The NAT (Network Address Translation) option utilises a single, real, RIPE registered IP address assigned to the router for Internet access.

All PCs and network devices on your LAN that require access to the Internet are given a private IP address - one that is not publicly known on the Internet. When PCs and network devices on your LAN need to access the Internet they will all utilise the single real IP address assigned to the router. The router remembers which device is going to which location on the Internet by assigning ports to the real IP address it has been allocated and mapping these ports back to the private IP address of your internal PCs or network devices.

When a PC or network device on your LAN requests information from the Internet, the router makes the request for information on its behalf. Thus, the router keeps track of which internal PC requested which piece of information and subsequently passes the correct response from the Internet back to the correct PC.

With NAT, all PCs and network devices on your LAN are hidden from the Internet by the router. All Internet requests originating from your LAN will appear to the outside world as the single IP address of the router, providing an added element of security.

Technically speaking, the ADSL offering of NAT uses "one way address translation" therefore services that are either pushed to your network (e.g. SMTP mail), cannot be accommodated in this version of our service.

However, you will find that email services such as HotMail work perfectly with the NAT version as all requests are initiated "one way" from within your network.

If you wish to use SMTP for mail on your LAN, you will need to order the Multi User Real IP Address.