Consider a Wi-Fi network with one access point and two clients, operating in marginal conditions due to range, etc. Client 1 is communicating with Client 2. Obviously the Access Point (AP) must be in range of both (assuming no fancy mesh modes, etc.) for the network to be deemed available, but does the data actually travel through it?
That is, does the AP receive the packets from one client and rebroadcast them for the other client to pick up, or does Client 2's radio receive the signals directly as they're transmitted from Client 1 and the AP just provides some sort of arbitration and metadata to help them find each other?
I'm particularly interested in how the answer to this would affect the case where the two clients are near to each other and have good radio propagation, but the access point is some distance away.
Best Answer
Yes, the communication is traveling through the access point. In this case the AP is functioning exactly like a switch does in a wired network.
It is possible to have two devices communicate directly, without an AP. This is known as Ad Hoc networking.