[lug] wireless access point vs wireless router

[Sean Reifschneider]

On Fri, Nov 16, 2007 at 05:25:58AM -0700, Nate Duehr wrote:
> This information seems out of date.

It *REALLY* depends...  Mike asked specifically about APs, and boxes that
are just APs are fairly rare these days -- most boxes are routers that can
do AP mode or others.  Since he also mentioned wireless routers, I presumed
he was specifically speaking about the, often older, AP-only gear which is
rare but still available today.

You still just can't assume that you can pick up a wireless box and use it
in client mode.  I say this because I bought a pair of those Belkin Pre-N
boxes, which is fairly "modern" hardware by most definitions, after noting
that the online version of the manual included documentation for how to
enable the wireless client mode.  I purchased them specifically to run with
one connected to the other, to pull wireless into a room that was difficult
to reach via an 802.11g WRT-54G.  Wanted to try the 802.11n to see how it
worked in this difficult environment.

As I'm sure you've seen coming, when it arrived, the web interface didn't
include the pages for client bridging mode.  I contacted Belkin support and
they replied "Oh, the manual is wrong, this box doesn't support wireless
client mode."

So, I don't think it's quite as rosy a situation as you make out.  :-)

Sean
-- 
 "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have
 of it." -- Thomas Jefferson
Sean Reifschneider, Member of Technical Staff <jafo at tummy.com>
tummy.com, ltd. - Linux Consulting since 1995: Ask me about High Availability