BR1 ENT - intermittently, router can access Internet, but clients can not

[Matthew_Rice]

Hey, I’m having a very similar issue too. Max BR1 ent connected to att and a UniFi ap off the lan side. Every 3-5 hours the internet drops. I can access the device, I can ping ok, and my vpn sometimes stays up, but I can’t browse or do anything else. Reboot using the web interface and all is good for few more hours. I’ve had a ticket open with Pepwave for weeks and done a lot of testing. This all happened after I moved the unit and mounted to a wall. I noticed today it’s hot to the touch. I didn’t notice this before. I wonder if these are overheating.

Do you use the PoE capabilities on the Pepwave? I use it to power the AP. Wonder if that’s overheating it?

[apepuser]

Matthew, I noticed mine gets hot too, but not so hot i can’t touch it and keep my hand on it. however the problem happens all the time, even on days/nights where the outside temp is in the 60s & 70s, i’m very confident during these times it isn’t over the 149F max.

mine is mounted in a (vented) plastic waterproof case - so pretty much the same thing as mounted to a wall. maybe it’s not getting enough ventilation out the back? dunno… i’ll try putting a spacer in between the wall and the modem to increase airflow. while i don’t think the temp is the problem, i don’t know - so ill look into throwing a thermometer in there with it - but it isn’t easy to access, which makes checking it a real pita

i do use PoE to power the peplink, but i do not use the Peplink to power other devices (i don’t think it has enough power to do so, but i haven’t really tested it).

please let me know if you learn anything by updating this post, i’ll do the same. i’m really hoping we can solve this, it’s brutal. good luck!

[sitloongs]

@Matthew_Rice

I wonder if these are overheating.

Normally when overheated you will found that the cellular module will disconnected. For your case , look like everything is ok just the browsing having issue . This can be other issue, please give 100% support for the support team to work on the issue.

[apepuser]

A question, and a quick update; i’ll send another update late this weekend

Question - should the thermometer be affixed to the peplink? is it the temperature of the device, or the ambient temperature that I should be monitoring? or both?

Updates
The 2 modems are each powered by POE extenders, 1k feet away from the unifi switch. I got a new POE extender for one of them to see if this was part of the problem. I was using the veracity longspan extender for both modems, I switched one modem to use an enableit POE extender to see if this was a factor. So far today I’ve had the issue 3x with the longspan powered modem, and 2x with the new enableit setup. so the problem is still happening. It’s only the first day, but given the problem hasn’t gone away, this isn’t looking like the cause…

As requested, I put a thermometer in the enclosure yesterday (it’s max temp is above the peplink max). It has a sensor on a wire, the sensor is in the case within a few inches of, but not touching the peplink; the digital readout is outside the enclosure so I don’t need to open the enclosure to get the temp. I checked it once today around the hottest time of day, it was 88F degrees outside, and 97F in the enclosure. I assume the peplink isn’t 51 degrees hotter, but I don’t know for sure. given the problem still occurs, it seems unlikely this is the cause - i’ll test for a few days getting the ambient temp, and then a few with the sensor taped to the peplink and see what happens…

[Matthew_Rice]

I noticed the case of the device is hot to the touch, so I imagine the inside is far hotter. I haven’t measured the temp.

An update for you, I worked with Support and they witnessed the issue occur, and the through testing was able to route traffic through the device in a different port than 80 or 443 or standard internet browsing behavior. At this point we think the problem is with the provider, probably de-prioritizing me or the tower is experiencing overload. A reboot of the device establishes a new IP address and connection and the problem goes away until the tower decides to de-prioritize me again.

I’m not sold on this theory, so I have a new device coming it’s a different brand but I’ll see if the issue still happens. I’ll use the same card so from the towers perspective I’m still the same user. Probably pointless but I gotta know, my setups not cheap and it needs to work!

[apepuser]

the tower theory is plausible, and these points don’t rule it out, but they are worth noting:

• i have two ATT LTE business plan which are supposed to get a higher priority and QoS vs. consumer and other traffic, and i don’t live in a highly populated area
• the modems i used prior to the peplink (a mofi and a cradlepoint) didn’t have this problem, and it’s the same sim cards/plans. granted those modems were inside, and the peplink modems are in a different physical location and outside - but peplinks are at a higher elevation with a stronger signal…

i’ll see if i can get ahold of my rep at ATT to find out if they can tell me anything; not holding my breath.

interesting news about the ports; next time the problem happens i’ll see if i can test that out and communicate via other ports. tnx

[Daniel_Barnett]

Same discussion is happening in this post also

Newbie struggling with internet dropping

Just a stray thought: Since this seems to be AT&T throttling (essentially) HTTP[S] traffic, try routing that traffic through a speedfusion connection to a SpeedFusion (solo) server or a SpeedFusion Cloud (thereby avoiding the HTTP[S] ports for the traffic). Please report back. S

We are having the same issue with ATT right now. Have to reboot pepwave daily to fix.

[mystery]

subscribing

[Matthew_Rice]

New device installed today, same sim, same external antenna, will know by tomorrow if that fixes it.

[Matthew_Rice]

New device is having the same issue. This is an AT&T problem.

[apepuser]

i wonder if it is a combination of factors e.g. ATT and something about the modem and or usage?

i also replaced one of my peps and installed a new modem this weekend (not a pep), same sim and external antennas, and i haven’t had the problem (yet), while i continue to have the problem w/ the peplink

the usage on the new setup is lower (i’m the only one using it as a test vs. the peplink setup used by a few people) and it’s only been just over 24 hrs since i set it up, so this isn’t definitive (i’m sure it’s going to crash now that i’m writing this) but it has been a while since i’ve gone even 6 hours without rebooting my pep…

i’ll keep you updated

[apepuser]

quick update, my other (non peplink) modem, that previously had no problems, doesn’t work at all now (it has this problem 100% of the time). there is no change to my pep, the same issue persists, but at least i can use it most of the time. this has been brutal. are you still having this problem too?

[Matthew_Rice]

Yes I’m still stuck in reboot purgatory. Found switching the modem from LTE to 3g and back again is faster than a system reboot. Someone, Maybe you mentioned this, so thanks for that.

I tried another device and exact same behavior.

I found the SIM card package and it says AT&T prepaid in it. I’m certain this is an AT&T problem and since my IP shows me in New York I’m assuming the issue is with their head point there, not my local tower in Maine with less than 100 subscribers. Really would be nice if they would fix their crap. If I had another option I’d cancel and do it.

[Rick-DC]

Hi @Matthew_Rice. Quick question: Are you using one of the AT&T pre-paid SIMs which are intended for use with tablet-type devices, I wonder? Perhaps one such as I’ve shown below?

[Matthew_Rice]

@Rick-DC I’m not entirely sure, I got the plan though here https://www.ezmobiledata.com/ And looks like they took down the ability to sign up new accounts now. I was led to believe it was an unlimited plan for mobile hotspot but I can’t tell from the limited amount of information on their site

[Rick-DC]

OK. Here’s the reason I ask: AT&T has plans (such as I showed above) which are intended for tablets, etc. Sometimes they work great in routers; sometimes not at all. And, AT&T has started to “crack down” on these as use in routers is a violation of their terms of service. We have one we use for testing in Peplink routers and another in use for 4G back-up only and both work perfectly. However, I know of two folks who were contacted by AT&T and told they’d not be renewed (I think that was the wording) and another person who has found it works “sometimes.” (The ones we have are “unlimited” and the most similar plans are now capped at 25gB/month.)

These were/are sold by a variety of sellers, including on EBay. Sometimes the seller provided a “special” IMEI" that would pass AT&T’s automated test.

So, when someone indicates they have poor/unreliable service with AT&T the first question that comes to mind is “exactly what plan do you have?” While I am not suggesting that is your issue it seems the question still begs an answer.

/set rant on The “4G situation” in the USA is a total mess – very expensive, silly rules and ToS, difficulty in provisioning, usually no competent customer support, etc. Sometimes it’s difficult to bore through all of that in order to determine if the problem is hardware, firmware or is really just a goofy problem with cellular. /set rant off

[mystery]

ask them?

yes, at&t is cracking down on tablet plans. you may be out of luck. plenty of info on HoFo. read the ipad plan thread.

[Jonathan_Pitts]

I had one of the tablet plans and it was recently suspended for using in a non tablet device.

[mspecht]

Hi all we are having same issue. We have Peplink Balance 380 with 3 WAN connections. 1 Cradlepoint with ATT Business Premier account sim (used for Business network vlan), 1 Cradlepoint with ATT BM sim (used for crew wifi ubiquity switches and APs) and a VSAT Satellite systems. We have priority in Peplink set at #1 Business ATT Cradlepoint, #2 VSAT and #3 ATT crew cradlepoint. This setup configuration is setup throughout our vessel fleet and has worked for 3 years on this specific vessel that is currently having the problem. No other vessels are having this issue. This vessel moves from Texas to Florida and back. Others are in different area. This issue started about 5 weeks ago. The Peplink failover to VSAT won’t work because there is a connection with ATT and Health Checks work, the computers/servers on network just can’t browse like all you others are saying. Our reboot of the Cradlepoint fixes the issue for about 20 minutes. We initially thought it was a DNS issue, but my engineer after much troubleshootings also believes its an issue somewhere with Ports 80 and 443. I’ve opened tickets with ATT who then directed me to Cradlepoint. They can’t find a problem and is saying Peplink. Pointing fingers scenario. Any help would be appreciated. After reading this, I’m going to scream louder at ATT and see if I can get somewhere. Also possibly try a Verizon sim we have on another device.

[Matthew_Rice]

@mspecht if you do a speed test from the affected LTE connection, does it show your location as New York? I’m wondering if that’s why the other vessels work OK but this one traveling in the Florida region is back hauled to this POP. Seems in the research I’ve done, the users all seem to be in the northeast/eastern seaboard.

I’ve purchased a second SIM from AT&T and still have the same issue. I can’t get a Verizon unlimited plan so I can’t try another provider.