Wireless

Access points connect multiple users on a wireless LAN to each other and to a wired network. For example, 20 users equipped with wireless network interface cards may associate with a single access point that connects to an Ethernet network. Each of these users has access to the Ethernet network and to each other. The access point here is similar to a bridge device, but the access point interfaces a network to multiple users, not other networks.

Bridges, though, connect networks and are often less expensive than access points. For example, a wireless LAN bridge can interface an Ethernet network directly to a particular access point. This may be necessary if you have a few devices, possibly in a building across the street, that are interconnected via Ethernet. A wireless LAN bridge plugs into this Ethernet network and uses the 802.11 protocol to communicate with an access point that's within range. In this manner, a bridge enables you to wirelessly connect a cluster of users (actually a network) to an access point.