i replaced the cat4 with a cat 12, and also have a cat6 flex module, both LTE modules cap at 100mbps individually when tested separately, i have triple checked my algorithms, even deleting all except ssl with 1:1 balance, and i cannot get any speed better than 100 when speed testing, my balance is 5:3, i have tried 1:1, i can’t get anything over 100, individually on other devices, i can get these modems to 200+ mbps on their networks with same band selection on other hardware.
side question, how do you replace the integrated CAT4? fair to assume that the cat4 is a daughterboard? whats the part # for the replacement module?
The FlexModule Mini in the Balance 20X is using a shared bus which gives about 150Mbps max throughput. Not sure if the bus is shared with the internal 4G module and the USB port of the unit. The Wired WAN can give you 900Mbps of throughput on this unit. Also, are you testing with SpeedFusion/PepVPN or just raw without any VPN?
To get full performance on the FlexModule Mini modules you currently need a 380X or 580X…
a em7511 with pci id altered to look like a em7565, or just a em7565 would work. newer firmwares will work, but you lose band selection in the gui.
thats a shame, that’s not even full usb 2!. it’s rock solid, but frustrating to hear that limitation. I don’t use the speedfusion, it added too much latency when i setup a instance in AWS. I’m using raw cgnat cellular , sprint and ATT. thanks for the response.
I have heard wildly varying pieces of information w.r.t. the maximum speed available via the MiniFlex modules on the B20X. Is there an authoritative answer to this (either a spec. sheet or a word from the Peplink or partner folks )?
I ran a Cat18 flex module in the balance 20x and was getting well over 100mbps. But I didn’t have a sim in the regular cat4 modem. So make sure it’s not something with speed fusion limiting you. I would buy the $499 Cat18 flex module and run that I bet you’ll get super fast speeds.
i already bought and sold that thing, even with 4ca, it wouldn’t go more than maybe 101mbps, tried in flex module and internal, only one carrier has 3 CA out in ‘these parts’ and thats ATT, and highly conjested. it did 4CA , but maybe 50mbps, i do better with just band 2 and 4 or 12.
hmm, this is interesting, I was just about to buy the ‘EXM-MINI-1LTEA-K’, I as I wanted to see if I could get a bit more speed out of my 4G sim, I currently get 82mbps out of the internal CAT4 modem. But if you are saying I will only get 100mbps I am not prepare to spend over £460 on the CAT12 modem.
thats exactly what i’m saying, you may gain some better band combinations, but thats a steep price if you get those speeds with cat4. I’d sit back and be happy with the cat4. just my 2 cents.
thanks, makes you wonder why peplink invested time and money into a product that is not very useful, or why it is even listed as compatible with the Balance 20X if it does not give any increase speed over a cat4/6. @peplink care to respond ?
I imagine this is something software/firmware cannot address, perhaps a new hardware revision? i was looking at the HD2, but it doesn’t have the throughput this unit offers.
there is a HW2 out, but I bought mine a month or so ago, and still got a HW1
HW2 could just be different components, perhaps not better, anyone @peplink have any information on HW2 or perhaps a acknowledgment of this issue?
this was previously answered somewhere else.
HW2 only enables the use of the DSL flexmodule.
@peplink, can you provide any feedback to this thread?
1 Like
I was thinking of upgrading my balance 20x and now waiting for an answer from peplink. Does the balance 20x can fully utilize the potential of the cat 12 or cat 18 modems?
they have a 5g option coming out soon as well, i imagine there would be great disappointment with performance of that unit. i use a cat12 and tested a cat 18, i sold the cat18 because while it did do 4ca, the performance never got above 100mbps for me.
This will mainly be a limit of your network/region. I’m getting 140-150Mbps down easily on the CAT18 FlexModule Mini in regions where I have 3-5CA available. Where the CAT4 can only get around 50Mbps. It heavily differs on which bands are available and how the provider has split their spectrum.
Quality per band is also different per location.
I am in the Netherlands though, so with two of the three providers you have 3-6CA in the whole country, which enhances the quality and stability a lot.
In regions where the speed on just one band (CAT4) would only reach 5-10Mbps due to congestion and bad signal quality, with the CAT18 I was able to reach 50+ Mbps. So the higher CAT is not just for higher througputs.
The 5G module will mainly be useful for the latency advantages 5G provides. But in the current state, LTE-A has higher performance here as they have 5-6CA and on 5G they only have 700Mhz here currently, which will not change before 2024 probably.
I do agree the limited internal bus is a shame, but your limit is not in the hardware.
1 Like
did you read the entire thing? the same modem, when installed in a openwrt system, same antenna, i can get over 200mbps with cat12 3ca. unsure how the cat18 is getting over 100 for you, it hits a wall for me.