WiFi Broadcast Traffic – Does It Go Through the Access Point?

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Let's say I've got two devices connected to my Access Point, a laptop and a tablet. If the laptop sends unicast traffic to the tablet, I understand that it must go through the AP.
However, how is broadcast traffic from the laptop handled? Does this traffic too go through the AP, or is it sent from the laptop to the tablet directly?

Best Answer

In infrastructure mode (using a WAP) everything runs through the WAP. For example, your two hosts will be in range of the WAP, but may not be in range of each other. Also, one of the devices may be at such a distance from the WAP as to need a lower rate, which is why broadcast and multicast traffic on Wi-Fi is sent at the lowest rate of the WAP.

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