Wireless Access Point How To

How To Set Up A Wireless Bridge

Most wireless access points (WAPs) can be set up to run in Bridge mode. The other two modes are ad hoc and infrastructure.

Infrastructure is the normal setting in which the WAP is connected to the Internet (usually through a wired LAN). Other WiFi devices - laptops with WiFi cards, desktops with USB or PCI WiFi connections - access the Internet through the WAP.

Ad hoc is when different WiFi devices connect to one another in a peer-to-peer mode. WAPs in ad hoc mode have no Internet access.

Bridge mode prevents the WAP from being seen by WiFi devices like PC cards, PCI cards, and USB. It is meant to be seen only by other WAPs in Bridge mode. It makes a wireless bridge between two or more physical LANs. Bridge mode can be point-to-point, or point-to-multipoint.

An intermediate kind of wireless bridge is one that communicates with a WAP but connects to a LAN and provides that LAN with Internet access. The Linksys WET11 and Hawking WB320 are such devices.

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Wireless solution providers:

• HiWeb
• Instant 802 Networks
• WIPOP
• YDI

Glossaries of Terms:

• Cable Directory
• Cable terminology

skyCAPS are Community Access Point Services based on a mix of technology, hardware, and software for management, monitoring, and billing recommended by skyCAPS.net, a subsidiary of skyBuilders.com.