SOHO network and SOHO Router in computer networking?
The SOHO full form is a Small Office/Home Office. If you look both are similar networks. A home office or small office, both have a limited number of network devices. There may be only, 3 PCs, one printer, and maybe some other one or two devices. In this tutorial, we will discuss the SOHO network and a specific router for a small network.
What is the SOHO network?
We have a very simple and small network in our home or office. In that network, there is a router with 2 or 3 LAN ports, a WAN port, and wireless access point connect devices over, wireless. WAN port connects to the ISP for the internet. If we have a PC attached to the LAB port, the PC and wireless devices can communicate with each other using LAN IP addresses.
But what if we want to use this network for a small business or need to convert to a SOHO network? For that, we need to connect more, PCs,(max 5), printers, maybe a VoIP phone, etc. There may be a need for a firewall, DHCP server, and other functionalities to run a small business network. So the existing basic network is not sufficient, as it doesn’t have sufficient LAN port and PCs and other devices, does not have a firewall, etc.
A SOHO network has switches, firewalls, Access points, and DHCP servers. So that along with the internet, the computers can access other resources over LAN.
What is a SOHO Router?
Before letting know about the SOHO router from Cisco or any other vendor. Let’s understand where the SOHO router fits. For residential use, a simple ADSL router works well and for enterprise, there are high capacity types of equipment. SOHO router fits between these two types. It’s a little expensive than residential but very less expensive than the enterprise. Bur covers almost a similar functionality for a small are network.
It a package (switch, router, etc.) of all devices in a single router. It has easy to use web interface rather than a command-line interface.