A
wireless access
system and method are provided by which the
wireless communications area covered by a single access point is increased while maintaining the
maintainability of the access point, minimizing an increase in
system cost, and avoiding the hidden terminal problem. An access point (12) and terminals (16a to 16c) are connected via a
master station (13), an optical
multiplexing / demultiplexing section (14), and slave stations (15a to 15c). A downstream
signal to the terminals (16a to 16c) from the access point (12) is transmitted such that the
master station (13) outputs the downstream
signal to each of the slave stations (15a to 15c) in a distributed manner through the optical
multiplexing / demultiplexing section (14). An upstream
signal to the access point (12) from any one of the terminals (for example, 16a) is transmitted to the
master station (13) through a slave
station (for example, 15a) and the optical
multiplexing / demultiplexing section (14), and also sent to all other slave stations (for example, 15b and 15c) through the master
station (13) or the optical multiplexing / demultiplexing section (14).