[LPDad]

Take Unite's advice--He knows what he is talking about.

Best part of the router is that once you have set up your home lan (all the puters connect to the router and the router connects to the internet) then you no longer have to keep the gateway puter on for the others to access the internet. Any puter can access and use the internet at any time.

You can forward ports to a specific computer

The Router itself also serves as a firewall for added protection.

Basically, the router is on all the time and connected. Everything else connects to the router. Makes sharing files/transfers very easy, simple Lan game setup, etc -- or not if you so choose.