[Isabelle Tubbs]

Network devices have different functions and knowing when to use each one is vital. Three examples of network devices are repeaters, gateways, and bridges. Repeaters (or extenders) are helpful for extending a signal over a greater distance because they take the signal that they receive and retransmit that signal at a higher level. If a company is quite large and needs their network to spread throughout the company buildings, then a repeater could be used to ensure that areas in the company can connect to the same network. A gateway is found where communication paths meet so that the gateway can send the data across different networks. As a result, gateways are used for interactions between different networks and for control of the data that goes across those networks (GeeksforGeeks, 2025a). Bridges connect several LANs to one main LAN by creating different segments (GeeksforGeeks, 2025b). By creating separate collision domains, bridges increase bandwidth to nodes and reduce collisions.

References
GeeksforGeeks. (2025, July 23). What are Gateways in Computer Network? https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/computer-networks/what-are-gateways-in-computer-network/
GeeksforGeeks. (2025, July 23). What is Bridge in Computer Network – Types, Uses, Functions & Differences. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/computer-networks/what-is-bridge-in-computer-network-types-uses-functions-differences/