Routers control the communication across a network: all of the different pieces of equipment are directly or indirectly connected to it. The external broadband line also connects into the router.

The router then controls the communication between the cameras and the internet to funnel the camera images out to the internet server where you can view them remotely.

It is essential to have a router to run the system. It is possible to have access to the internet using a modem instead of a router, and if you only have one PC and no other equipment connected to the internet then this is possibly the situation you are in.

View a simple system diagram or complex system diagram

How to tell whether you already have a router

There are a number of different ways to do this.
a) normally the equipment will say 'router' or 'modem' on it!

b) if you currently just have a PC and printer, you have had no need of a router and are very unlikely to have one connected to your PC.

c) if you have been subscribed to a normal broadband (ADSL) package for more than a year then you are likely to have a modem to link to one PC. A modem will only have one input socket (from the phone line) and one output socket (to the PC). It cannot connect in multiple pieces of equipment. Routers are more expensive and have only more recently been supplied by broadband providers as standard equipment.

A modem typically looks like this:

Typical modem sockets showing telephone line input (called DSL - Digital Subscriber Line) and the output to the PC

d) a router will have multiple sockets (normally 4,8 or 16) and the connections will typically look like this:

Larger routers will have more ethernet ports but will still only have one power socket and telephone line input socket.

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