Wireless Networking - Router Vs Access Point

While planning for your wireless network you might be asking what is the difference between a router and an access point. You need to think of a router as more of a server because it performs many functions like a server. An access point only provides a portal for wireless client to connect to your existing LAN.

Routers can perform many functions. Routers can connect many different WLANs together acting like a traffic cop. Routers also act as a DHCP server. A DHCP server assigns dynamic IP address to your computer every time your computer starts up. If you don't have a DHCP server then you will have to assign each computer on your network a permanent IP address.

As I have said before your router can also act like a traffic cop. You can use a router to perform port forwarding to certain computers on your LAN. For example you can direct all internet traffic looking for your game server's port number to a specific computer on your LAN.

Wireless Networking - Router Vs Access Point

The ability to connect multiple computers to the internet is one of the main features of a router. The router is assigned one WAN IP address from your ISP. This IP address is called a public IP address that everyone on the internet can see. Because you have multiple computers connected to your router the router uses a protocol called NAT Network address translation NAT will assign the computers that are behind your routers IP address, private IP addresses. NAT acts as a firewall because computers on the internet cannot in theory even see your computers. They will only see the IP address of your router. NAT does block traffic from reaching your computers but it will not block Trojans from going out to the internet. That is why I do recommend installing a firewall on your LAN computers.

The role of an access point on a LAN is to give the wireless user a door way to enter. The more people that enter the door at the same time the slower they will go. 802.11b access points say they will give you a through put rate of 11mps but the actual rate is around 5MPS. 802.11g has a rating of 54mbps with an actual through put of 20mbps. The access points do have most of the same security features as a router such as WEP, WPA, 8021x and TKPI but they will not have the traffic cop functions like a router. Also the access points will not have NAT which would add an unnecessary layer to your network. To keep it simple access points just simulate plugging in your laptop to a port in the wall and that's it.A router is used on the border of you network to act as a traffic cop deciding who can come in and blocking those you want to keep out.

Wireless Networking - Router Vs Access Point
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Eric "The Wireless Ninja" Meyer is an expert in Wireless Networking. You can view other Wireless Networking articles at http://www.wirelessninja.com

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The History of Wireless Networking

The history of wireless networks and of wireless networking goes hand in hand. Without the discovery of technology such as the radio, wireless technology would not exist at all today. The history of wireless networking goes as far back as the 1800's with the advent of radio waves. The advent of more technology grew throughout the years and expanded to what we communicated with today.

In 1888, a Hamburg, Germany born physicist named Heinrich Rudolf Herz produced his first radio wave ever. By 1894 this radio wave production became a way of communication. Telegraph wires were used to receive the radio waves in signal form. Herz opened the way for radio, television, and radar with his discovery of electromagnetic waves. An Italian inventor named Marchese Guglielmo Marconi then expanded the radius of radio wave sending to two miles, becoming the "father of the radio." By 1899, this form of telecommunication could travel pretty far for its time. Marconi could send a signal 9 miles across the Bristol Channel. He eventually expanded the radius to 31 miles across the English Channel to France. By 1901 the communication area became immense. Marconi could send signals across the entire Atlantic Ocean.

World War II became a big stepping stone for the radio wave. The United States was the first party to use radio waves for data transmission during the war. This use of radio waves could have quite possibly won the war for the Americans. The use of radio wave data communication lead to a lot of speculation to whether the radio signals could be expanded into something bigger than it currently was. In 1971, a group of researchers under the lead of Norman Abramson, at the University of Hawaii, created the first "packet-switched" radio communications network entitled "Alohanet." Alohanet was the first wireless local area network, otherwise known as a WLAN. The first WLAN was not much, but it was a large discovery. The Alohanet WLAN was comprised of seven computers that communicated to each other. In 1972, Alohanet connected with the WLAN system Arpanet on the mainland. This length of connect was ground breaking in telecommunications between computers.

The History of Wireless Networking

The first types of WLAN technology used an interface in which became over crowded for communication. Small appliances and industrial machinery caused interference so the technology had to be updated. The second type of WLAN technology to be released ended up being four times faster than its predecessor at 2Mbps per second. We use the third format of WLAN today, though our current WLAN system runs at the same speed as the second system released.

In 1990, the 802.11 Working Group was established to work towards a WLAN standard for all computers to communicate from. In 1997, IEEE 802.11 was accepted as the standard data communication format for wireless local area networks. The technology continues to grow today. Governments and large corporations are constantly looking out for the latest and fastest standard to work from.

The expansion of wireless networking will likely continue for decades to come.

The History of Wireless Networking
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