what is the difference between range extender, router, and access point?
 

Hi,
1 - Nowadays exist Wireless range extender, router, and access point. I know what is a router, but the features of the router mingles with the range extender and the access point. Can someone tell me what is the difference between the 3 devices? You don't need to be exhaustive.

2 - In my home I have a wireless modem/router, but the range do not get some rooms. I want to extend the range. I read that range extender are a trick to get more $$, and an access point it is much better and it is cheaper. What should I choose, a wireless range extender, a router or an access point?

3 - a wireless router can connect to the wireless modem/router?

thanks,

Router: cable/satellite to wired&wireless signal, some routers only provide a wired aka ethernet jack, those that provide wireless too are called wireless
Range Extender: wireless to more wireless; because of the extra relay, some speed is sacrificed. Make sure range is actually the problem. In my experience these are hit or miss.
Access point: wired connection to wireless signal.

You're best off wiring the house, if at all possible, or even using a MOCA or powerline ethernet device.

A router is almost always a modem-router. It has a modem integrated into it to communicate to the ISP using either a telephone line for DSL or copper/fiber-optic cable or satellite in some cases. It also has a router to provide NAT and route/filter packets to connected local machines. Basically, a router creates a local network, and allows users to connect to the ISP and internet through the router (also known as the gateway).

A range extender just extends an existing connection. It is NOT a router, and NOT a modem. It does increase latency, but usually not connection speed, unless you exceed the capabilities of the connection technology (like using low-speed wifi signal for high speed land-line connection).

A (wireless) access point is just a device that broadcasts a wireless signal that you can connect to. Both of the above can be wireless access points.

A wireless router is a wireless access point (WAP) but not all WAPs are routers. Typically WAPs connect to the LAN via an ethernet cable.

Wireless range extenders or boosters basically are wireless access points that rebroadcast a wireless signal from another device. It has its own SSID and looks like another WAP. Some routers can be configured as extenders but extenders are not routers.

Basically a router forwards data between networks and most home routers these days have wireless capability. They also have firewalls built in as well as other features like DHCP server, blocking websites etc. These features not not available in a standalone WAP or extender.

My dad uses an extender and for his house and it works surprisingly well. However, there are many factors and without know the specifics of your house it is difficult to say what will work best.

I have not used power line adapters in a long time so I can not say how well they work.

A lot of routers have modes these days. I use an asus rt-n12 with router, access point, and repeater modes via a hardware switch on the back. In repeater mode it functions much like a wireless card would. Basically ethernet to the router in repeater mode, and the router out to the wireless network. Your range is extended by however long your ethernet cable is going this route. Plus they tend to have greater range than a usb dongle. And no linux wireless driver issues or quirky-ness.

Are you sure ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_repeater

From this description I get that it has to at least do some NAT. I mean, if you connect a wireless range extender/repeater to a router and the router only sees the repeater, then all the machines connected to the repeater must be routed through the repeater, and thus it must be a router.

If I'm wrong, please provide an explanation for this, because this is what I see when I use a repeater as well.

A repeater rebroadcasts signals from an existing wireless router or access point. Says nothing about NAT or being a router.

If it creates a new network, then it has to do NAT, right ? Otherwise, is it magic ? I don't understand.

It's true that repeaters don't have the same features as a router, so in that sense they are not routers.

It isn't really a new network. Think of it as a bridge.

So then it uses bridging ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridging_%28networking%29

If it does then I guess it is not a router.

Ok, I found out some more details about these.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osi_model
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/b...ics_osimod.htm

According to the OSI model, repeaters (wireless range extenders) are layer 1 (physical layer) devices. This means they are very basic low-level devices that just repeat the signal that they receive. They don't do anything more complex than that. Repeaters are a good name for them.
Routers, on the other hand are layer 3 (network layer) devices. This means they operate on packets, they can route and filter (firewall) packets.
As a side note, switches and bridges are layer 2 (data link layer).
As for a wireless access point:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_access_point
Basically, a repeater extends a WAP, and a router can be a WAP if the feature is enabled.

A wireless access point is a level 2 device, a wireless to ethernet bridge:
http://networkengineering.stackexcha...nts-operate-on

A lot of people have answered #1, but it doesn't seem like anybody has approached #2.

Basically, both will work, but with different "gotchas".

Repeaters must be located within the original wireless range, preferably well within so they have a good signal. This means that while they can re-broadcast the signal to extend the range, they really can't extend it that far since they have to be located inside a [preferably strong] signal location anyway. If you have a long way to go, you'll need multiple repeaters "daisy-chaining" the signal as you go. Kind of a messy solution, but you can do it anywhere. Wifi in the house, repeater in the tool shed, another repeater in the barn, and you have wifi out in the pasture! Can't do that with wireless access points, at least not without a really long ethernet cable.

Wireless access points act as a bridge between a wired network and a wireless network. The advantage/disadvantage here is that you "can take advantage of"/need an existing wired network throughout the house in order for them to be useful. Now assuming that you DO have an existing wired network throughout the house, a wireless access point is ideal. Need wifi in the den, put an AP there. Need wifi in the attic, put an AP there. There doesn't need to be any overlap of the wifi signals, but there can be, you can even configure multiple APs with the same SSID on different channels so your devices can move seamlessly between them. They're not doing any NAT or routing, so any device on any of these wireless AP networks is on the same main network as the wired one. You don't need to hop through NATs to go from device to device like you would if you had routers setting up each of the wifi networks (and maybe wireless repeaters? I don't have a lot of experience with them).

So the question comes down to your existing wired network. If it exists in all of the locations you need wireless, use wireless access points. If it doesn't, use a wireless repeater to daisy chain your wireless signal to where you need it.

I took it a WAP is a bridge but if it's built into a router it's a brouter?
A bridge being a layer 2 [I think] connector and a router being [again, I think] layer 3?

Good question, the wireless access point seems to be a level 2 device, a wireless to ethernet bridge:
http://networkengineering.stackexcha...nts-operate-on

As for the other questions, some solutions might be:
1) Get a large antenna for your wifi router and/or for your wifi card. I've done this and it does make a difference.
2) You could buy a wireless range extender. Some are quite cheap and seem to work well from my experience.
I do have a wireless access point, but it only works with my wireless cable box. The signal is good, so I guess it works ok.

I hope this doesn't make this more confusing but my network starts with a DSL from the phone company into a router provided by them. One Ethernet jack is connected to a PC and one to a LinkSys wireless access point. I'm using Win XP on this machine I'm typing on but have Knoppix 6.7 on another laptop and the main PC. I have a Vizio "smart" tv which accesses the wireless no problem. I have a LinkSys wireless G range extender behind the TV which was set up to get on the network with the installation CD it came with. My thought was that it would help get the signal from the next room where the wireless access point is to the TV but I can't tell if it makes any difference. I have a program called Wireless Network Watcher that shows all of the devices connected to the network along with the IP address, MAC Address and device name. The range extender doesn't show up on this list and it should. The range extender was once used on another network and it did help get a better signal to a laptop in the attic of a house when the access point was on the first floor.