What is the primary difference between a router and a switch?

What is the primary difference between a router and a switch?

• A. A router connects devices within a single network segment.
• B. A router connects multiple networks and routes traffic between them.
• C. A router stores data for the network.
• D. A router provides wireless access to a single device.

Answer: (B)

Routers and switches have different roles in a network. The key distinction is that a router connects multiple networks and routes traffic between them, using IP addresses to decide where to send packets and often handling tasks like Network Address Translation, DHCP relay, and firewall filtering. This is how traffic moves from your local network to other networks or the internet. A switch stays within a single network and forwards frames between devices based on MAC addresses, building a MAC address table so data is delivered only to the right device on that local network. In practical terms, the router enables communication outside your local network, while the switch simply expands how many devices can connect inside it. The other statements don’t fit because storing data isn’t the router’s main job, and providing wireless access to a single device is more like a wireless access point (or a router with wireless features serving many devices, not just one). So the best description is that a router connects multiple networks and routes traffic between them.

Routers and switches have different roles in a network. The key distinction is that a router connects multiple networks and routes traffic between them, using IP addresses to decide where to send packets and often handling tasks like Network Address Translation, DHCP relay, and firewall filtering. This is how traffic moves from your local network to other networks or the internet. A switch stays within a single network and forwards frames between devices based on MAC addresses, building a MAC address table so data is delivered only to the right device on that local network. In practical terms, the router enables communication outside your local network, while the switch simply expands how many devices can connect inside it. The other statements don’t fit because storing data isn’t the router’s main job, and providing wireless access to a single device is more like a wireless access point (or a router with wireless features serving many devices, not just one). So the best description is that a router connects multiple networks and routes traffic between them.