Question: What is the difference between wireless router and access point?

The main feature of wireless router is to work as a router, means it will send/receive network packets to/from wireless network and Internet. Usually there is NAT (Network Address Translation) feature on the router, which means all home network IPs will be translated to broadband WAN IP when accessing to Internet. Also the router will act as access point at the same time, so that other computers can connect to the network wirelessly.

As for access point, it’s commonly used to create a simple wireless network and then wire connected to Ethernet network’s router, hub or switch.