Network Devices

A network cannot function with just cables and wireless signals. To communicate data through different transmission media and to configure networks with different functionality, we need dedicated hardware devices.

The textbook introduces eight such devices, in this order: Modem, Ethernet Card, RJ45, Repeater, Hub, Switch, Router, and Gateway. Each one is covered in its own section below — from converting signals for a telephone line, to the physical circuit board and connector that plug a computer into a wired network, to regenerating a weakened signal, to broadc …