Solutions
Solutions
Wireless
Access points connect multiple users on a wireless
LAN to each other and to a wired network. For example,
20 users equipped
with wireless network interface cards may associate with a single
access point that connects to an Ethernet network. Each of these
users has access to the Ethernet network and to each other. The access
point here is similar to a bridge device, but the access point interfaces
a network to multiple users, not to other networks.
Bridges, though, connect networks and are often less expensive than access points.
For example, a wireless LAN bridge can interface an Ethernet network directly
to a particular access point. This may be necessary if you have a few devices,
possibly in a building across the street, that are interconnected via Ethernet.
A wireless LAN bridge plugs into this Ethernet network and uses the 802.11 protocol
to communicate with an access point that's within range. In this manner, a bridge
enables you to wirelessly connect a cluster of users (actually a network) to
an access point.
