divabot

It's like a bridge from its wireless to its wired ports -- but "repeater" mode is more like a relay. A b radio can't listen and talk at the same time -- so it's not repeating like a ethernet hub (everything in one port out all of the others instantaneously.) What the "repeater" is doing is logging into the other wireless box as a client (using WEP/WPA/etc.) and also accepting its own client. Every packet it accepts from its own clients, it then turns around and send the same packet to the wireless box it's attached to as a client (which in turn bridges/routes the packet out its ethernet on to its final destination. Again, since the b (or g) radio can't talk AND listen similtaneously, while it is relaying the first packet, it can't be listening for the second packet -- so the max bandwidth of the client attached to a "repeater" is half of as usual. Also, since the repeater is attaching to the first wireless box as a client, the repeater will need to support whatever authentication mode running on the other wireless box