Well WRC5000N, User Manual

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WELL WRC500N / WRC5010N / WRC5010NU
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WDS (Wireless Distribution System)
WDS stands for Wireless Distribution System. It enables the
access points (APs) to be connected wirelessly. Integrated
Access Device can also provide you services of WDS.
Note
Integrated Access Device that supports WDS does not support
security systems like WEP, WPA or WPA-Enterprise on a WDS
network.
Sometimes you want to establish a multi-access point wireless
network in your home or office, but you don’t have Ethernet
cabling running to the locations where you want to add the extra
AP. After all, you may be using wireless because you don’t have
wires in place already.
One way to overcome this problem is to use a system built into
Wireless Gateway that is known as Wireless Distribution
System (WDS).
WDS basically creates a mesh network by providing a
mechanism for access points to “talk” to each other as well as
sending data to devices associated with them.
Note
WDS is based on some standardized 802.11 protocols, but there
is no standardized way of implementing it that works across
different AP and router vendors. So if you have a Wireless
Gateway in one location and you want to create a WDS link to a
other brand of router in another location (just to pick two brands at
random), you probably won’t be able to get it to work. You have
your best luck when you use equipment from the same
manufacturer.
Note
When you use WDS as a repeater system, as described below, it
effectively halves the data rate for clients connected to Integrated
Wireless Gateway. That’s because every bit of data needs to be
sent twice (data is received by the AP and then retransmitted).
To configure WDS, you need to modify some settings on each
AP within the network. Your exact steps (and the verbiage used)
will vary from vendor to vendor. Generally, you’ll see some
settings like the following: