Complete Home Wireless Networking. Windows XP Edition

In this chapter...

• Choosing a Wireless or Wired Router

• Adding a Router to Your Network

• Setting Up Windows ICS on the Host Computer

• Setting Up Client Computers

Now that you know how to set up a small network, let's look a bit more at connecting your network to the Internet. Specifically, we will explore how a router, sometimes called a gateway, might make your network both safer and easier to use than if you go without one.

In addition to connecting your network to the Internet, a router provides two main benefits to your network:

1. A router helps protect your network from other people connected to the Internet through network address translation (NAT), which shows just one IP address on the Internet and allows you to use that one IP address to access the Internet from all the computers on your network.

2. A router with DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) handles the assigning of IP addresses to your computers so that you don't have to. These private addresses aren't visible to the Internet at large.

Most, but not all, routers provide both NAT and DHCP. Look for routers that provide these two helpful capabilities.

Could you benefit from a router? Probably. Let's consider who is a likely candidate for purchasing either a router built in to a wireless access point or a standalone wired router.