A router can process the data received from the local area network at a network protocol stack local to the router, while processing data received from the wide area network normally. The offloading of the stack processing from the source of the data to the router reduces the number of network hops that both packets based on the received data, and acknowledgements from the destination of the packets, must travel, thereby reducing communication latency. In addition, offloading the stack processing to the router can reduce the processing load at the data source. Further, the router can implement different quality of service or other processing protocols for the local area and wide area traffic.