Are bridges supposed to be able to talk to each other?

At this page:

formatting link

It says "All 802.11 wireless is bridging". That would seem to tell me that every wireless device _can_ communicate with every other wireless device, including exact copies (e.g. same model), as long as the wireless parameters match (same channel, modulation, SSID, key/phrase).

I'm looking for discussion that explains, as thoroughly as this page discusses the things it does, why certain wireless devices cannot talk to certain other wireless devices. Based on some explanations people have given me about why my two Netgear WGT624's will not talk to each other, it would see the above referenced page is wrong. Can someone explain this better?

Of course it would also be nice to have an online reference about the details of each model of wireless device NOT expressed in terms of the BS sales talk you get from the manufacturers, but expressed in consistent and unambiguous technical terminology.

Before I bought these two Netgear WGT624's, I should have done better research. But the after-the-fact research I'm doing now is NOT turning up anything that tells me these two would not talk to each other (e.g. to other instances of teh same model) ... other than the answer to my other thread that were posted here because I asked. What i want to know is what online resource should I have seen beforehand that would have explained this clearly. So far I can't find it.

In addition to the two Netgear WGT624's, I have an wireless device my sister-in-law got for free at some garage sale. It's a bridge. It even says so on the case. It has NO brand name, neither on the case nor on the admin web page. I got the MAC so maybe I can look it up from there but more than likely it will be some Chinese manufacturer I never heard of. Anyway, it is 802.11b only, and WEP only. Configuring the WGT624's to do "b" in addition to "g", and to do WEP instead of WPA, the bridge will communicate with ONE of the WGT624's, but not the other. Strange! Also, it won't communicate with the HP 6980 wireless printer when I change it to use WEP instead of WPA (the HP 6980 and WGT624 do talk OK when both are in WEP mode, so I know I got that set right).

On 21 Jul 2006 05:06:06 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@ipal.net wrote in :

All that means is that Wi-Fi *networks* (once connections are established) operate at the data link layer -- it has nothing to do with how Wi-Fi *connections*, which fall into specific types and two different modes (ad hoc [peer-to-peer] and infrastructure [central controller]), are made; e.g.,

Client adapters can connect to other client adapters (ad hoc mode), or to one and only one access point (infrastructure mode).

An access point can only connect to clients (point-to-multipoint), not other access points.

A client bridge can connect to one and only one access point, not other clients.

A point-to-point bridge can only connect to another point-to-point bridge.

Some products can be switched between different modes; e.g., either an access point or a client bridge, but not both at the same time.

The page is correct. You misunderstand what it's saying.

WGT624 has a wireless access point (in addition to a wired router); i.e., a central controller. It can connect to wireless clients, but not to another wireless access point -- there can be only one central controller in a given wireless network. To connect two of them to each other, one would have to be converted into a wireless client bridge (losing access point capability), or both would have to be converted into point-to-point bridges (again losing access point capability).

Different wireless networks can be connected together by wire, or by specific types of wireless.

The type of bridge is important; likewise how many devices it can handle. (Many low-end bridges are limited, some to only one device.)

Toss it. Seriously.

Bad idea -- WEP is easily cracked in minutes.

Probably a WEP configuration error.

But still probably a WEP configuration error. Try entering all WEP keys in hex.

Before buying or fooling with any more gear, please provide an exact description of what you're trying to do, as I requested in your prior thread. And please don't start new threads -- that makes it all hard to follow.