What is the difference between a WAP and a Wireless Router

HI,

What is the difference between a wireless access point, and a wireless
router? are they the same thing?

Or is one a bridge, and one a router? ie, my home network is 192.168.10.x ,
so I assume a wireless network would take on a different range (say
192.168.50.x) and the router would route packets to the right place.

Is a W.A.P. a bridge (ie, the wireless network would have the same range as
the ethernet network)?

Thanks

George

"George Styles" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:bhfl4v$f6a$1$(E-Mail Removed):

> HI,
>
> What is the difference between a wireless access point, and a wireless
> router? are they the same thing?
>
> Or is one a bridge, and one a router? ie, my home network is
> 192.168.10.x , so I assume a wireless network would take on a
> different range (say 192.168.50.x) and the router would route packets
> to the right place.
>
> Is a W.A.P. a bridge (ie, the wireless network would have the same
> range as the ethernet network)?
>
> Thanks
>
> George
>
>
>

http://www.homenethelp.com/web/explain/index.asp

An AP is no match to a wired/wireless router, especially in the area of
security and being a gateway for the LAN and WAN.

Duane

> Or is one a bridge, and one a router? ie, my home network is 192.168.10.x ,
> so I assume a wireless network would take on a different range (say
> 192.168.50.x) and the router would route packets to the right place.
>
> Is a W.A.P. a bridge (ie, the wireless network would have the same range as
> the ethernet network)?

Yeah, but they all seem to come with a non-defeatable NAT in them, The linksys
is the only one I know of that can be turned between "Gateway (nat)" and "Router
(no nat)" - Dlinks etc will not allow wan to lan connectivity, meaning that its
of limited use.

WAP is a bridge between the wireless and the wired, no concept of IP at all,
other then the inbuilt management web server.

>> What is the difference between a wireless access point, and a wireless
router? are they the same thing?

Or is one a bridge, and one a router? ie, my home network is 192.168.10.x ,
so I assume a wireless network would take on a different range (say
192.168.50.x) and the router would route packets to the right place.

Is a W.A.P. a bridge (ie, the wireless network would have the same range as
the ethernet network)?

George:

AP: is a translating bridge (OSI layer 2 device)
As a bridge, it does not know anything about IP addressing (OSI layer 3)
(note that an AP may have an IP address to access the AP's mgmt s/w, but
that is not a bridging concept)

Router: routes packets between two subnets via a routing table (OSI layer 3
device)

If you want your home network wss to communicate at OSI layer 3, then they
must be in the same subnet, or they must use a router between the two
subnets. (and they must be able to communicate at OSI layer 2 first)

A typical home user setup:
LAN with 192.168.10.x subnet for WiFi clients and wired (Ethernet) wss and
LAN port of a router.
You would use an AP to act as an OSI layer 2 translator between WiFi on one
side and Ethernet on the other side to connect to the wired LAN devices.
You would use a router with 192.168.10.x subnet on one side (LAN), and ISP's
public subnet on the other side (WAN).

Think of the AP as a device you use to plug wireless clients into a wired
network at OSI layer 2. Once they are plugged in at OSI layer 2, you have
to look at IP addressing issues at OSI layer 3 (same subnet or use a
router).

Lower OSI layers must communicate before higher layers can.

OSI layer3: IP addressing, routers

OSI layer 2: bridges, switches, MAC/IEEE addressing

Many thanks for the answers... i think its a router I want

g


"George Styles" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bhfl4v$f6a$1$(E-Mail Removed)...
> HI,
>
> What is the difference between a wireless access point, and a wireless
> router? are they the same thing?
>
> Or is one a bridge, and one a router? ie, my home network is 192.168.10.x
,
> so I assume a wireless network would take on a different range (say
> 192.168.50.x) and the router would route packets to the right place.
>
> Is a W.A.P. a bridge (ie, the wireless network would have the same range
as
> the ethernet network)?
>
> Thanks
>
> George
>
>

Richard Malcolm-Smith <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:bhft31$iov$(E-Mail Removed):

>> Or is one a bridge, and one a router? ie, my home network is
>> 192.168.10.x , so I assume a wireless network would take on a
>> different range (say 192.168.50.x) and the router would route packets
>> to the right place.
>>
>> Is a W.A.P. a bridge (ie, the wireless network would have the same
>> range as the ethernet network)?
>
> Yeah, but they all seem to come with a non-defeatable NAT in them, The
> linksys is the only one I know of that can be turned between "Gateway
> (nat)" and "Router (no nat)" - Dlinks etc will not allow wan to lan
> connectivity, meaning that its of limited use.
>
> WAP is a bridge between the wireless and the wired, no concept of IP
> at all, other then the inbuilt management web server.
>

IMHO, the network that a NAT router is the gateway can be defended by a
host based FW on the machines, a layered protection approach. Most NAT
routers can defend against the casual attack, by not forwarding ports.

Duane

--
The protection of the machine is a process and not a given!