Access Points: Broad Power, Limited Agenda

Overview

If you read Chapter 4 carefully, you should understand the shape of a typical Wi-Fi setup. An 'infrastructure' network provides a central point to which your various computers connect via microwave links. To take part in the network, each computer must be equipped with a client adapter (which I'll cover in depth in Chapter 7) which is usually a plug-in board containing a computer-controlled data radio.

Two or more Wi-Fi client adapters can create a sort of egalitarian electronic mob by going into ad-hoc mode and talking to one another, but in 98% of all cases, what people need in their wireless networks is an infrastructure network. The linchpin gadget in Wi-Fi infrastructure is that central connecting hub called an access point, or its all-in-one big brother, the wireless residential gateway, which combines an access point with an Internet port, a router, and a network switch.

I've described access points conceptually in earlier chapters. In this chapter, we'll look more closely at what access points do, how they work, and how you control and maintain them. At the end of this chapter, I'll provide some advice on how to choose an access point or residential gateway for your own network.