I have read a lot about access points by now, but I still don't understand how this works. I have a wired router with two computers connected to it. Let's say I buy an access point and I connect it to one of the LAN ports on my router. Then my two laptops connect to the access point wirelessly. How am I going to forward ports to one of my laptops? What IP addresses are they going to have? How can I configure them as I configure my desktops, through the router? Will the router "see" them? I'm totally confused as to how all this works... Please help!!!

Your laptop will get it's IP address from you DHCP server. Usually this is built into your router. You won't need to forward ports or anything. Just plug the LAN port of the router into the access point.

The access point setup will set up the wireless side of things.

OK, but if the access point connects to one of the LAN ports on the router, and two laptops connect through the access point, how does the router give each laptop a different IP address? Both laptops are actually connected to only one LAN port...

This of the AP as being a wireless switch. The DHCP server does not assign IP addresses by Rj45 port, but by client attached to the network.

IP addresses are handed out according to the MAC address of the network adapter. In this case the MAC address of your wireless adapter. Every network device made has a 'unique' MAC address.

The port on the router doesn't have anything to do with how addresses are assigned. The LAN ports of your router are just part of the built in switch. The router only needs 2 ports, one LAN and one WAN, for convenience/marketabilty a switch is added.

Thank you very much... I think I get it now, but I have another question... What would happen if I buy a wireless router instead of an access point and connect it to my wired router? The reason I'm asking is that I see that there is not much of a difference in price between a wireless router and an access point. Can I use a wireless router just as an access point? If so, what port on the wireless router should I use to connect to the wired router, the WAN port or one of the LAN ports?

In fact, you can usually get the wireless routers cheaper than the AP... shows what competition and market demand does to prices.

Most routers will have a config mode to put it into "AP" mode. You should check to be sure, though. You can use it even if it does not have an AP mode, but it gets a little more complicated unless you actually want to isolate the two parts of your network.

You connect the WAN port on the "downstream" router to one of the LAN ports on the "upstream" router.

Seperate AP generally out perform the wireless routers. Not sharing CPU and Ram. Most come with Upgraded antenna, Higher gain. Not being tied down with all of wires related to the router allows for moving around to find the omptium position for the best coverage.

Daisy chaining routers can be a headache at times to setup.

Just stay away from anything pre 11n or MIMO routers.

The easiest solution would be to ebay the old wired router, buy a wireless router of your choice. Almost all wireless routers have 4 wired ports.

You don't have to cascade the wireless router with the wired. Just disable the DHCP on the wireless access point and connect the lan ports. I did this with my netgear hardware, they have a howto on their site. link

The simplest solution usually works the best.

Thanks for all the helpful responses. I guess I'll just stick with an access point to avoid any complications. I want to keep my wired router (USR8200) because it's very powerful and doesn't choke on P2P applications...