The difference between wireless router and wireless AP

Get rid of the shackles of cable, holding a cup of mellow coffee in the home anywhere can be free and netizens chat--This is the charm of wireless! In the rapid development of wireless network today, Wireless LAN (Wireless Local-area Network, referred to as WLAN) has become the first choice for many Soho home network life. Although the speed of wireless network popularization is very fast, but wireless network is a new thing after all, so many netizens have a lot of confusion about wireless network products.

Today we differentiate between wireless routers and wireless APs from four aspects of function, application, networking, and cost.

The current wireless APs can be divided into two categories: the simple AP and the extended AP.

The function of the simple AP is relatively simple and lacks the routing function, and it can only be quite wireless hub; For such wireless APs, there is no interconnection products!! And the extension AP is the wireless router on the market, because of its comprehensive function, most of the extended AP not only has the function of routing switching, DHCP, network firewall and so on.

Now on the market, most of the wireless AP is extended AP, for the extended AP, they can be linked in a short range, if you need to transmit the distance is relatively far, then the need for wireless network bridge and special antennas and other equipment!! In fact, wireless network Bridge is also a kind of wireless AP.

First, the functional distinction

Wireless Ap:ap for access point abbreviation, generally translated as "Wireless Access Node", which is mainly to provide wireless workstations to the wired LAN and wireless workstations from the wired LAN to the radio station, the access points within the coverage of the wireless workstation can communicate with each other. In layman's terms, wireless APs are a bridge between wireless and wired networks. Because the wireless AP coverage is an outward-spreading circular region, therefore, the wireless AP should be placed in the center of the wireless network, and the wireless client and wireless AP line distance between the best not more than 30 meters, in order to avoid the communication signal attenuation caused by excessive communication failure.

Wireless Router: Wireless router is a combination of simple AP and broadband router, it can realize Internet Connection Sharing in home wireless network with the help of router function, and realize the wireless sharing access of ADSL and community broadband, in addition, Wireless routers can be used for wireless and wired connections through the terminals are allocated to a subnet, such as the network of various devices to exchange data is very convenient.

You can say this:

The wireless router is the AP, the routing function and the switch collection body, supports the wired wireless to compose the same subnet, directly connect the modem.

The wireless AP is the equivalent of a wireless switch, connected to a wired switch or router, where the wireless card connected to it is divided into IP from the router.

And then differentiate from the application

Independent APs are used more in companies that require large amounts of AP to cover large areas, and all APs are connected by Ethernet and connected to separate wireless LAN firewalls.

The wireless router is used more in Soho environment, in this environment, an AP is enough. In this way, a wireless router that integrates broadband access routers and AP provides a single machine solution that is easier to manage and cheaper than two separate machines. Wireless routers generally include a network address translation (NAT) protocol to support the sharing of network connections for wireless LAN users-a function that is very useful in Soho environments. They may also have basic Firewall or packet filters to prevent port scanning software and other attacks against broadband connections. Finally, most wireless routers include a four-port Ethernet converter that can connect several wired PCs. This is convenient for managing routers or connecting a printer to a local area network.

And then we analyze it from the network topology diagram

The AP cannot be directly connected to the ADSL modem, so you must add another switch or hub when you use it:

When using the topology above, the AP and the line-free usage are the same. However, most wireless routers because of the ability to dial broadband, so you can directly with the ADSL modem connection for broadband sharing:

Finally, from the cost analysis

802.11B wireless AP and Wireless router price difference is not much, the general wireless router will be more than 100 yuan, 802.11G depends on the specific situation, according to the brand and the different features of the difference between the two prices will have a gap of hundreds of yuan, but the cheaper product spreads is more than 100 yuan.