , and sends it out the appropriate port.
There are a number of protocols for managing the network address tables of the routers.
A Bridge is similar to a router but no address table is used. All traffic in one port goes out the other port.
[[Category:Computer Science]]