Best usb modem for verizon with peplink balance?

Hi – can anyone offer a recommendation for a goo usb modem for use with the verizon network and peplink balance?

I’ve got mobile platforms which use the balance 380 or 580 with the verizon network - we’re currently using the pantech UML290 and the support of the device seems really problematic. We frequently have to unplug and replug the device to get it to connect to verizon …

Is there a better/recommended 4g device compatible with the balance and the verizon networks?? We’ll use any device that is well supported – but it does need to have an external antenna port as the device itself is located in an area without good RF characterstics.

Thanks,
Ben

Hello,

Yes Verizon has confirmed that the UML290 is having issues while the connection is set to auto. You should be able to get optimum performance if you lock the usb modem to either 3G or 4G. We also, currently have the UML295 as a supported 4G Modem.

Here is a link to the current 4G modems that we currently support (In the search option just type Verizon 4G): http://www.peplink.com/technology/4g3g-modem-support/
I personally would recommend the UML295. It also does have the connector for external antennas.

Yeah everyone seems to have trouble with the UML290 … I’ll get a UML295 and try it out.

Thanks!

It sounds like this is an enterprise environment and you are looking for close to 24/7 reliability on the Verizon network.

You may want to consider scrapping the USB modem in favor of the BR1-LTE-V-T unit. This device has an embedded 4G LTE modem inside that has external SMA antenna ports that are way better then the chincy little pigtails needed for the USB modems. The BR1 will hand off Ethernet to your Peplink router, so you will need a free WAN port.

This solution will cost you a little bit more, but reliability goes sky high compared to using USB modems.

Hi Tim,

Thanks for sharing. This is great idea moving for forward for clients needing the reliability this provides.

Mike

Hey thanks for the suggestion. We’re going to try the verizon LTE pepwave max BR1.

One thing that is a concern though is the reliability of the decision process on the peplink balance – in our environment the cellular link is actually an improvement over our other WANs. Rather than being an option of last resort (which I imagine is the case for a lot of folks) for us its an improvement over VSAT.

We’ve found we are sometimes in areas with marginal cellular signal quality which causes the cellular device to basically continually flap switching between availability and ‘health check failure’ or ‘wan disconnected’ states at something very close to the peplink’s ‘smart-check’ network timeout rate … We don’t use speedfusion for the majority of our traffic – so each network flap event is associated with some user impact as existing tcp sessions established via the cellular wan for the minute it was ‘available’ stop being able to move traffic … If we stay in these areas long enough, we pretty much have to manually disconnect the 4g modem to keep the network functioning well …

Is there any reason to think we might be able to get a better solution for this kind of situation with the BR1 over the result with a usb modem directly attached to the peplink balance …? On the same topic – does anyone know techniques that might help mitigate this situation … (something like cisco ios’s’ interface dampening feature might help …)

I think those flapping issues you are experiencing could be directly related to the marginal cellular signal the USB modem is getting. Using the BR1 you will probably notice a gain of 10dB or more, a 300% increase in signal.