Situation 1
INET <--> MTRouter <--> AP1 <--> CPE1 <--> Client1
....................... | .................... X ............... Y
....................Client2

Have networking issue that occurs when I switch the AP and CPE roles.
The above diagram works just fine. The AP and CPE are Tranzeo 900 gear in Bridge Mode in heavily treed area. Client1 can get out on net and can ping Client2.

!!However I would like to make the CPE1 the AP location. I have other Client locations which can reach the CPE1 location Y but not the AP1 location X. (I could just put up another AP but that does not answer the networking mystery for me)


Situation 2
INET <--> MTRouter <--> CPE1 <--> AP1 <--> Client1
....................... | .................... X ................ Y
....................Client2


Now Client1 can ping MTRouter but not the Inet or Client2.

Since I’m in bridge mode with the radios why does it matter which is AP in the chain?

Any thoughts or questions about my setup?

Thanks for your insights
Rick

Sorry - I know it is not a Tranzeo forum.

Response from Tranzeo was:

What you are experiencing here is from the layer 2.5 bridging. What happens is when traffic passes from the CPE to the AP it will use the MAC address of the CPE. The only way to avoid the layer 2.5 bridging is to have the radios in PXP mode but when they are in point to point the AP can only associate with that 1 CPE. So unless there is another reason for you to have the AP at the client location other than having him associate another wireless device it would work.

Question: Will this occur on a Mikrotik radio system?

Rick

The "problem" you describe is actually not a problem, but the way 802.11 devices work - CPE can only send out data with its own source mac address, therefore simple bridging at CPE will not work - sending packet out CPE wireless interface will overwrite original source mac address. There are multiple ways to address this problem - usually vendor specific.

If your question is - would such setup be possible with MT AP&CPE, then answer is yes - you have to use WDS link between that CPE (station-wds mode) and AP (ap-bridge mode with wds-mode set to e.g. dynamic).