A wireless access point (WAP) provides access to wireless networks. A wireless access point is not a wireless router, though the two may appear to be similar. A wireless router provides routing capabilities, may be a switch, and provides wireless capabilities as well. On the otherhand, a WAP is just a single device.
A WAP is a bridge that extends the wired network onto the wireless network. The WAP makes forwarding decisions based on the traffic’s destination MAC address.