The ABCs of 5G LTE Router-Route Mode & NAT mode

As a router, Hocell 5G LTE router can support two work modes: NAT mode and Route mode. So, what's NAT mode and Route mode? What are the advantages of each work mode?

What’s NAT Mode?

NAT, or Network Address Translation, allows an entire group of computers to appear on the Internet with a single public IP Address. As the name suggests, it is a technology that translates internal private network addresses (IP addresses) into legitimate public network IP addresses. In NAT mode, routing information is not exchanged.

What’s Route Mode?

All data is forwarded to the Internet without network address translation. IP addresses on different network segments configured on interfaces of routers can directly access each other, and the source IP addresses are not translated. In route mode, routing information is exchanged.

What’s the advantage of NAT mode?

The NAT mode can not only solve the problem of insufficient IP addresses, but also effectively avoid attacks from outside the network and hide and protect the computers inside the network.

a. Broadband sharing: This is the biggest function of the NAT host.

b. Safety protection: When a PC within the NAT connects to the Internet, the IP address displayed on the PC is the public IP of the NAT host. Therefore, the PC client has a certain degree of security. When external computers do PortScan (scan and identify network devices), the PC client could not be detected.

What’s the advantage of route mode?

In route mode, interfaces of a router can exchange routing information with other routers to generate complete routing table. The main advantages of route mode are:

a. Connecting different networks: Routers use special software protocols to logically divide the entire network.

b. Information transmission: In route mode, the router can "translate" the data between different networks or network segments, so that they can "read" each other's data, thus forming a larger network.