Difference between wireless AP and wireless router

First, functional aspects:

1. Wireless routers have NAT address translation (allowing multiple people to share Internet access) and DHCP (automatically assigning IP addresses to terminal devices). Most wireless APs do not have the above two functions. That is, wireless APs are equivalent to wireless switches and cannot be placed. Replace the route at the outlet of the network.

2. The wireless AP supports PoE power supply, which reduces the complexity of power construction.

3, wireless AP supports centralized management, can batch AP upgrade, restart, modify passwords and SSID and other operations, in the larger number of AP projects, the advantages reflected more clearly.

Second, the reasons for the price difference:

The big difference in their price is due to positioning. Generally, wireless APs are oriented to the enterprise and the unit market, and a few hundred dollars of wireless routes are family-oriented. Therefore, there are differences in configuration and quality. Generally, the number of wireless clients (notebooks, mobile phones, pads, etc.) that can be carried by home wireless routers is around 10 units. When the number of terminals continues to increase, the network speed is slow and frequent dropouts occur. However, professional wireless APs can carry 30 or more wireless clients. Due to the adoption of higher-performance hardware configurations, both forwarding performance and stability are stronger than those of wireless routers.

Third, wireless router deployment problems often appear in the network:

In actual construction, in order to control costs, it is common to use wireless routers as wireless APs, and a large number of wireless routers are deployed in the network, which poses a hidden danger for the network in use in the future.

1, DHCP conflict

The wireless router has the DHCP function. When the wireless router is cascaded upwards with the Lan port, the DHCP function of the wireless router will conflict with the DHCP function of the egress route, causing the problem that the intranet PC can not obtain the IP allocated to the wireless route but cannot access the Internet. Because the wireless router's DHCP function is turned on by default, once the wireless route is initialized, conflicts will occur. When the wireless route is deployed in large numbers, it is more difficult to locate the fault location.

2, the network loop

There are no less than four Lan ports for wireless routing. When network cables connected from two different wall panels at the same time are mistakenly plugged into the wireless LAN port, a network loop is formed. At this time, the entire network is flooded. With a large number of loopback useless packets, the network is in danger of being disconnected from the network. Most wireless APs have only one interface, reducing the risk of loops.

Fourth, wireless AP advantage summary:

Easy to deploy, plug and play.

Features are simple, reducing the chance of collisions, loops, and other failures.

High hardware configuration and strong stability.

Support PoE power supply, reduce construction difficulty.

Support AC centralized management, easy to use.

What is a wireless AP

Wireless AP is a wireless access point. Its role is to connect it to the wired network and convert the wired signal to a wireless network. The laptop or computer accesses the wireless wifi local area network by receiving the signal it transmits. This is a bit like a switch or a wireless hub.

It is mainly used in broadband homes, interiors of buildings and inside the park. The typical distance covers tens of meters to hundreds of meters. Currently, the main technology is the 802.11 series. Most wireless APs also have an AP client, which allows them to connect wirelessly with other APs and extend the network coverage.

Wireless APs can be divided into two types: simple APs and extended APs. Simple AP is what we generally call wireless AP. The operating principle of the wireless AP is that the network signal is transmitted through the twisted pair. The wireless AP compiles any signal and converts the electrical signal into a radio signal to form a wireless signal coverage. It is equivalent to a wireless switch and only provides the function of wireless signal transmission. Extended AP is what we often call a wireless router. Through wireless routers, home broadband broadband users can achieve Internet connection sharing, and can also achieve broadband wireless broadband access.

Simple wireless AP

It is a wireless switch that provides wireless signal transmission and reception. The principle of the simple wireless AP is to transmit the network signal through the twisted pair. After the AP product is compiled, the electrical signal is converted into a radio signal and sent out to form the coverage of the wireless network.

According to different powers, it can achieve network coverage of different degrees and different scopes. Generally, the maximum coverage distance of a wireless AP can reach 500 meters. Of course, the farther the coverage distance is, the larger the wireless transmission power is, but the stronger the corresponding radiation is.

Most simple wireless APs do not have routing capabilities. Server functions, including DNS, DHCP, and Firewall, must be completed by independent routes or computers. At present, most wireless APs support multi-user (30-100 computers) access, data encryption, multi-rate transmission and other functions. In the home and office, a wireless AP can achieve wireless access for all computers.