Wireless Lan Technical Reference; Wireless Network Overview - ZyXEL Communications P-660HN-T1H User Manual

Chapter 8 Wireless LAN

8.8 Wireless LAN Technical Reference

This section discusses wireless LANs in depth. For more information, see the
appendix.

8.8.1 Wireless Network Overview

Wireless networks consist of wireless clients, access points and bridges.
• A wireless client is a radio connected to a user's computer.
• An access point is a radio with a wired connection to a network, which can
connect with numerous wireless clients and let them access the network.
• A bridge is a radio that relays communications between access points and
wireless clients, extending a network's range.
Traditionally, a wireless network operates in one of two ways.
• An "infrastructure" type of network has one or more access points and one or
more wireless clients. The wireless clients connect to the access points.
• An "ad-hoc" type of network is one in which there is no access point. Wireless
clients connect to one another in order to exchange information.
The following figure provides an example of a wireless network.
Figure 55 Example of a Wireless Network
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