The router and a splitter, for your personal PC, provide the same basic function. They both allow more than one computer on a network to connect to the internet. While a splitter simply splits the connection, a router is slightly more sophisticated in the way it is configured. If two individual computers are connected to the internet with a splitter, they have no more protection than what the individual computers provide. They retain their own IP addresses and interact as individual PCs.
A router works differently. First, it has a firewall designed to protect the computers on its network. Any virus or threat must breach the router’s firewall first before it can get to the individual computers. A router stores the incoming IP, giving different IPs to the computers connected on the network. Your cable modem senses only the router’s IP, that is, it views it as only one IP connected to the internet instead of many.
Where a router can really shine is when it protects a company’s network. For example, the Cisco 3825 integrated services router provides its network superior security features such as: Cisco IOS Firewall support, Intrusion Prevention, encryption, as well as many others. Because businesses that deal with confidential data, consumer credit card information, extensive client lists, the government, and other data that’s highly attractive to hackers or botnets, must secure that data, routers help do exactly that and still allow them to use multiple terminals on the same network– each terminal benefitting from the router’s advanced security features.
Dedicated routers can also log packet information. When data enters the router in the form of a packet, the router decides whether it can pass through, or whether the router should drop it to protect the computers receiving it. Either way, many routers can log what is passed and dropped giving you, or the administrator, the ability to see what kind of data is being sent to your network without having to open a virus-ridden email to discover that a virus attempted an attack.