What are Infrastructure mode and Ad hoc mode?
The 802.11 standard defines two modes: infrastructure mode and ad hoc mode. In infrastructure mode, the wireless network consists of at least one AP(access point) connected to the wired network infrastructure and a set of wireless end stations. The access point acts as the base station for the wireless network, aggregating access for multiple wireless stations onto the wired network. Wireless end stations can be 802.11 PC Card, PCI, or ISA NICs. Ad hoc mode (also called peer-to-peer mode) is simply a set of 802.11 wireless stations that communicate directly with one another without using an AP(access point) or any connection to a wired network. This mode is useful for quickly and easily setting up a wireless network anywhere that a wireless infrastructure does not exist or is not required for services.
