A few questions about Peplink B One 5G and services

[LeonardoBR]

Hello Guys … very expert networking engineer here, but a complete Peplink newbie.

I’m on a project for a friend FM radio that needs to broadcast live audio and also some live video (for social networks) on the road. The radio already have a equipped van studio and everything needed for the broadcasts. Broadcasts from the road are all IP-based, no satellite and not FM anything, everything is internet-IP based.

Problem: broadcasts usually happens from remote places and while a fiber connection is available here and there, most of the time it needs to use Starlink and 5G only.

Regarding the different Peplink models, I believe the “B One 5G” is really the perfect product for this project: 2xRJ45 WANs, 5G (dual chip) WAN builtin, Wireless AP builtin, a few LAN ports (that could easily be extended by a small 5 or 8 port-switch, no problem). In that regards, I have no doubt this is the absolutely perfect product for our needs.

I’m already with a “B One 5G” router on hands, borrowed it for a few days from a partner, so I had already some configuration discoveries (and fun time) with the product. Found the options really amazing and easy to define what will go to th SFC tunnel: by SSID, by LAN mac addr. That’s awesome. The unit has an active “Care” plan and I still have 900GB of SFC traffic to make some live testings next week.

Regarding the Peplink services, I’m also sure Speedfusion is exactly what we need to bring/increase reliability to our broadcasts with at least dual WAN, most of the time Starlink and 4G/5G, and tunneling this traffic to SpeedFusion servers.

So at this point …

1. I understood I can (and will surely need to) buy SpeedFusion Connect plans, according to my needs. Different plans have different expiry periods
2. I understood “Care” plans includes some SFC allowance, 1TB/year for the B One 5G

And now a few questions …

1. do I need to have an active “Care” plan for being able to buy new SpeedFusion Connect plans?

2. while I believe SpeedFusion is what i’m looking for, i’m not really interested on the aggregated bandwidth, I’m looking for increased reliability. I have read articles mentioning “WAN Smoothing”, being that like sending the same packets over different WANs, thus bringing real reliability increases. I couldn’t find how to configure it. I could easily selected SFC peers, create new SSIDs for routing to each individual selected peer, but didn’t found where to choose SpeedFusion aggregation or “smoothing”. Do WAN Smoothing requires any extra licensing? Do the “B One 5G” peplink router supports WAN Smoothing? Maybe it’s not supported on this model

3. I could easily find how to route specific traffic to the SFC tunnel, via predefined apps, specific SSID created for that or LAN mac addresses. I would love being able to create rules to forward specific IP destinations to the SFC, no matter the source on my network, and couldn’t find such option. Is it possible to manually list specific routes (or hosts) for being routed via SFC (no problem if needed to be done via CLI of some sort)

4. do the “B One 5G” supports eSIMs? I couldn’t find, on the Web GUI, about it. I could only find “Peplink eSIM”, but I was looking forward to use regular (my local carriers) eSIMs.

5. I saw I can use a WLAN WAN, using a local available wireless network as a WAN connection. Is it possible to have a Wireless WAN and, at the same time, have the WLAN acting as AP and serving local clients, or do I need to choose one (WLAN WAN) of the other (WLAN AP) ?

Thanks for the answers and the patient for reaching here

[MarceloBarros]

Hello, @LeonardoBR

Welcome to community.

@LeonardoBR

I need to have an active “Care” plan for being able to buy new SpeedFusion Connect

no. Don´t need to have a up to date care plan… just buy SFC.

@LeonardoBR

. I couldn’t find how to configure it

This url, maybe help you…

Understanding and Configuring PepVPN/SpeedFusion

Peplink’s proprietary VPN technology (PepVPN) is our Point-to-Point VPN that is setup between Peplink/Pepwave units. Our simple and easy to use UI allows you to deploy complex networks quickly and easily. PepVPN can be deployed in a number of ways to slot into your deployment easily - The base that everything is built upon is PepVPN. PepVPN is our foundation VPN engine. It is ideal for establishing a secure tunnel over any WAN link and is possibly the world’s easiest VPN technology. PepVPN and…

@LeonardoBR

Do WAN Smoothing requires any extra licensing?

No… Don´t need an extra license to use smoothing… just enable it, at speedfusion configuration.

@LeonardoBR

Do the “B One 5G” peplink router supports WAN Smoothing?

yes… all peplink devices, have support to smoothing.

@LeonardoBR

Is it possible to manually list specific routes (

Yes… You can use domain rules or you can use IC2 (Incontrol).

@LeonardoBR

do the “B One 5G” supports eSIMs?

Yes… You can use eSim… but need to use the IC2 interface to add an eSim profile to your device.

@LeonardoBR

Is it possible to have a Wireless WAN and, at the same time, have the WLAN acting as AP and serving local clients

Yes… It is possible to use the WiFi of the device acting as WiFi WAN and WiFi AP.

[LeonardoBR]

Thanks Marcelo! And I found where to configure the WAN Smoothing, I wasn’t aware I could click on the SFC peer and have a lot of new options there.

I’m now pretty convinced the B One 5G, with some “Care” plan and maybe some extra SFC plans is the solution i’m looking for! Valeu demais!!

(I always find it funny to find some Brazilian guy, just like me, on an english forum/community)

[Barry_Twycross1250]

You don’t actually need an SFC plan if your home base has a publicly routable IP. I just point my remote units at the home base IP, and it works without any help from Peplink.

You get a year of the PrimeCare+ with the B One series, and for the not 5G version of the B One (just the “B One”) the PrimeCare+ plan is well worth it. (I’d go for the PrimeCare+ not just the PrimeCare.) Adding the 5G doubles the price (of both the unit and PrimeCare+), you can tether a cellphone/iPhone to the standard unit if you need cell coverage.

With PrimeCare+ you get advance hardware replacement (if it ever comes to that) and 24x7 support from people who know what they’re doing. You also get more SpeedFusion peers, and the VWAN (with adds another WAN port) with any care plan.

I haven’t found that adding SpeedFusion links increases the available bandwidth much, it uses a lot of bandwidth, and probably makes things more reliable/redundant. Using two links adds about 60% extra bandwidth in my setup, and extra links don’t do much at all. (Maybe an issue with limited upload bandwidth at home.)

Using both WWAN and the AP at once works very well, that’s what I tend to use for my travel setup. If you’re near a hotel or other WiFi hotspot, that works very well, you can use 2.4GHz and 5GHz as separate WWAN to get multiple link redundancy.

[LeonardoBR]

@Barry_Twycross1250

You don’t actually need an SFC plan if your home base has a publicly routable IP. I just point my remote units at the home base IP, and it works without any help from Peplink.

That’s interesting … and you would need another Peplink unit at your “base”, right? I do have public IPs at my “base”, and “base” is also the destination of my audio and video streams.

So in that case I would need a Peplink unit for my mobile studio and another one at my base, and no Speedfusion licensing needed at all in that scenario, would that be correct?

[Barry_Twycross1250]

That’s right, you need a Peplink at both ends. A B One makes a good base unit.

The units come with a licence for some Speedfusion connections, and the CarePlan gets you more.