About "address 4 field of IEEE"

competitive

description and

Address 4 field (4 addresses) usually is in reference to WDS (wireless distribution system.) WDS allows modes such as bridging and repeating and is handled at the AP/Bridge/Repeater level and the card adapter doesnt know or care about the 4 addresses. The WAP54G supports WDS but it may or may not work or talk to smartbridges using WDS.

From SmartBridges website: smartBridges devices use Address-4 field, which is an optional field as specified by IEEE 802.11b standard. If any IEEE 802.11b compliant wireless access points supporting this field, then it can be used with Client-Bridge mode.

In this case, I would recommend you to use the airBridge series which is a standard Ethernet client device and will work with any access point supporting the 802.11b standard instead of using the airPointPRO series as client devices (CB mode). This will prevent you from having any incompatibility issues with normal 802.11b Access points.

End Smartbridge

The AirPointPro uses WDS for bridging, the AirBridge is a normal ethernet bridge and will talk to any AP. I think what

they are trying to say is that you may need an AirPoint (in place of your WAP54G) to use wireless ...note this sentance:

This will prevent you from having any incompatibility issues with normal 802.11b Access points.

Reply to
Airhead
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Hi,

Can please somebody shade some light for me on the address 4 field of IEEE ? A new ISP in my area is installing a wireless system with very competitive rates but they are using gears from smartbridges.com and told me that I have to buy a client adapter from them because they would not support a normal wifi 802.11b adapter. I've checked the smartbridges product description and noted their products will work with any wifi product supporting the so called address 4 field of IEEE. I don't know if my Linksys WAP54G is among those supported since the linksys site is silent on this subject.

Kind regards,

Wiseman

Reply to
Wiseman

From the WISP's point of view, it makes very good sense for you to use a smartBridges client. They can then log into your radio and make needed changes and/or do troubleshooting. If everybody on their network gets to use any old el cheapo WiFi client then much of their control is vaporized. That's not good if you're trying to keep a network working or have only customers that have paid their bill.

Any WiFi standard client will work fine with smartBridges access points, but that's not the whole story.

Reply to
Rôgêr

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