#Router for mac os x plus

This anti-hacking function is called a firewall. Only the router uses the external IP address provided by your ISP. This process is called Network Address Translation, or NAT.ДЄs well as enabling your broadband connection to be shared among many computers, NAT provides a measure of security from hackers, as the IP address of your Mac is never exposed to the wider internet. When an incoming TCP/IP packet arrives from the internet, the router opens it and re-addresses it using the local IP addresses of your home network. The router is like a telephone exchange it assigns separate IP addresses to all the computers connected to it and acts as a single point of contact for the wider network beyond it. If your modem has sockets for Ethernet cables, then it is actually a modem/router. Your broadband modem has an IP address assigned to it by your ISP and, if you have a modem that plugs into a USB port on your Mac, then this IP address is available exclusively for the use of that Mac.Д«ut if you want to connect more than one computer through the same broadband connection, you need a router вЂ“ if you're not sure where yours is, that's because most modern broadband modems have a router built-in. And every packet has a number, called an IP address, which identifies which computer or device it's intended for.

(This is a fairly meaningless acronym, so don't bother trying to remember what it stands for.) Each TCP/IP packet contains a small piece of a website, or a graphic, or a downloaded file, or whatever is being sent from the internet. This data takes the form of network 'packets' that are wrapped up using an addressing protocol called TCP/IP. The modem takes the analogue electrical signal from the phone line and extracts the digital data stream encoded within it. At the phone socket, you plug in a filter that splits the frequency range, so that the lower 4KHz is used by voice phone calls and the rest is sent to the modem. If you have ADSL broadband вЂ“ the most common kind вЂ“ it's delivered to your house through the phone line.

#Router for mac os x plus

This, plus your Mac, is the simplest network you can have, and for lots of people it's all the network they need. When you get broadband, your internet service provider (ISP) normally supplies you with a broadband modem. But armed with the next few pages, you'll be able to roll for cover and return fire. Home networking is a rough neighbourhood and you're always going to get shot at. Long after death and taxes have both been abolished, network problems will remain. Despite all this, your network may still sometimes break.