The present invention provides methods, systems, devices, and computer program
instructions for enabling low-power wireless devices (such as wireless telephones
and personal digital assistants, or PDAs) to connect to a fast wired or wireless
voice/data network. A novel relay point device, referred to as an "extension point",
is defined that flexibly extends the effective reach of network access points.
Use of extension points enables the network infrastructure to be expanded (and
subsequently re-configured, if necessary) simply and cost-effectively, requiring
little or no additional physical wiring. The defined techniques provide an infrastructure
that is scalable, supporting a large number of end users without substantial degradation
to connection establishment time and data rates. Using the disclosed techniques,
end devices are able to reach network services, and to communicate with other end
devices, beyond the nominal working range of these devices and without limitation
to the numbers of such devices.
