Let me start with three comments:

1. I know that FCC rules need to be followed when accessing the internet through a mesh node.

2. I have tried to research this problem on this site and other sites, but I have been unable to find a similar scenario with the same problem.

3. I'm a long ways from being a networking expert.

Short description:

I have two WRT54G nodes.  One has been setup as a mesh gateway the other has not.  When hardwire connected to the mesh gateway node I can access the internet; when hardwired to the non-gateway node I can see the gateway node but I cannot access the internet. I have checked the Mesh Gateway checkbox.  I have rebooted the router (multiple times).

Long description:

The twist that I have not been able to find elsewhere is that my internet connection is a Verizon Wireless phone that is USB tethered to a desktop PC using the Android app PDANet.  The desktop is running Windows XP.  The desktop is setup to share the PDANet connection through the PCs NIC.  The NIC is then connected to a switch.  Anything connected to the switch can access the internet just fine.  I even have an Apple Airport connected to the switch which provides a wireless access point that works just fine.

Running ipconfig /all on the desktop shows the following:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : gaines-pc

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Hamachi:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Hamachi Network Interface

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 7A-79-00-00-00-00

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-18-8B-88-D2-1A

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 8.8.8.8

Ethernet adapter PdaNet Broadband Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : PdaNet Broadband Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-26-37-BD-39-42

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.19.2

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.19.1

DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.19.1

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 8.8.8.8

Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, November 03, 2015 10:56:55 AM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, November 04, 2015 10:56:55 AM

Ethernet adapter TeamViewer VPN:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : TeamViewer VPN Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-FF-96-EA-D9-3C

Some additional info (because I've seen it asked before).  I cannot ping any IP addresses from the desktop PC.  All requests timeout.  However nslookup (e.g. nslookup google.com) does resolve to IP addresses.

I have changed the firewall settings on the desktop PC to allow all ICMP traffic.

The destop PC Hosts file has not been changed.

I have tried the mesh gateway node with WAN Protocal as both DCHP and disabled.  When it was disabled I could no longer even access the internet when hardwired to the gateway node.

The gateway node shows the "default gateway" to be 192.168.0.1 which seems to be consistent with the fact that the PDANet internet access is shared to the PCs NIC which has the IP address of 192.168.0.1.

The gateway node shows a WAN address of 192.168.0.57 which again seems to be consistent with the PCs NIC address.

I'm not sure what other information would be helpful here.  I'm hoping someone can pull a rabbit out of a hat for me.

73,

AC0LV

Problem Solved.

I guessed that the root of my problem was on the cellular carrier end and that they blocked the requests that a gateway node needed in order to broadcast its internet connection.

I noticed too that when I was connected to my work VPN that pings to IP addresses worked.  However, my company does not allow a VPN connection if that connection is shared (no surprise there).  So I decided to try out on of the consumer VPN offerings available.  I found one that does allow internet sharing and made the purchase and installed the software.  That was all it took.  Now the gateway node can advertise its internet connection and I can connect to any mesh in the node and still get to the internet.

Hopefully this finding may be of use to someone in the future.

73,

AC0LV