It allows a wireless network to be expanded using multiple access points without the traditional requirement for a wired backbone to link them.
The notable advantage of WDS over other solutions is that it preserves the MAC addresses of client frames across links between access points.
WDS may be incompatible between different products (even occasionally from the same vendor) since the IEEE 802.11-1999 standard does not define how to construct any such implementations or how stations interact to arrange for exchanging frames of this format.
Recent Apple base stations allow WDS with WPA, though in some cases firmware updates are required.
In order to accurately identify the true latency contribution of relaying through a wireless remote station vs. simply increasing the broadcast power of the main station, more comprehensive tests specific to the environment would be required.