Wireless routers and APs have different connectivity
The extra hardware and, more importantly, different software enable the router to form the heart of your network. It connects all your devices to the internet, protects them with a firewall, controls network and internet access, shares printers and storage and even more.
In addition the right router and access points bring about tools such as rate limiting, band steering, transmit power control and rogue AP detection help manage bandwidth more efficiently. Access points can also handle more simultaneous devices—more than 60 connections each. So if density of devices connecting to your Wi-Fi is a growing challenge, an access point could be ideal for scalability.