I think access point is proper in your case. In default, it is an access point indeed. Your wireless clients should be able to search for its ssid and connect to it.
If it is not working, try router mode. http://www.tp-link.com/en/article/?faqid=396

Mavis wrote

I think access point is proper in your case. In default, it is an access point indeed. Your wireless clients should be able to search for its ssid and connect to it.
If it is not working, try router mode. http://www.tp-link.com/en/article/?faqid=396

To work as access point or router, the WR700N must receive internet feed from somewhere. So, my problem is how to use one laptop to log on and receive wifi access to hotel (after bringing up web page, entering username, PW and agreeing to conditions). Then connect this laptop to WR700N TP-Link travel router (likely by ethernet cable) and then share wifi signal using new ssid.

The Apple article in post above describes just this type of setup.

I received this reply from Bree Nie of TP support:

I know how you want to use it.

The link you sent me gives an instruction on how to set up your MACbook to realize such function but it does not show how the apple Airport Express realize it.

Usually, we do not use the TP-WR700N this way, and I am afraid it does not supports such application.

And sorry that we do not have a step-by-step instruction.

If that is the case, the wr700N should not be purchased by anyone wanting to use on typical North American hotel WIFI networks.

ICS is what you want to do. Windows will share your Wireless Network to your Ethernet connection. It should provided a full NAT DHCP. Connect the enternet port on your laptop to the routers WAN port and it should get a IP form Windows. You'll notice you are now double NATTED. But it should work, if the IP subnets don't conflict. Beware of the dreaded 192.168.0.xx being used every where, each net needs to be on a different sub net.

KRowland wrote

ICS is what you want to do. Windows will share your Wireless Network to your Ethernet connection. It should provided a full NAT DHCP. Connect the enternet port on your laptop to the routers WAN port and it should get a IP form Windows. You'll notice you are now double NATTED. But it should work, if the IP subnets don't conflict. Beware of the dreaded 192.168.0.xx being used every where, each net needs to be on a different sub net.

Thanks - As mentioned at the end of the first post, use of ICS did come to mind, but I did not know if the connections from the 700N would then be invisible to the hotel. That is why I tried bridging the wireless and LAN adapters.

There is a software solution called Connectify. It uses the laptops wifi signal and then rebroadcasts it using a different SSID. But signal is weak. May be OK in a room, but maybe not in a condo. Connectify does have an option in their pro version that will send a signal out the LAN port. If so, the Wr700N could then be connected and send out a stronger signal.

But I will try ICS again but this time be more careful on the subnets.

Well I tried using ICS and for a short while it worked. But then stopped. I had set the TP-Link up as a router. I had set laptops wifi adapter up to share signal with LAN. I initially set the TP-Link up with a fixed IP 192.168.51.1 but left the LAN card to find its own. Somehow that worked for about 10 min or so, but then the link was lost. Obviously I don't know how to set up the ip properly :(

Unfortunately TP would not help me with this :( I just wish I had bought the D-Link Travel router.

Problem solved - see
TL-WR702N as client

I have posted elsewhere that I used a 702 Nano router as the client to get the local wifi signal and then directly plug that into a TP-Link 3600 router WAN port and then connect all my devices to it, either hardwire or wifi. This works fine.

Using ICS is just a substitute for the extra router needed, as Windows can be that extra router. Setting the local net address block to 192.168.51.x would be correct, and then the router would get a DHCP address from the Ethernet port of the Windows running ICS and I believe the DEFAULT subnet of 192.168.0.x is hard coded into the ICS software and cannot be changed, except for Registry Editing. So if the host wifi net you are trying to extend is on 192.168.0.x, this won't work.

So the problem is not in the TP-Link router settings, it's ICS itself.

Ref: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/230148

Reference the other thread..... Ah yes! Bridge mode avoids ICS problems and just couples the ethernet port to the same network as the Wifi adapter. Nice. I'll have to remember that, as I don't use Windows much, let alone use it as a router anymore. ICS can work if the subnets are different. I guess you could connect a simple ethernet switch to the ethernet port of the Windows computer. But if you want to use only ONE login code and then all other devices will ride on that connection, a full wifi router will work.