Hello Scott.Tao ,

you are absolutely right regarding Repeater mode of Pharos CPEs. This mode should not be used except probably in very rare situations where stationary (non-moving) clients are inside the CPE's antenna narrow beam width angle, but even then one will get into serious troubles such as, for example, the Hidden Node Problem.

IMO repeaters have no place at all in professional setups.

I have set up so many CPEs, WBS and also UBNT NanoBeams, AirMAX and AirFiber links, that I can say that in my opinion TP-Link's CPEs are the most easy directional APs to set up even if one did not RTFM.

There is also a good reason why a certain browser family which is broken by design :-) is not recommended in the CPE specifications – and also in the User's Guide – for accessing the Pharos web UI:

Maybe it's this browser (or Windows itself) which caused problems for the thread opener to connect to the CPE, but it's definitively not that difficult to initially connect a laptop or PC to a CPE.

Just my two cents.

@Throttlemonkey, no, the IP is not a security setting, it's just the usual way business-class products have a meaningful factory default preset.

The fact that the CPE activates the AP only after the very first login is a) to recognize the disclaimer you have to agree upon, b) to assure that you have changed the login credentials from the default settings and c) to give the user a change to set WLAN encryption before its activation.

The disclaimer reads (emphasized by me):

TERMS OF USE

This TP-Link wireless device must be installed by a certified professional. Properly installed shielded Ethernet cable and earth grounding must be used in compliance with this product's warranty. Installers must abide by European rules and regulations in terms of legal frequency channels, output power, and Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) requirements. The End User accepts responsibility for maintaining the product in accordance with these rules and regulations.

I guess it's done this way b/c people don't read docs. 

As for the IP setting:

All routers, switches, access points etc. almost always have a static IP as their default. This default IP is documented in the Installation Guide for the device; for CPEs it's documented in the Pharos Installation Guide (see section »Software Configuration«).

The TP-Link CPE's IP pre-set by the factory is always 192.168.0.254. An UBNT AirFiber's IP pre-set by the factory is always 192.168.1.20.

First thing you always need to do is to integrate the device into your network.

Let's assume your network IP is 192.168.10.0. This are the steps to change the CPE's IP to an IP from your network:

1. Connect your laptop/PC directly to the CPE (or if you want, connect the CPE to your switch/router).
2. Set your laptop's IP to any address in this network, e.g. to 192.168.0.8.
3. Load the CPE's web UI (http://192.168.0.254/) and set its IP to a free, unused IP of your network, e.g. 192.168.10.250 or whatever.
4. Apply the new setting, connection now drops.
5. Now change your laptop's IP back to your network's IP (DHCP or whatever you use).
6. If not done already in step 1, connect the CPE with your switch, but make sure to not power off the CPE, else it loses the IP just set.
7. Finally, log into the CPE's web UI again and save settings permanently, since you couldn't save it in step 4.

That's all. Your CPE is now a permanent part of your network. BTW: the procedure is described in the Pharos User's Guide, section 2.2.

I do exactly the same procedure with any UBNT device, too, be it a router, a switch or an AirFiber AP (and yes, I read their setup guides, too).

It's the fastest and most fail-safe way to integrate any device into a network in just a minute.

No hassle with software (except probably with Windows itself, which sometimes needs to reboot the PC to activate a changed IP; maybe that's because Windows loves to have the user do reboots all the time).

If you use an UNIX-like system such as Linux or MacOS, you can even create a profile to switch IPs between networks on the fly, what becomes very handy when setting up devices often.

@Throttlemonkey, if you have to reboot the CPE and computer just to go to the web UI, then your network has not been set up correctly.

I guess that with »your cable is unplugged« you mean the error message »Failed to get data«. This happens if you have no connectivity to the CPE. The LAN LED lighting just shows that there is a physical connection, it also lits if you have different IPs, thus not being able to communicate. The LAN LED lights up as soon as the cable is connected to the CPE and the other side to a switch or computer.

Please post a screenshot of the CPE's network settings (or the status page showing IP setup) and paste the output of the »ipconfig« command on your computer here.

Can you ping the CPE? How is the CPE connected? How is the computer connected?

You say repeater mode works throughut your whole house. I doubt that, it's technically impossible except your CPE is mounted outside at 20m to 40m apart from your house (depending on the length/width of your house).

If you connect wirelessly to the CPE you just see the troubles I wrote of when using the CPE in repeater mode and the message »Failed to get data« appears.

@Throttlemonkey, this is the antenna pattern of CPE210:

We clearly see that the signal is 100 to 1,000 times weaker in the back direction compared with the front direction of the CPE's signal.

Depending on obstacles like walls, windows etc. the signal gets bounced in every direction inside the room, leading to strong interferences and an unreliable WiFi signal. If this is what you call »it works«, then why the complaints about »Failed to get data« when loading the web UI?

@Throttlemonkey, I have read the questions, but I have the feeling that you don't understand the answers given to those questions.

You are talking about connecting to the CPE by cable having problems with a state of an »unplugged cable«, then you write about problems connecting to the CPE's web UI wirelessly.

Next post you claim repeater mode works very well, then you state that you cannot successfully connect to the wireless network at all.

If you refuse to learn that the CPE has a directional antenna beam which makes operating it in repeater mode a real pain, you will not be able to systematically track down the cause for the many issues you are experiencing.

I'm now out of this discussion. Good luck!