# What is a router?

A router is the device that connects one network to another and passes traffic between them, most often your office network to the internet. It decides where each packet of data should go next, like a sorting office for mail. In small offices the router often also acts as a firewall, a Wi-Fi access point and the device that hands out addresses to computers. Because everything leaving your network passes through it, the router matters for security: keep its software updated, change the default administrator password, switch off remote administration from the internet and check its list of connected devices now and then.

FAQ: [What is…? Network and security terms](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/glossary) · https://netsenx.com/en/faq/what-is-a-router

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