What exactly is a router?

[OrangeVixen]

why bother using a computer when you can have a dedicated router device for a lot less money ?

Are there dedicated routers for dialup? ppp? I always wondered that, I thought you can only set up a router like that with a computer?

[JKyleOKC]

Are there dedicated routers for dialup? ppp? I always wondered that, I thought you can only set up a router like that with a computer?

At one time, dedicated routers such as the LinkSys WRT254 were available; these had no modem included as part of the unit. They worked equally well (or poorly in some cases) with dial-up, DSL, or cable, because in each case a separate modem was required between the router and the phone/cable connection.

These days most if not all consumer-grade units combine the router and the modem into one box, so that a "cable router" won't work with DSL, a "DSL router" won't work with cable, and neither will work with dial-up although many do have a "WAN port" to which you can connect a dial-up modem. My ISP calls these combination units "gateways" and they often include wireless capability (as did the WRT254 for that matter).

However standalone dial-up modems themselves are difficult to find these days, and the ones that were built into recent computers (but not in the past couple of years) don't have any way to get the router in between the modem and the computer. In such a case, creating a "software router" within the computer as described in the original how-to article is the only way to travel...

[offgridguy]

I found this article, which i found helpful.

http://ask-leo.com/whats_the_differe..._a_router.html