Access Point; Bridge / Repeater - ZyXEL Communications NWA-1100 Manual

Chapter 1 Introducing the NWA

1.2.1 Access Point

The NWA is an ideal access solution for wireless Internet connection. A typical Internet access
application for your NWA is shown as follows. Stations A, B and C can access the wired network
through the NWAs.
Figure 1 Access Point Application

1.2.2 Bridge / Repeater

The NWA can act as a wireless network bridge and establish wireless links with other APs. In the
figure below, the two NWAs (A and B) are connected to independent wired networks and have a
bridge connection (A can communicate with B) at the same time. A NWA in repeater mode (C in
Figure 3) has no Ethernet connection. When the NWA is in bridge mode, you should enable
Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) to prevent bridge loops.
When the NWA is in Bridge / Repeater mode, security between APs (the Wireless Distribution
System or WDS) is independent of the security between the wireless stations and the AP. If you do
not enable WDS security, traffic between APs is not encrypted. When WDS security is enabled, both
APs must use the same pre-shared key. See
Once the security settings of peer sides match one another, the connection between devices is
made.
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Section 6.4.2 on page 65 for more details.
NWA1100-N User's Guide