dougie wrote

How in the name of Christ am I supposed to connect to the CPE to do the initial install? I can't even connect to it.

Plug in a cable and do the initial setup. The WiFi interface of a new device will not be turned on until you change the default username/password for the administrative web UI.

1. Connect the CPE201 directly to your computer or laptop. Do not connect it to your home network for initial setup.

2. Set a fixed (static) IP on your computer in the 192.168.0.0/24 subnet. For example, set your computer to 192.168.0.10, netmask 255.255.255.0.

3. Start a web browser and go to http://192.168.0.254/. Log in using the default username admin with default password admin. You will be asked to set a new username and password. As soon as you change the default username/password of the web UI, the CPE's WiFi adapter is turned on automatically.

4. Next, set a fixed IP to the CPE210 for your home network. Alternatively you can use DHCP, but then you have to find out the dynamically assigned IP in order to be able to connect to the CPE later. So better use a static IP. For example: if your home network uses 192.168.1.0/24, use a free IP for the CPE210 such as 192.168.1.2 or whatever is still unused in your home network. Remember to save the settings after having applied them.

5. Connect the CPE and your computer/laptop back to the home network, remember to reset the IP of your computer. Now the CPE is installed in your home network and ready for doing more configuration settings.

By the way, there is a fine manual available at: http://static.tp-link.com/res/down/doc/PharOS(UN)_V1_UG.pdf

dougie wrote

The signal is strong, 4 led's and power and lan0 are also lit.

Then someone did set up it already. Maybe you got a RMA'ed device from Amazon.

Press the reset button and hold it for at least 7 seconds to reset the device to factory settings. You will note that only the LAN LED will be on beside POWER if a computer is connected to it by cable. No signal strength LEDs should be on until the default username / password have been changed (at least on my device, which is HW version 1.0).

Don't change WiFi settings for the first test, just make sure the tablet/smart phone/whatever is in range of the 65° beam width of the CPE's antennas. Test immediately with factory settings before changing anything to make sure it works.

Note that although Point-to-Multipoint (i.e. CPE to several client devices such as tablets, smart phones etc.) works, the CPE was designed primarily for Point-to-Point applications over long distances to another CPE or PtMP links to a WBS (wireless base station), hence its directional antenna characteristics.

For just extending WiFi to a garden, the EAP110-Outdoor with omnidirectional antennas and a range of up to 200m would be much better suited and is much more easy to set up. See http://www.tp-link.com/us/products/details/cat-37_EAP110-Outdoor.html