For quite some time, most routers on the market have one or more USB ports. This feature can be found in high-end routers, but the routers that telecommunications operators provide for free also have a USB port.
It is very possible that you have not stopped to think about the uses that you can give to that USB port , but the possibilities they have are very numerous and we can provide new functionalities to have a much more powerful tool. If we connect a device to the USB port we can be transforming an autonomous element into one that can be accessed from the network itself or from outside it depending on the configuration we want to have.
Next, we show you some of the applications that the USB port of our router can have.
Charge or power a device
The USB port that the router has has the same characteristics as a standard USB port so it is capable of supplying enough energy to charge the mobile or any device that has the charge through this technology. To charge the electronic device, you just have to insert the end of the USB cable into the router and then connect your mobile device to the other end.
Operation of other elements (gadgets)
We have discussed that the USB port of our router allows us to charge our devices, but also allows us to make them work. For example, we can connect a USB fan to keep the temperature at bay of our router in summer or we can also connect a cup warmer to have our hot tea or coffee all the time.
3G modem
Another very popular function is to be able to connect a USB 3G / 4G USB modem. It is a simple and useful application for situations in which we do not have a fiber signal, such as a breakdown or when we change companies while we have canceled a line and we are waiting for the new line to be installed.
If you opt for this option, we recommend that you use a USB modem with a good data transfer speed, it is recommended that it is not below 150 Mbps.
Convert your printer to a network printer
Network printers are being used more and more. Devices connected to the network to which we can send our prints without having to have a physical connection between the printer and our PC. It is a very useful solution when there is more than one computer in our home or office and we do not want to depend on always printing from the same location.
Converting a standard printer into a network printer is as simple as plugging it into the router’s USB port. Once we have it connected, we just have to add it from the different computers as a network printer. In this way, whenever we are connected to the network, we can send files to print from any location within our local network.
File server
One of the most useful uses that we can give to the USB port of our router is to be able to transform it into a network file server.
An inexpensive way to mount a network file server could be to connect an external hard drive with a USB connection, we can connect it to the USB port of the router. In this way we will have the files that are inside the hard disk from any location on our network, whether they are PCs, televisions with Smart TVs or mobiles.
The uses of connecting a hard drive to the router are very varied, from having it to make backup copies, a file repository, a multimedia server where to store movies, etc. We can also use it as an FTP server to be able to access the files from outside our network. For this we must have a router with the SMB protocol, which is the protocol that allows file sharing through FTP.
We recommend the main file server within our network and that the use of the FTP server is punctual, since the writing and reading speeds will not be the best.
Connecting external devices
We have talked about most of the common uses that we can give to the USB port of our router. But we can also connect different devices such as a scanner to scan from a single point and send the document to an element on the network. We can also connect a webcam to make videoconferences and we can even connect a keyboard and a mouse to be able to manage a remote computer from a central server.
Will connecting a device to the USB port affect my network?
As you have seen, the USB port of our router can be used quite varied, but one of the unknowns that arise when we connect a device to the east is whether or not it will affect its performance.
Usually all routers are prepared to be able to maintain the power in a stable way in the USB port so we can charge or operate our devices without problems.
Having a device connected to USB such as a hard drive to have a file server should not have a direct impact on the quality of our WiFi or the speed of file transfer. Of course, it must be taken into account that it is an additional network device. So you have to be clear about the bandwidth and the devices connected to the network so as not to saturate it, although in a home that usually has two or three computers, several mobiles, a tablet and one or two Smart TVs, it will not affect the operation of our network that we connect a hard drive to the router.
