Bridging Wireless Connections

A network bridge provides a way to connect different segments of a local area network (LAN). Networking bridging can be achieved either using hardware or just using software. It is explained in more detail in Part IV.

It's easy to use Windows XP to create network bridges out of the connections on your mobile computer. For example, your computer might have both a wired network connection and a wireless network connection, or it might have a connection to two wireless networks. If both the wired and wireless network connections were placed in the bridge, or if the two wireless connections were placed in a bridge, effectively a new larger network has been created, using the pairing in your mobile computer as a through point.

To add two (or more) connections to a wireless bridge, select both connections in the Network Connections window. Right-click, and choose Bridge Connections from the context menu. As you can see in Figure 3.28, a Network Bridge will be added to the Network Connections window, and the bridged connections will now appear as part of it.

Figure 3.28. You can use the Network Connections window to bridge connections.

If you need to reverse the process, it's easy to remove a wired or wireless connection from a network bridge by selecting one or more connections in the Network Connections window, right-clicking, and choosing Remove from Bridge from the context menu.