Distinguish between fat AP and thin AP, full WiFi signal coverage will be easy

Wireless AP is an access point for users who use wireless devices (mobile devices such as mobile phones and wireless devices such as laptops) to enter the wired network. It is mainly used in broadband homes, inside buildings, campuses, parks, warehouses, factories and other places that require wireless monitoring. The typical coverage distance is tens to hundreds of meters. It can also be used for long-distance transmission. The farthest distance can reach about 30KM. The main technology is the IEEE802.11 series.

Most wireless APs also have an access point client mode (AP client), which can wirelessly connect to other APs to extend the coverage of the network.

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Wireless APs are divided into thin APs and fat APs according to their performance.

Thin AP generally refers to a wireless gateway or bridge, and fat AP generally refers to a wireless router.

Thin APs are mostly used in situations where higher requirements are required. To achieve authentication, an authentication server or a switch that supports authentication functions is generally required.

Fat APs are mostly used in homes and small networks. They have a wide range of functions. Generally, one device can realize access, authentication, routing, VPN, address translation and other functions, and even has firewall functions. For example:

You have a computer in your bedroom. One day, you suddenly have an idea and set up a poorly configured computer in the living room. You can remotely connect the desktop to your bedroom computer so that you can play games in the living room. Of course, we will talk about the effect separately. The computer in the living room is technically called a thin client. If you have a well-configured computer, this computer has no hard disk, but other hardware is available. You configure it to get data from the bedroom computer when it starts. After starting, all software is executed locally but stored remotely. The gaming experience is exactly the same. At this time, this computer is a fat client.

Yes, a fat client is certainly more likely to provide better performance, but that's not why it's called fat or thin. In addition, fat and thin are relative terms, and there is no absolute definition. For example, in the example above, your living room computer can also be a docking station with a long cable, which brings the monitor, mouse, keyboard, and headphones of your bedroom computer to the living room. It has weaker performance than the thin client computer (although the experience may be better).

Analysis of fat AP and thin AP from a technical perspective

Technically speaking, fat APs have the ability to self-configure. They not only store their own configurations, but they can also execute their own configurations. As you can imagine, first of all, the storage chip costs money, and then the logic that can execute the configuration also needs to be carried by hardware and software, which is all cost. Therefore, fat APs are much more expensive than thin APs, and of course, their performance is also higher. Because thin APs can't do anything and have no "brains", they need a master brain - Access Controller to control them. Although fat APs can do a lot of things, considering practicality, most of them still retain the function of being controlled by AC.

Since thin APs have simpler hardware functions, they mostly act as a managed role and have a smaller capacity than fat APs. Because many services must be processed on the AC, some key delays of thin APs cannot be compared with those of fat APs, resulting in limited performance.

Therefore, if your network is large, the cost considerations for using fat or thin APs must be analyzed in detail. Once the network reaches a certain scale and density, it cannot be simply said that using a certain type of AP is definitely better.