A wireless communication system comprising a plurality of wireless stations communicating using a first air interface protocol a relay device, and an access point, wherein the plurality of wireless stations communicate with entities in a wide area network via the access point without establishing a direct wireless link with the access point, and wherein the relay device communicates with the plurality of wireless stations using the first air interface protocol and communicates with the access point using a second, different, wireless communication protocol. The second communication protocol, e.g., could be a backhaul protocol that is used by the access point to communicate with other access points in the system.