Wireless and Mobile Device Security, 2nd Edition

Wireless Access Points

A wireless access point (WAP) is simply a half-duplex switch that contains a radio card and an antenna that can be tuned to one or more unlicensed radio frequencies (specifically, the 2.4 GHz and/or the 5 GHz bands). The radio card is under the same constraints as a client station in that it can only transmit if no other station is already doing so. A WAP, however, does a little bit more than a hub, because it actually works at the control and data-functional layers. In other words, it has some switch-like intelligence. For example, a WAP must make a connection and then maintain that connection over the air. Therefore, wireless protocols must support a greater array of messages than a protocol for a wired connection. Wireless ...