I’m unclear on the purpose of a router. Could I just have a cable modem directly connected to a (smart managed) switch that feeds all the clients?
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thanks for all the replies. very helpful
It depends on your cable modem. If it has routing capabilities (can provide internal IP addresses and can pass data… or route it… between the single external IP and those internal IP addresses of the devices on your home network) then technically you have a router and don’t need an additional device.
Look for options in your cable mode like “DHCP server” and “firewall” to indicate it has routing functionality.
No, because a switch can’t route traffic from one point to another. Specifically, it can’t do NAT. Without NAT you can only have 1 device connected to the internet.