router and/or access point?

Well, I have to say I'm learning a lot as I study up in preparation for buying into wireless and joining the modern world. Reading a fact sheet for some Buffalo equipment, I was surprised by this:

_____

2 Products in 1 !

External Switch Quickly And Easily Changes Between Wireless Router and Wireless Access Point

Router Mode -- Shares a Cable or DSL connection with multiple wired and wireless devices

Access Point Mode -- Quickly adds wireless access to your existing local area network _____

This seems to indicate that you can either connect to the other computers on the LAN for file transfers, and to printers for print jobs, etc. OR you can connect to the internet -- but not both simultaneously. Can that be right???

Are all wireless routers like this? I never would have imagined such a limitation. (Live and learn.)

cheers,

Henry

Reply to
Henry
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No. Its marketing bullsh**. The second 'mode' is simply a subset of the first 'mode' and all wireless routers can be configured like this.

Note that the first mode is essentially saying "this unit can be used as a wireless access point AND router in one box".

Reply to
Mark McIntyre

snipped-for-privacy@eircom.net (Henry) hath wroth:

Any particular model number?

Nope. Not even close. *ALL* wireless routers can be used as an access point by merely ignoring the router section and just using the access point section seperately. See the FAQ at:

It's not magic or an exclusive feature of a Buffalo product.

However, some routers go an (un-necessary) step further and offer a "mode" setting in the setup that does all this for you. If you select "access point mode", you get a brain dead access point, with no router functionality.

Such access point only setups are very handy for expanding a wireless system that's running through a single router. It's also good for some wireless bridge applications, where you would want point to point connectivity. However, the device has to support a bridging mode for this to work.

It is NOT suitable for a print server, as the device that plugs into the printer is actually a wireless ethernet client bridge, and not an access point.

Lost in the buzzwords? See the FAQ for even more buzzwords:

Using my explanation of how to convert a wireless router into an access point, the answer is yes. You can do that with *ANY* wireless router. However, as to whether it has a user settable "mode" to do the same thing, it varies by maker, model, and firmware version.

Various controlled substances are know to improve the imagination. However, methinks a bit of reading and Learn By Destroying(tm) would be more effective at understanding how the acronyms and buzzwords work.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

WHR-125 WHR-G54S WHR-HP-G54

Well ... 'external switch' ... toggle ab? push-button? ... 'changes between' ... n.b., "between", i.e., one or the other

Are you saying that if I have a printer connected to one of the ethernet ports on such a wireless router, I can't print to it from a wireless laptop???

cheers,

Henry

Reply to
Henry

On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 07:38:20 +0200, snipped-for-privacy@eircom.net (Henry) wrote in :

No.

An Ethernet printer can attach to any Ethernet network. A USB or parallel printer needs a print server.

Jeff said an access point is not suitable as a print server. A wireless router can serve as a print server. Likewise a wireless Ethernet client bridge. But not a wireless access point.

Reply to
John Navas

snipped-for-privacy@eircom.net (Henry) hath wroth:

Is that a question, answer, or comment? I can't tell..........?

Todays "wireless router" is a combination of ingredients. It consists of:

  1. Wireless access point which is actually a wireless bridge.
  2. An ethernet router
  3. An ethernet switch with one port connected to the wireless bridge.
  4. Optional USB or parallel ports for running print servers. It is NOT necessary to switch, toggle, jumper, or otherwise configure these sections in order for them to function. For example, you can successfully use a wireless router as a 4 port ethernet switch, without involving any of the other sections or configuring anything.

Nope. I'm saying that a typical wireless access point is unsuitable as a print server. The print server function is a Layer 3 feature, which requires the router section to function (for LPR/LPD services on port 515). Since an access point has no router section, this isn't going to work. You can run any protocol *THROUGH* an access point, but the print server will need to be elsewhere.

You can do literally anything with a wireless access point and wireless client combination that you can do with a CAT5 ethernet cable. That's because the way wireless works is via bridging and encapsulation. Bridging does not involve any layer 3 services and knows nothing about IP addresses or routing. The 802.3 ethernet packets are encapsulated inside 802.11 wireless packets. What comes out of the ethernet port at the other end of a wireless link is exactly the same as what would come out of it if there were a wired connection instead of wireless. If you can print through an ethernet cable, then you can also do it via wireless.

As Mark McIntyre mentioned, Buffalo is dispensing what might be called techno-hype or marketing-speak. Providing a user settable function that can also be done quite easily by simple configuration changes, does not constitute much of a feature. However, Buffalo does make it sound good. They do the same thing with other buzzwords, such as "MIMO Performance" which has nothing to do with MIMO and is only mentioned to capitalize on the latest industry acronym or buzzword. Much as I like Buffalo products, I can do without the hype.

Sorry, but I don't drink.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

And you'd like to think that you could print to it from a wireless client. However...

I have a WinXP laptop that can print to my DLink printserver perfectly when using wired, but can't even /find/ it when wireless. It can find every other resource on my network - but not the dlink printserver.... gah.

Reply to
Mark McIntyre

On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:58:13 +0000, Mark McIntyre wrote in :

That should be fixable. Sounds like a network configuration issue.

Reply to
John Navas

John Navas wrote: >

/Everything/ that I could diagnose about the two connections was identical, except that one was using the builtin 10/100 Intel NIC and the other was using a 54G Edimax wireless card. The Wireless could do absolutely everything except see the printserver.

The fix was to upgrade to XP Pro... :-)

Reply to
Mark McIntyre

On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:41:53 +0000, Mark McIntyre wrote in :

One possibility is a wireless isolation feature.

I would troubleshoot by substituting a PC for the print server.

I thought it was Win XP Pro.

Reply to
John Navas

Home.

Reply to
Mark McIntyre

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