Best way to use Peplink Balance with Google Wifi

Hi everyone,

Our “office” is a condo we own which is 2500 sq feet on the 77th floor in Toronto. I have 3 Google Wifi access points right now which I’m probably reducing to 2 as the one nothing ever connects to since it’s not needed. We love the Google Wifi because it’s so easy and just works. I’ve tried Ubiquiti before but I had issues where devices just would never jump to another AP, even if the signal was poor, where as Google Wifi just works.

Our primary Internet connection is a business cable 500/20, and then we have a secondary fibre connection at 250/250. We’re looking to potentially offer Peplink products to our customers, so I’m testing them out right now. Right now I just have both connections going into the Peplink, then the Peplink into the Google Wifi. This is working, but all IP addresses etc are from the Google Wifi vs the Peplink, which is fine, but I’m just curious the best way to do this.

Is it fine to leave it as is? Or should I disable DHCP on the Peplink and just assign a Static IP to the primary Google Wifi AP? Or should I disable DHCP on the Google Wifi and instead just use them as AP’s only? I feel like using them as AP’s only might defeat the purpose of having them but I’m not sure sure what if any functionality I’d lose by doing this. Just curious how most would do it (and if possible I’d appreciate answers that are based around this set up, vs telling me to buy Cisco or ditch the Google Wifi etc. It works amazing for us and is not going anywhere).

Thanks!

What did you end up doing

I am no world class expert, but I would use the Google WiFi (gwifi) as mere access points and let the Peplink be in charge of handing out IP addresses. The Peplink router is much more sophisticated with many more controls/options/tweaks/monitoring when compared to Google WiFi which is barely more than an access point anyway.

And, a static IP for the gwifi is what you get anyway by default. Peplink routers hand out the same IP (if available) every time they see a repeat MAC address. Still, I would formalize the static IP for the gwifi.

Also have this setup and would like to know options as putting the Google router into bridge mode is not ideal

What is this suppose to tell me? A link to google talking about bridge mode. Bridge mode only works with one router if you have a mesh system (why would you have a google wifi if you were not going to use mesh). you cannot use bridge mode. Hence why I asked how the balance 20 could be setup with a mesh network as the OG did.

Showing options and drawbacks. If you using mesh, then yes you can’t bridge the main Google wifi unit.

So i would think a double NAT is what you’re left with. Just make sure your Peplink DHCP ip range doesn’t conflict with your Google wifi and you should be ok.

If your goal is to add WAN failover or bonding to an existing network using Peplink, perhaps Peplink drop-in mode is what you’re looking for.

https://peplink.ninja/2018/11/20/peplink-drop-in-mode/

Got it, thank you!