Sorry for the length of this post. I own an IT support business and recently had a client contact me who had purchased some TP-Link outdoor wireless gear, and wanted me to install it. I have never used TP-Link wireless products with the exception of residential routers, but In a previous life, I owned and operated a WISP for about 20 years, using various conglomerations of Cambium, Trango, and Ubiquiti gear, so I'm very familiar with outdoor wireless networks.

When I arrived I found that that this client had a building where he had DSL installed, and wanted to connect a cluster of small cabins, about 100 meters away. He had purchased two EAP-225 Outdoor APs, and one CPE710 Pharos unit. I'm not certain how the client came up with this configuration of equipment, but he obviously had help in determining what to buy, because he's not the most technologically clueful guy I've ever met. After looking at what he had, what made the most sense to me was to put an EAP-225 on the rooftop of the building where the DSL connection was.  Then, put the CPE710 at the cluster of cabins, pointed at back at the EAP-225. Then, I figured I would take the second EAP-225, and install it as an AP to provide client connectivity to the cabins. It all seemed pretty straight forward.

After getting all the gear installed, however, I ran into a problem getting the CPE710 to connect to the EAP-225. I have it configured as a client, but I can't get it to connect for anything. I can't even get it to see any APs in the survey. There are three distinct APs within range of the CPE 710. Using my laptop, when standing below the CPE710, I can see all three SSIDs of those APs. Two of those APs are at back at the building where the DSL connection is, 100 meters away. So, I would expect the CPE710 to be able to see them, as it is pointed directly at that building. Yet it shows nothing whatsoever in its survey results, and obviously doesn't connect to the EAP-225 when I configure the SSID and security parameters.

Thinking that perhaps the radio was bad, I switched the CPE710 to AP mode. It worked just fine, and I was able to connect to it using my laptop. However, as soon as I switch to client mode, it's almost like it no longer works.

I'm wondering if I've got the wrong combination of equipment to expect this to work. My first guess is that maybe the Pharos stuff is incompatible with standard WiFi--similar to Ubiquiti's Airmax gear, which is based on 802.11, but is not compatible with normal WiFi. But if that were the case, why would I have been able to connect to the CPE710 using my laptop after switching it to AP mode?

Anyway, I'm scratching my head on this one. Could anyone give me some pointers on where to go with this? I'm guessing my lack of familiarity with TP-Link gear is probably biting me in some way. Thanks!