Wireless AP - Client connectivity

[martynch1]

Hi all, I've been searching but unable to find the answer to this question. Does a client laptop's signal need to reach the actual AP for it to work or just to the AP's signal, if you have a link to any documentation that I could read too that would be great.

I was thinking about my mobile phone and the distance away from my nearest cell tower which got me thinking about wireless, does my mobile phone reach the tower which is two miles away or does it just reach the towers signal that's being transmitted.

Thanks

[Karsten Iwen · Accepted solution]

We need bidirectional communication between the AP and the client That means the signal of the AP needs to reach the client at a sufficient signal strength and the client's signal needs to reach the AP at a sufficient signal strength.

Think of it as communication between two people. If you are that far that you can barely hear the other, we can say that the "signal" is just strong enough to reach you. But if you whisper and your "signal" is just reaching the point where the other one's signal ends, the other person will not hear you.

[Mark Elsen · Accepted solution]

- Don't confuse 4/5G with Wifi , as for your laptop the radio-receiver on the AP , must be able to hear your laptop's WiFi signal.

 M.