[kwlug-disc] Repeater mode = Media Bridge mode + AP mode

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

This reply is two months late!  Sorry!

> From: William Park via kwlug-disc <kwlug-disc at kwlug.org>

> Essentially, devices with only network port

You mean "devices with only an ethernet port (and no WiFi capability)"

> connects to the repeater (directly
> or via switch),

Via Ethernet (TCP/IP).

> and the repeater connects to your wireless router.  Just like
> one network switch connecting to another network switch.

I assume/guess:
- "connects" means "bridges"
- the RP-N12 doesn't do NAT
- DHCP is passed through the RP-N12 transparently

> It has 3 modes: *repeater*, *media bridge*, *access point* (AP) modes. 
> Anyways, I just found out that
> 
>         (default) "repeater" mode = "media bridge" mode + "ap" mode.
> 
> In "media bridge" mode, "AP" mode is turned off.  In "AP" mode, "media bridge"
> mode is turned off.  In "repeater" mode, "media bridge" and "ap" modes are
> turned on.

So "media bridge" means that the WiFi of the RP-N12 is only used for 
talking upstream.  And AP mode means that the Ethernet port is disabled.

Is there a configuration where the RP-N12 bridges to upstream via its 
ethernet port and allows other hosts to connect to it / through it vias 
WiFi?  That's what I'd normally call an AP.  It may double the effective 
wireless bandwidth since each packet no longer has to travel though WiFi 
twice.

This would all be simpler if the mode names more directly described what 
they do:
Media Bridge => disable WiFi clients
AP mode => disable Ethernet clients
(They don't allow disabling both since that isn't actually useful.)
(the word "client" isn't correct, but it describes how most of us think 
about it.  Really: the device bridges a local network segment with a 
remote segment.)