Is the router in switch mode? Or not?

Question

network hardware

Good day! We started a dispute with one comrade about whether the router that distributes Wi-Fi is essentially a switch.
What is the point. In one office is the main router, which receives the main Internet. The whole thing gets into the router in another office, for distributing Wi-Fi. Routers are combined into one subnet. The router is used only for distributing wireless Internet and does not contain any other cables other than the input one.
By what criterion can you finally determine whether the device works as a switch or still as a router? Who is right?

Answer 1

To argue about the difference between entities is not illiterate, you need to determine what the real difference between them is.
Router, in general and ideal case, is an internetwork routing device and operates mainly on the third layer of the OSI model.
Switch, in general and ideal case, is a device for redirecting packets within a network and operates mainly on the second layer of the OSI model.
Everything that we use in everyday practice often contains several different devices at once in one. For example, the box that acts as a gateway between your home network and the ISP's Ethernet network acts as a router because it is responsible for routing between the two networks. But it also works as a switch for your internal network (when the packet from your laptop goes directly to your printer, and not to everyone else and not to the provider's network). And it is impossible to separate this functionality either physically or programmatically.
In your case, the "master router" performs the function of routing between the internal network and the provider's network. And the second device (which is wireless) is a little more complicated. If it does not serve as a gateway (i.e. on Wifi clients that are connected to it, the default gateway address is set to the address of the "master router"), is not a DHCP server for its clients, and so on, then it performs the function of an environment converter and switch. And if it distributes addresses to clients, manages them in a separate logical network, and is itself a client in the subnet of the "main router" (this happens most often if everything is configured automatically), then it still performs the functions of a router.

Answer 2

Depends on the router itself. Home devices usually have a built-in 4-port switch on board.

Answer 3

IMHO, to work as a switch, you need the incoming wire to be plugged into the LAN connector, but then wifi will not work -> it works like a router

Answer 4

Everything is simple. What IP address is configured as a default gateway for Wi-Fi users? The device where this IP address is configured (at least somehow appears in the death) is the router. The rest are switches.