Lesson 5 of 6
Routers, Gateways, and NAT
See how your home router connects you to the internet.
Your router is the gateway
A router forwards packets between networks. At home, your router connects your LAN to your ISP and the wider internet. It usually also acts as a Wi‑Fi access point and DHCP server that assigns private IPs to your devices.
The default gateway on your device is typically your router’s private IP, such as 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1.
NAT and port forwarding
NAT lets many devices share one public IP. When a device makes an outbound request, the router remembers the mapping and sends responses back to the correct private IP.
Port forwarding is used when you want inbound traffic (for example a game server) to reach a specific device behind NAT. Only enable it when needed and keep software updated.
Key takeaways
- Routers move traffic between networks.
- DHCP assigns local IP addresses automatically.
- NAT shares one public IP across many devices.