Does this Belkin WAP having briding capabilities?

[ManDeJapan]

Belkin F5D6130 Wireless Network Access Point

Thanks...

 

[n0cmonkey]

As far as I can tell from their freely available user manual I downloaded from their site, yes.

 

[ktwebb]

Actually the manual mentions nothing about bridging. While it does not preclude it explicitly I can't imagine the AP having a bridging function and that feature not being discussed in the manual. I would say that it does not bridge based on that.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: ktwebb
Actually the manual mentions nothing about bridging. While it does not preclude it explicitly I can't imagine the AP having a bridging function and that feature not being discussed in the manual. I would say that it does not bridge based on that.

p23 (of 25) Infrastructure mode is what they consider bridging. I based my answer on that.

 

[JackMDS]

I do not think the Belkin WAP has a bridge mode.

Belkin uses the word ?Bridge? not in the way it used in real Network Pro jargon:

Quote:

The Belkin 11Mbps Wireless Access Point (WAP) is designed to act as a "bridge" between your existing wired network, and your wireless devices.

I.e. Bridge is a regular WAP in their ?Language?.

Belkin is nice, but making expensive USB cables, and surge protectors does not make you a "Cisco".

However, I think that Belkin uses the Lucent chipset in some of their Wireless stuff, which probably means that it can perform close to the Agere Orinoco Line.

 

[ktwebb]

The question was does this device have bridging capabilities. Belkin speaks of terms of the AP bridging the wired backbone to the wired desktop/laptop clients. This however is not bridging and not what the original poster was asking. A clumsy wording of the wireless infrastructure model. 802.11b bridges have been around since the inception of the 802.11b spec. Roughly late 98 when Aironet released both there 4800 AP and BR500 Bridge. The Belkin manual does not specifically address a bridging capability. It's logical to assume that the AP does not have this feature.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: ktwebb
The question was does this device have bridging capabilities. Belkin speaks of terms of the AP bridging the wired backbone to the wired desktop/laptop clients. This however is not bridging and not what the original poster was asking. The manual does not specifically address a bridging capability. It's logical to assume that the AP does not have this feature.

Yeah, I guess I should have actually read the entire manual for the original poster instead of saying that the search I did on the pdf I downloaded for him mentions bridging several times.

 

[ktwebb]

Or just understood the question. Either woulda worked.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: ktwebb
Or just understood the question. Either woulda worked.

Any links on wreless bridging you would like to share so I can try to figure out what the difference is?

 

[ktwebb]

Not off the top of my head. Cisco's wireless site would probably be a good place. Bridges do not broadcast to wireless clients in the way an AP does. They talk to other bridges. That's it. They are used to link up wired sites. 10BaseT LAN in a building on a piece of property with a satellite office, either hundred of yards away or many miles. Each with self contained wired LAN's but the original building has a T3 and the sattelite office wants to get their hands on the connection. A point to point bridge setup works well. In that scenario with directional antennas on both sides. Or multiple satellite offices. Parent bridge at the Main site and children bridges at the remote sites. Omni at the parent site and directionals at the remote locations pointing back to the omni. It, in essence, makes the satellite offices part of the main offices network, but via wired clients. Now confusing this, you could connect a child bridge into a switch, and then plug AP's into that same switch for wireless connectivity within the satellite offices. Google search would probably get you some hits. Learned most of what I know on the job but I am sure there is literature out there that addresses this. The thing is, its semantics. WAP is a misnomor. Their Access Points. WAP is a wireless protocol used for phones and PDA's. Linksys started the whole WAP thing I guess and it has caught on with the budget Mfg's. It's irrelevant really and I have just accepted it but if you walked into a room with a bunch of guys that designed, installed and supported wireless LAN's and WAN's they'd laugh if you called an AP a "WAP" or a "bridge".

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: ktwebb
Not off the top of my head. Cisco's wireless site would probably be a good place. Bridges do not broadcast to wireless clients in the way an AP does. They talk to other bridges. That's it. They are used to link up wired sites. 10BaseT LAN in a building on a piece of property with a satellite office, either hundred of yards away or many miles. Each with self contained wired LAN's but the original building has a T3 and the sattelite office wants to get their hands on the connection. A point to point bridge setup works well. In that scenario with directional antennas on both sides. Or multiple satellite offices. Parent bridge at the Main site and children bridges at the remote sites. Omni at the parent site and directionals at the remote locations pointing back to the omni. It, in essence, makes the satellite offices part of the main offices network, but via wired clients. Now confusing this, you could connect a child bridge into a switch, and then plug AP's into that same switch for wireless connectivity within the satellite offices. Google search would probably get you some hits. Learned most of what I know on the job but I am sure there is literature out there that addresses this.

Ok, so wireless bridges are basically point to point type connections between each other. Thanks. I did do a search on this (before posting my question) and there was a lot of bad hits. I will definitely be refining my search, but I thought you might know something off the top of your head. Thanks again

 

[ktwebb]

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2001/08/24/linksys.html

Not sure if this helps either but found a "definition"

Bridging
Outdoor bridging -- the ability to transmit point-to-point (or point-to-multipoint) to connect one LAN to another -- is not covered in the 802.11b standard. This application grew out of the need to interconnect physically separate facilities without the high cost of trenching wire or fiber, or the relatively high recurring cost of connecting through a service provider. Although the standard does not cover them directly, wireless bridging implementations are proprietary extensions of 802.11b. The FCC does regulate wireless bridging, and the effective throughput (effective isotropic radiated power, or EIRP) can be no more than 4W. Wireless bridging implementations also require careful planning to optimize the positioning and throughput. As a reference point, indoor LAN power emissions can be no more than 1W as regulated by the FCC.

 

[ManDeJapan]

Thanks for the reply guys. So, I'm taking it that I wouldn't be able to bridge two wired router networks together with this Belkin access point then right?

 

[JackMDS]

No, you would not.

Look into the Linksys WAP11; it is very popular WAP for Entry-level Bridging.