Access Points and Wireless Coverage

A wireless access point (AP) is the device that lets Wi-Fi devices join a wired network. It acts as a bridge between the radio waves of Wi-Fi and the cables of the wired LAN. Phones, laptops, and tablets connect to the AP over the air, and the AP passes their traffic onto the wired network. APs are how you extend a network without running a cable to every device.

An access point has a radio that transmits and receives Wi-Fi signals and a wired port that connects to a switch. It takes wireless frames from devices and forwards them onto the wired LAN, and vice versa. In effect, the AP behaves like a wireless switch port, joining wireless clients into the same network as the wired devices.