Advantages of Access Points
- Access points (wireless) can be accessed by users at any given location provided the availability of ethernet cable.
- Access points have the ability to serve multiple connected devices at a time. Let us assume that multiple users (say 100) trying to connect to a network through an access point without any issue.
- A distance of hundreds of meters can be covered using access points as compared to wireless routers.
- Because of its flexibility, it can accommodate different networking devices and networking protocols. Thus, making it suitable for organizations, large offices, etc.
- Security consideration is taken up by providing the features like Access Control List (ACL) support and captive portals using which account management is done and restriction of limits can be imposed on the guest access.
- The clustering feature also lets you manage all the access points in a network as a single unit rather than managing them independently. It gives a more secure wireless network.
Access Point vs Range Extender
Wireless communication takes place over free space through RF (radio frequency), one device, the Transmitter sends a signal to another device, Receiver. Two devices (transmitter and receiver) must use the same frequency (or channel) to be able to communicate with each other. In this article, we will see, the basic difference between Access Point and Range Extender.