[Trae Johnson]

One of the things that might clarify this is that switches actually use MAC addresses to forward data within a local area network (LAN), delivering it to the correct device on the same network. Routers, on the other hand, use IP addresses to forward data from one network to another, like from your home network to the internet. Therefore even though both play a part in moving data efficiently, switches operate within a network utilizing MAC addresses, whereas routers connect different networks using IP addresses.