At 09:31 PM 11/12/2003 -0800, you wrote: >Can anyone provide some insight in differences between AP's that run in >repeater mode (example: Apple Airport WDS bridge mode, D'link >800AP+,etc.) versus a bridge+AP combination which work to form a >repeater? > >Is there a performance advantage in using a 2-port repeater (bridge+AP >-- 2 radios) over a 1 port AP (1 radio) running in repeater mode?
The 2 radio version is a better choice (performance-wise) because the 1 radio version will cut your bandwidth in half from whatever was available from the radio it is repeating from. One of the major PC news journals (CNET? PC World? ZDNet?) had a review about this in regards to some D-link gear's repeater mode. The halving effect only applies to clients that connect to the repeater directly, not to clients that connect to the base node. It happens because the repeater first must use its channel to receive the packet, and then it must turn around and resend that packet on the same channel to the base node. If it was using 2 radios it could receive on one channel and transmit on another channel at the same time. With 2 radios the repeater talks to clients on a different set of frequencies (channel) from those that it uses to talk to the base node. Drawback of 2 radios is an increased parts cost, and maybe, depending on the situation, the fact that it will need a second channel (bad if you don't have any channels left to use). "If you're reading this, read it again." -- general wireless list, a bawug thing <http://www.bawug.org/> [un]subscribe: http://lists.bawug.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless