What Routers Do

• Routers route packets of data from one network to another. Some routers even control the Internet's infrastructure.
  
  

What Gateways Do

• Gateways are the portals that computers use to connect to the Internet. Sometimes one computer can be a gateway for others, which is made possible through Internet Connection Sharing (ICS).
  
  

Differences

• In the typical Internet connection, the router coordinates data transfer from one computer to another within a network and to other networks. The gateway is any device specifically designed to provide all the computers in a network with access to the World Wide Web.
  
  

Clarification

• Some routers are gateways themselves, but routers that do not provide direct access to the Internet are not gateways. If a router routes packets from your network to the Internet, the router is a gateway by definition.
  
  

High Traffic Gateway Solution

• For most, connecting a computer to a router will provide a steady Internet connection. A high volume of traffic, however, calls for a solution in which a computer with a special "router operating system" acts as a gateway for the other computers.