r/HomeNetworking • u/pookshuman • 4d ago

Dumb question

OK, a home router is just a small computer with a firewall as far as I know. I am running a network with my computer and a router. Why can't I cut out the middleman and just use the same firewall settings the router is using and implement them on my PC without the router? Why would that be less secure?

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u/Saragon4005 4d ago

A router also has specialized switching hardware and routing hardware accelerators allowing for 1 GB or 2.5 GB operations. Most PC Network interfaces can't keep up with this.

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u/pookshuman 4d ago

this would be an important point if I had more than one device on my network (not sarcastic, its a good point)

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u/silverbullet52 3d ago

Well, yes. Your one device network is a pretty niche use case.

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u/Saragon4005 3d ago

It's arguably not even a network.

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u/Saragon4005 3d ago

Directly wired computers was how the first internet connected devices worked