When a router receives a packet of information (as it does thousands of times per second) it inspects the IP Address of that packet, and based on that, can make decisions on which physical path to send it through.
This process is known as routing the packet. Special software protocols have been created to support the routing of network traffic between subnetworks. These protocols operate with ‘smart’ algorithms that can adapt the flow of network traffic when problems occur. Protocols such as Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and are widely used across the Internet today.
The algorithms employed by these protocols provide great network stability ensuring that if one network connection is lost, the router can quickly adapt to send data through an alternate network path. Consequently, the greater the number of network connections that are available, the greater the reliability and bandwidth for its users.
