A repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it at a higher level and/or higher power, or onto the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer distances.
A Wireless Distribution System (WDS) is a system that enables the wireless interconnection of access points in an IEEE 802.11 network. It allows a wireless network to be expanded using multiple access points without the need for a wired backbone to link them, as is traditionally required. The notable advantage of WDS over other solutions is that it preserves the MAC addresses of client packets across links between access points. [1]
An access point can be either a main, relay or remote base station. A main base station is typically connected to the wired Ethernet. A relay base station relays data between remote base stations, wireless clients or other relay stations to either a main or another relay base station. A remote base station accepts connections from wireless clients and passes them on to relay or main stations. Connections between "clients" are made using MAC addresses rather than by specifying IP assignments.
All base stations in a Wireless Distribution System must be configured to use the same radio channel, method of encryption (none, WEP, or WPA) and encryption keys. They can be configured to different service set identifiers. WDS also requires that every base station be configured to forward to others in the system.
WDS may also be referred to as repeater mode because it appears to bridge and accept wireless clients at the same time (unlike traditional bridging). It should be noted, however, that throughput in this method is halved for all clients connected wirelessly.
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by: sparky2156Posted on 2009-08-08 at 02:45:41ID: 25049005
Bubuko,
An Access Point normally need to have a physical network connection back to a network medium such as a switch or a router. However, a Repeater can connect to an existing wireless network and repeat that signal wirelessly to extend the range.
You can get AP/Repeaters such as this one, which can perform both functions
http://www.buy.com/prod/be
This particular one is called a range extender - tomAtoe/tomatoe
In terms of performance, you get much better performance from APs as they have wired connections back to a switch/router, therefore the combination of being on cable and having a direct connection back to the network increases speed and reliability.
With Repeaters, they all run through each other, and the further you get away from the root Repeater (which has a connection back to a wireless router or AP/Repeater connected to the switch/router), the more the signal gets degraded. Also, if one of them fails, all the others connecting onto that Repeater go down as well, therefore not great for reliability.
If i can be of any more help, just let me know.
Thanks.