I have had the Peplink Max BR1 and the Cradlepoint IBR900. The Peplink was not very reliable for my on my boat, with an external antenna on a 70’ mast, with or without a cellular booster, so I tried the Cradlepoint IBR900. It worked ok, but, as others have noted, you lose most functionality if you do not pay Cradlepoint $180 a year for a license. I then bought an Inhand IR300 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096XRZZ7J/ref=pe_386300_440135490_TE_item?th=1) for $168 on Amazon. It works great, has dual-SIM capability, and has no licensing charges. Inhand does have cloud-based management available, but I am keeping management strictly local. I can even send it an SMS to have it send me its current status and IP address (and even limit which phone numbers can ask it for status). It also supports Ethernet WAN, so I can have it automatically use a wired (Comcast XFinity) connection when at my berth at the marina. I am currently mainly using a T-Mobile LTE SIM, but also have an AT&T SIM at present. Both work, although I may try a Verizon SIM in place of the AT&T SIM for lower cost.
Thanks for posting this information, Steve. It helped sway my decision to move from Mikrotik to Peplink. I’m curious, however, how you were able to set up combining the bandwidth of 2 sims with the Pepwave MAX Transit Cat 18. In my Pepwave admin set up, I have selected both sims (sim a is AT&T and sim b is T-Mobile) in the cellular settings with no preference set, but in my dashboard connection status, I see that only one sim is in use at a time.
The MAX Transit CAT18 is a single modem or cellular connection device. While it has two SIM slots so you can switch back and forth, you can use them both at the same time.
The MAX Transit DUO, or some of the other bigger routers like the MBX line have multiple cellular modems and can have them connected simultaneously. Those get quite a bit more expensive, though, and are usually for folks who need 24x7 connectivity no matter what.
This is OT but any recommendations for Canadian cell plans for Pepwave gear? Leaving Shilshole for BC and looking for prepaid / postpaid data plan instead of roaming on Verizon and T Mobile.
The best solution I’ve used, and recommended to others, is Google Fi. It uses the T-Mobile network in the US mostly, and roams on several Canadian providers. I’ve used the Unlimited Plus plan which was just upgraded to 50GB of data a month, and that includes roaming too which is much higher than just about anything out there.
Just be careful about how many months you use it consecutively. I’ve heard of them canceling plans due to terms of service if you roam constantly. You also will be throttled or slowed down after the 50GB data amount, and that can be a red flag as well if you use all of your roaming data constantly.
I have a T-Mobile SIM that came with a ‘Franklin’ hotspot device that I got at one of their stores. Does anyone know if I can use this sim in the equipment cited in this article and discussion, for example Nighthawk or Pepwave?
Most all of T-Mobile’s plans aren’t locked to a device, so it could work on another device. The only challenge will be related to the plan itself that you bought the device with. Most of their hotspot plans aren’t device specific either, which means it should work. An easy way to test is to try it in another device and see if things still work.
thanks Steve. Is the Nighthawk still your recommendation for an entry level, sub-$500 solution for cell internet via one sim or marina wifi when available?
The Nighthawk is still my recommendation for a hotspot device with a single SIM. It won’t work with local marina WiFi, however. You’d need a Peplink or other similar router with WiFi as WAN if you wanted to do that.
double thanks, Steve. I did not realize that about the local marina wifi. I looked at Peplink Max BR Mini and see that you can purchase an upgrade to unlock the WiFi as WAN capability (great). However, I got confused re: the different category modems avaialble. Can you please point me to something that explains these? (I do not need to be on the bleeding edge . . .)
Generally speaking you want to go for the newest category or most inclusive set of categories possible if you intend on using the device for as long as possible. For the BR1 Mini, I would get the newest device that has CAT7 support. This includes support for Band 71 with T-Mobile which is important for longer distance connections, like on a boat. The cheaper ones with slightly older bands are only $50-100 cheaper - not really worth that if they are that far behind tech wise.
Hi Steve - from your latest blog post it sounds like you’ve been spending some time this summer in Canada. Do you have any new recommendations for cellular data plans for folks splitting time between US and Canadian waters in the Salish Sea?
Roaming in Canada using a US carrier has always been hit or miss, but this last year it got worse than it has been the last few years. All of the providers have reduced the amount of roaming data you can use across just about all of their existing plans.
Google Fi and/or T-Mobile seem to be the best choice right now for roaming if you’re looking for a new plan, but there have been wildly different reports from users. I’ve been using both T-Mobile and Google Fi with good results, but some folks have reported very poor performance or being cut off early in their data amounts.
Generally speaking, and it seems like a lot of people have forgot about roaming (maybe because of not being in Canada during the pandemic), roaming is always a crap shoot, and usually only usable for emergencies. That hasn’t changed - if I were only able to use cellular in Canada, I would use it just for basic browsing and access, and would have to rely on local WiFi for any sort of streaming or remote work.
Thanks Steve. I am looking to set up a Starlink + Peplink system to enable boat-bound work (esp Zoom), currently leaning towards MAX BR1 Pro 5G as the router. So looking for a plan that is just gap-filler/failover for Starlink. Our family phones are all on Verizon - we’ll look at Tmobile and Google-Fi.
The MAX BR1 Pro 5G is a great router to pair with Starlink. I’m in the middle of testing it’s slightly bigger brother, the MAX BR2 Pro 5G, which has dual cellular radios and a bunch more physical ports - might be overkill for what you need though.
With as volatile as Starlink is in terms of use cases, mounting, and plans, combining cellular with Starlink is a great way to go!
HI Steve, I received my Max BR Mini and it works great. I have two questions:
1 what remote antennas would you recommend to install to get better marina wifi reception? Right now I am just plugging the peplink in on my flybridge but I would like a more permanent solution?
2 I mostly use local Wifi with the peplink, but i have a backup tmobile sim inserted for when I cannot get marina wifi. the issues is that i would like to have my devices treat the Peplink like a metered connection when I am on Tmobile because all of the media onedrive synchronization eats up my mobile data in a heartbeat. Is there any way to do that? Have a second virtual AP that only uses the t mobile, for example?
Probably the best way to deal with this is to leverage things from my Managing internet usage on your boat article and unfortunately some manual intervention. In particular I would look at QoS and bandwidth control. You could set the non critical devices to have hardly any bandwidth percentages, and the important ones with higher percentages. You need to make sure that your internet connections have correct settings for their upload/download numbers so those percentages work, though.
I do something similar when I’m connected to remote WiFi, and for updates, Dropbox/OneDrive, and the like, I use the metered connection settings in Windows 10/11 to manage it. I also use Low Data Mode in iOS and turn it on and off depending on what I’m connected to.
There are more automated ways of potentially handling this, but it requires some more complex firewall rules along with priorities and such to try to catch the “bad” traffic when using the slower connection. The challenge is that systems like OneDrive and the like can change how their traffic looks as they release new features, and figuring out how to block it or slow it down can change quickly.
I love your research and writing! Thank you! We are taking over a 50’ monohull this summer in Europe with plans to take it around the world and we’re trying to figure out a cellular connectivity solution for it. We have a 15’ antenna mast on the transom and are thinking about a Max HD1 Dome Pro, either on that mast or on the first spreader. A few questions:
Do you have any experience or perspective with the Max HD1 Dome Pro?
We’re thinking that a 20’ minimum antenna cable run would defeat the purpose of a separate antenna (like the 20G) on a cheaper router, but would love your thoughts there.
I see that they now offer a mini SIM injector as well as the regular. Would the mini work for us?
Have you heard anything recently about Peplink supporting eSIMs?
Thanks in advance!
Adam
The HD1 Dome Pro will work around any antenna length cable issues. I’ve tested it and it is a very nice product, very similar to the HD1 Dome I reviewed a couple of years ago. They have been around a number of years, and I used them extensively on my on boat for several years. The Dome Pro has a WiFi radio in it, which is a new feature, and of course the 5G radio.
Not sure I understand your question on a 20’ antenna run?
The mini SIM injector could definitely work for you if you are using the dome.
There are some random Peplink products that support eSIMs, but for very specific reasons. Their general routers do not as far as I am aware.
Thanks for the quick response! The “20’ antenna run question” was asking if the combination of a discrete router and an antenna could be a viable alternative to the Max HD1 Dome Pro, or would the loss from a 20’ cable between the router and the antenna make this not feasible.
Also, reading your posts from a few years ago, it seems that you were having lots of problems with the SIM Inserter. Have those issues since been resolved?
20’ from antenna to router isn’t a problem at all. That’s what I have right now for my two antennas, and that is the rule of thumb length-wise that I’ve used for 100’s of installations. In many cases, the router is put nearer to the antennas specifically to keep that length down, and then an access point for WiFi is used closer to where people will be working from.
The SIM injector had some issues early on, but it is a lot more reliable now. It’s still a bit different than using a real SIM card, and requires some futzing there if you change things a lot, but otherwise works well.
Hi Steve, I’m hoping you can help me with some advice about potentially using different antennas for a 2x2 MIMO - but before I do - I really appreciate your site and your topics, you’ve inspired me to put an RPI in my boat, though a topic for another day…
Here’s my situation - I’m setting up a local internet capability on a cruiser boat being used in the Great Lakes, Canada. Our goal (my wife and daughter’s goal) is connectivity in areas where cell coverage is weak, we’re less focused on high speed / Netflix streaming. For those who are familiar - we’ll be making trips through the North Channel - north of Manitoulin Island.
I’m looking at an RUTX11 or Max BR1 Mk2, so I’ll have 2 Wifi and 2 LTE (CAT 6) antenna ports. Here’s my dilemma for LTE: connect both ports to a 20G for MIMO … OR… connect 1 port to a higher gain / longer range SISO antenna (like a Poynting OMNI-400) and the other port to a much smaller puck style antenna (22G or PUCK-5)… Best solution would clearly be 2 high-gain SISO, but I don’t have the room! Do I create an issue if the 2 LTE antenna’s aren’t equally capable?
I’m less focused on the Wifi as WAN, but do intend to take advantage of the capability with an OMNI-496 (the only other space I have for antenna) and the other port connected to the same puck style antenna… And, of course, GPS and redundancy from the puck style antenna.
Hi Andrew,
I would lean towards using a single 20G with both ports connected. Even with the slightly higher gain of an OMNI-400, you’re not going to get as much carrier aggregation - when the two “channels” in the LTE radio are bonded together to two different or similar nodes on the remote tower. In a lot of low signal areas, I see this providing a better overall connection and usable signal than a single channel.
After my less-than-satisfactory result with the Glomex WebBoat 4G, I’m again perusing the options I clicked on your link to the Pepwave BR1 MK2 above and it is apparently NLA - they are sending you to the “MAX BR1 Mini LTE Router (HW3)” as a sub - cheaper, too! I wonder if you’ve had a chance to see this?
Hi Hartley,
I do need to update a couple of links in this article, including that one. The MAX BR1 Mini is definitely an option for a cellular router. Keep in mind that it is inexpensive for a few reasons:
It is an entry level product. You’re not going to get flaming speeds with this unit
Depending on the version you choose, you’ll either have a category 4 or category 7 LTE radio. Both of these are very limited and quite old in the case of the category 4. Most new stuff is category 20 or higher.
This will be LTE/4G only, no 5G.
Depending on where you use it, how it’s cabled, and where the antennas are, plus of course the plan you use with it, it could be comparable to the speeds you saw from the Glomex unit.
Trying to follow along and make best use of what I have. The goal is to maximize my internet options via both cell and Wi-Fi.
I have a Peplink Max BR1 LTE and just ordered a Mobility 22G antenna. Do I still need a Groove or similar to boost the Wi-Fi signals, or will just 22G do? If I do need a Groove, can I use the 22G antenna for the Groove? It looks like it has 2 Wi-Fi wires and each have a different signal range. Not sure which to use if it’s needed.
The Mobility 22G antenna could be connected to the Peplink MAX BR1 LTE’s WiFi ports and you could use a Peplink feature called WiFi as WAN to “grab” a remote WiFi signal and pull it into the router. However, the MAX BR1 LTE might require an additional license to do this, although I did see they were relaxing this on some of their products recently.
There are some downsides to using the 22G with the MAX BR1 LTE - it will share the WiFi radios/devices that create your local WiFi network and are used for WiFi as WAN resulting in less performance overall. This isn’t as big of an issue with some of the bigger Peplink routers, but the MAX BR1 is one of their entry level routers, and might suffer when used this way more than others.
The Groove comes with its own antenna, so you could do that too still if you wanted. The Groove is likely to perform better and grabbing remote WiFi signals, but is harder to configure, requires a separate power supply source, and would need to be cabled to the WAN port on your BR1.
Hi Again Steve! I replaced the defunct Glomex with a MAX BR1 Mini HW(3), which I’m getting up & running before returning to the boat in a few weeks. The first issue right off the top was I needed a new SIM, as the one in the Glomex is a micro, and the mini needs a nano. So I went on Verizon’s web site and tried to order one - which turned into a week of customer “service” hell. Apparently, Verizon won’t acknowledge that the Peplink router is compatible with Verizon - even though their “bring your own device” (byod) page says it is. (I asked Peplink about it, and they pointed me to that page).
So rep after rep would try to enter it, get some bizarre error response and would try to tell me my device wasn’t compatible. Today a “2nd level tech support” guy went in and told the system I still had my olde MiFi on that line, forced the Verizon store farkles to give me a new SIM, entered it into their system, and lo & behold its working! But I am still close to moving my 4 lines out of Verizon probably to T-mobile because this is just stupid. I note that if you use that “byod” page, it pushes you to a Business account, so maybe they don’t want personal account holders bringing their own stuff?
Anyway, thanks for all the great advice, I’ll let you know how it goes when I get the antennas installed on Atsa
I usually just use a SIM cutter and slice things down smaller. Might be an easier route if you ever have to do this again. I also use these universal SIM adapters to go back and forth between equipment that has different sized slots.
All carriers usually freak out trying to provision any SIM for anything other than the standard mainline phones they sell. Many get really hung up on Peplink because they don’t understand what it is. Sometimes you can ask to be escalated to the technical team or a senior engineer and they will have done it before and can help.
My preference is to never talk to them, and just cut my SIMs the right size, and put them in the devices. I have not had any issues with moving things around unless the device is so new they have never seen it.
Hi Steve, I think you are right - if I could have just slipped the old SIM into the Peplink, it would have just worked. But the olde micro SIM appears to be ceramic, so I don’t know if it would cut down properly. The new one from Verizon is plastic, and I’m sure it could be cut.
I talked to the T-Mobile rep, and they knew what it was, and knew it would need a “data only” plan & a new physical SIM - no Unlimited Plan for these devices But thats OK, at least I don’t have to play games.
I surveying the Internet, it is becoming clear that Verizon views an LTE Router as something for their “Home” product & plan line - and the thought of one of their “Home” devices moving around makes them crazy . “Just tell us the address where it will be located” My response: “Atlantic Ocean” =8^O .
As promised, I’ve installed the MAX BR1 Mini on Atsa, and its working great! I had only one surprise - I put PoE power onto the #1 LAN cable, but it didn’t work. So I installed one of the PoE extractors onto the router end, chopped off the AC power cord (after testing the pins in the plug - it connects 12V to both +V and Ignition) and connected it - works a charm. The surprise was the wire colors inside the cable: black, red and white. You would think that it would be black -V, red and white +V - but no! White is -V, red & white are +V.
I do have a problem with my Groove, however, which i’m sure is just configuration. The Groove is on its default 192.168.88.1 setting, and was working fine connected to the (now removed) Netlink router’s WAN port. When I put it into the BR1’s WAN port, however, the router passes it through and my laptop gets sent an 192.168.88.x IP - so I can converse with the Groove, but nothing else works! Should I move the Groove over to the 192.168.50.xx address space? I’ve set it up so the groove only gets power when I want it, but it would be nice to have both working together.
Yeah these colors have been frustrating. I’ve commented on it before to Peplink but it doesn’t seem to have changed their choices…
That’s not normal behavior, so either your WAN port is setup strangely, or something else is going on. It shouldn’t pass the IP addresses back into your private network, and I wouldn’t change it to match that either. Something else is going on…
I see I wrote that “red & white are V+” – obviously wrong Red and BLACK are V+! [White is V-] I think I’ve identified the connector as a Molex “Micro-Fit” of the 3mm persuasion.
Yes, I must have something wacky on that WAN port, I’ll dig into it when I get back aboard - meanwhile the connection has been 100% to VRM since I left so I can watch my voltages & temperatures from afar
Just got back from a couple months in the Bahamas - we shifted to T-Mobile before departure, and our Bahamas experience was mixed, to say the least. It looks to me like the Bahamian telco (BTC) doesn’t like LTE routers - everywhere we went, we had good service for a day or so, then dial-up speeds. Calling T-Mobile customer service (always a thrill!) would get it back up for a day or two, then slow again. Fortunately, we could still get email and WX.
The Mobility 22G worked a treat - more range than I expected!
I decided to quit fighting my Groove and use the MAX for WiFi - I scored an AP1 Rugged for the interior wifi network, so it should work for those places where marina wifi is an option.
I have a question - is it possible to use the GPS function in the MAX for anything useful (like maybe telling my laptop where it is)? I see I can set it up to transmit info to a server, but does that work for local devices?
The Peplink products will spit out a pretty standard set of NMEA data/sentences that many devices and software can consume. Whether it is useful would be up to you but it can help when systems need a location for some reason.
I’ve had people ask before whether they could use it for navigation, and I would not recommend that because of the criticality of that sort of use case, and the fact that a dedicated GPS with a purpose built set of software for navigation is a better choice.
I clicked on your link to the Pepwave BR1 MK2 above and it is apparently NLA - they are sending you to the “MAX BR1 Mini LTE Router (HW3)” as a sub - cheaper, too! I wonder if you’ve had a chance to see this?
Red and BLACK are V+! [White is V-] I think I’ve identified the connector as a Molex “Micro-Fit” of the 3mm persuasion.