Benefits of Wireless Routers

By: Michael Sterios

Broadband is now streamed into more homes and business around
the world than ever before. Much like television before it,
broadband has provided a medium for content providers to supply
customers en masse. Unlike television, however, broadband is
delivering a more on-demand selection of content allowing its
users more freedom to choose what they want to watch, read, and
listen to, whenever they want.

As download speeds continue to increase a greater number of
broadband users are downloading heavy content items such as
entire films. This is because the time it takes to complete such
tasks are shortened. It is also the case that several computers
sharing the same broadband connection may accessing the Internet
simultaneously, therefore creating a situation in which these
machine must be connected to the point at which broadband enters
the premises.

In the past this was achieved by using cables and wires. More
recently, wireless routers have become popular amongst broadband
enthusiasts as they allow for the connection of multiple devices
to the same broadband connection, as well as the ability to
connect peripherals such as printers and cameras together,
without the need for unsightly cables running between each
device.

Apart from the obvious advantage of improving the look of your
home or office by not having cables running between devices,
wireless routers have other useful features as well. As the
router is a stand-alone device, it does not require a computer
to be switched on for it to operate. Therefore machines that are
not being used may be turned off while the broadband connection
remains active for other devices to use.

Wireless
Routers also provide an extra layer of security against
malicious programs such as viruses which can infect your
computers via the Internet connection. Routers have built-in
security features such as firewalls and the ability to protect
your wireless network by making it accessible through a
password. It is always recommended that this feature is enabled
in order to avoid unwelcome users hijacking your broadband
connection if they are in range of the router's output.

The router should also provide the ability to connect itself to
other devices with wires. Routers usually come with several
sockets for Ethernet cables which can be connected to your
devices' wireless network cards, should the need arise.

Broadband is often touted as an always-on service, and while
this may be true from the providers' point of view, it is not
usually the case if you connect from your computer via an
Ethernet cable and a modem. This is because the computer will
often be switched off when not in use, and therefore the
connection to the Internet is not active.

As mentioned before, a wireless router does not require an
active PC to function and therefore helps to provide a true
always-on broadband connection from the customers' perspective.
While ADSL modems require dialling up each time the computer
connected to it is turned on, a wireless router can remain
switched on and connected to the Internet 24 hours a day.

About the author:
Broadband-is-cheap contains information and deals on Wireless
Routers in the UK.