Expired
Wireless Bridge, Repeater & WDS Operation
Expired
DrayTek Vigor Access Points such as the
DrayTek Vigor AP-910C and Routers with wireless built-in, such as the
DrayTek Vigor 2862ac, will most commonly be used as a main wireless access point - your central base for all wireless devices.
The DrayTek products with wireless can operate in other wireless modes to provide enlarged wireless coverage or wireless bridges to other parts of your LAN which would otherwise be difficult to connect by cable.
A description of each wireless mode and the products that support these features are listed in the tabs below.
Universal Repeater
With Universal Repeater, a Vigor Access Point can extend the wireless coverage of a network by connecting to it as a wireless client and broadcasting a separate wireless network. This provides access to the main access point / router and the internet via this, to both the LAN ports and wireless clients that connect to the Universal Repeater access point's wireless network.
For best results, place the Access Point in a location where it receives a good signal from the wireless network / wireless router that it is connecting to. You can add multiple units to extend the range in multiple directions or multiple hops (for best performance, more than two hops is not recommended due to latency and channel congestion which can result).
A significant advantage of Universal Repeater mode is that an Access Point connecting to a wireless network via Universal Repeater does not require any reconfiguration of the network that it is connecting to.
Applicable Products
| Applicable Products |
| VigorAP Access Points |
| VigorAP 710 |
| VigorAP 810 |
| VigorAP 900 |
| VigorAP 902 |
| VigorAP 910C |
Station Infrastructure
Connects to a wireless network as a wireless client (or Station) and bridges this network to the LAN ports of the access point. This can be used to transparently connect network segments that cannot easily be connected to the wired network.
This mode differs from Universal Repeater mode in that it does not broadcast a wireless network.
Applicable Products
| Applicable Products |
| VigorAP Access Points |
| VigorAP 710 |
| VigorAP 810 |
| VigorAP 902 |
| VigorAP 910C |
Point-to-Point Bridge
This mode wirelessly joins two or more parts of the same logical network which cannot be otherwise connected by cables, for example between two adjacent buildings, using two or more Vigor Access Points, with an encrypted wireless bridge.
The wireless bridge allows devices such as computers, printers or phones to be plugged into the LAN ports of the access points to communicate as though they were connected via Ethernet to the main network.
This method does not broadcast a wireless network and the link is specifically used to connect Ethernet devices.
Applicable Products
| VigorAP Access Points |
| VigorAP 710 |
| VigorAP 810 |
| VigorAP 900 |
| VigorAP 902 |
| VigorAP 910C |
WDS
In this example, a Vigor AP-910C access point is used to create a WDS (Wireless Distribution System) link between a Vigor 2860ac router and a Vigor AP-900 access point. Wireless clients are able to connect to the network via each of these devices and wired clients connected to the Vigor AP-900 have network access and internet connectivity through the router via the WDS link.
This can be used to create a wireless link between multiple Vigor Access Points and Vigor routers with wireless.
Once configured on the access point(s) or router(s), this provides a transparent bridge between access points or routers so that clients connecting to the WDS linked access points would have the same network access that a wired device would, with internet access being available through the router.
The WDS Bridge / Repeater can be encrypted with WPA2/AES security and passes Layer 2 (MAC addresses) of client devices, which allow the wired and wireless segments of the network to operate similarly to a fully wired network.
Applicable Products
| VigorAP Access Points |
Wireless Vigor Routers |
| VigorAP 710 |
Vigor 2860 series wireless models |
| VigorAP 810 |
Vigor 2862 series wireless models |
| VigorAP 900 |
Vigor 2925 series wireless models |
| VigorAP 902 |
Vigor 2926 series wireless models |
| VigorAP 910C |
VigorBX 2000 series wireless models |
| |
Vigor 2760 series wireless models |
| |
Vigor 2832n |
Wireless WAN
Another variation on how wireless can be used is 'Wireless WAN'. This is a feature on wireless-enabled routers where your WAN (Internet) connectivity is provided by a 3rd party wireless service. For example, a WiFi facility in a hotel or other location. For more details on Wireless WAN, see this article.
Applicable Products
| Wireless Vigor Routers |
| Vigor 2860 series wireless models |
| Vigor 2862 series wireless models |
| Vigor 2925 series wireless models |
| Vigor 2926 series wireless models |
| VigorBX 2000 series wireless models |
