Network Basics: Access point vs Bridge Mode | Key Differences

This post is all about the differences between access point vs bridge mode. Both are fundamental to any network and understanding them is critical and is often mistaken in the real world.

Shopping for a way to expand your home or office network, you might be interested to know the differences between an access point and bridge mode. The best router should cover your entire network without much assistance, but there are times a Wi-Fi network won’t do what you need. Read on to discover the differences between the two:

Access Point

An access point is a device that connects to a wired network. It can be a router, bridge, or switch or it can simply be known as an AP (access point). The term 'access point' is often used in place of the wireless bridge which is another term for wireless repeater; however, there are some differences between these two devices.

The main difference between an AP and a repeater is that the former will broadcast its signal over the same frequency range as your existing Wi-Fi network while the latter only receives data packets from clients on your current WIFI network but does not forward them further than their source; therefore, you need both if you want good coverage throughout your home or office building.

Bridge Mode

Bridge mode is a way to connect multiple access points. It's the most common way to connect access points, and it's used in large networks as well as small ones.

Bridge mode works by creating an inter-device link between each AP that provides wired connectivity between them (and also supports wireless radios). This allows you to bridge multiple APs together into one larger network with less complexity than other methods such as VLANs or virtual LANs (VLANs).

Access point vs Bridge Mode

Let us go through some key differences between the two and how they impact networks and end users: 

Security Aspects:

Access points can be used to secure the network from a single point of failure. For example, if you have an access point in your home and one in your office, they could connect and share data. This would allow both locations to be protected if one were ever hacked or taken offline by an attacker.

Access points can also be used to secure the network from a single point of entry. If someone wants access to your home or business but doesn't have proper security clearance, they might try guessing what type of device is being used at each step along their path until they find an open port that allows them into your system by default (e.g., when connecting via FTP). However, with bridge mode enabled on both devices there will not be any open ports available at all—no matter what password combination was used initially!

Speed Aspects:

Bridges are faster than access points. Bridges can be used to connect two networks or even two access points. In this case, a bridge is used as a "middleman" between the wireless and wired worlds.

Power management:

The primary difference between bridges and access points is that bridges are more power efficient. This means that they can operate in bridge mode without consuming too much electricity, making them a good choice for low-power applications where you need to minimize your carbon footprint. However, there are some cases where this doesn't hold—bridges may still consume more power than access points if their transmitters don't support 802.11ad or beamforming (which we'll discuss later). 

In general, though, you should be able to make an informed decision based on how much power your device needs: an access point will likely be slower and require more energy than its counterpart but might also use less of it overall because it's designed specifically around wireless communication rather than being optimized for anyone setting; while bridging can provide more bandwidth but may not meet all the needs of your device (for example if there's already another router nearby).

There are many advantages to using an access point, but there are also disadvantages. Access points are easy to set up and manage, but they can be difficult to troubleshoot if you don't know what you're doing.

Bridge mode is not as easy as access point mode when it comes to troubleshooting issues or upgrading your network equipment because of the nature of bridge mode's design. Bridge mode requires two devices: one router (the bridge) and another device (the switch). If either one breaks down, then your entire network will stop working until it is repaired or replaced with a new one (which costs hundreds if not thousands). 

Conclusion

Before we conclude our take on the comparison of "access point vs bridge mode" Both have their pros and cons and usage depends on the scenario which suits a typical network and end user.