Can I Use Ethernet Adapters on the USB WAN?

Knowledgebase FAQs
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1

With an USB Ethernet Adapter, the USB port on the following models can be made to accept an Ethernet connection:

  • Balance: 305, 380, 580, 710, 1350, 2500
  • MAX: All products equipped with a USB port will support this feature.
  • Surf: SOHO.
We have tested this feature with the following USB Ethernet adapters:

By default, the USB port is “USB Modem” mode. If you need to use it to connect to USB Ethernet Adapter, you need to change it to “USB Ethernet” mode, by enabling the hidden feature. Once this feature enabled, the interface will behave as normal Ethernet WAN.

  1. Enable the hidden feature - USB Ethernet mode
    1157Ă—418 48.1 KB
  2. USB Ethernet mode enabled - same as Ethernet WAN
    990Ă—386 40.3 KB
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3

Super…thanks for getting on this!

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4

Just a minor data point for those who may want to do this …

We have used the “Plugable” device (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VSTDFG/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1) with a Surf SOHO HW ver 1 for almost exactly one year with zero issues. It was trivial to make it work.
Peplink did a good job with this.

Rick

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5

I don’t see the ? blue help to enabled the hidden feature on mine. I’ve tried on a soho and balance 20 , both on ver 7 fw.

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6

I have a hardware version 1 380 running 6.2.3 firmware (serial number 1824-2EAC-532A) and I purchased a new Linksys 3Gig usb adapter. So far nothing I have done makes this link work. I set WAN3 to identical settings as WAN-EXT and it connects so something is wrong other than my settings. Here are my settings:

804Ă—825 71.6 KB

I decided to fall back to firmware 5.3.12 and then re-updated the firmware to 6.2.3. No luck there.

I did read the release notes from 5.3.12 and they indicate:

Firmware 5.3 supports Peplink Balance 380/580/710/1350 to upgrade from version 4.8.2. For all other firmware version 4.x.x, please upgrade to 4.8.2 first.

The firmware archive on the Peplink site does not go back this far so I can’t roll back to 4.8.2 and then do the 5.3.12 build and then the 6.2.3 build.

I wonder if the usb slot in Hardware 1 version might require an older usb adapter such as the Plugable USB 2.0 to 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Wired Network Adapter. Generally these things are backwards compliant but I don’t know.

Any suggestions before I give up?

7

Please open a support ticket here for support team to check.

Beside that, possible please provide detail info (USB adapter model/Hardware revision/others) for the Linksys 3Gig usb adapter as mention in the support ticket so that support team aware what type of USB adapter is use.

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Done, Thanks Sitloongs

9

Plugable UBS 2.0 fast internet adapter works perfectly. I guess the Linksys USB3Gig is just too much for the 380 hardware version 1

10

What kind of throughput will we get on this USB port?
This Linksys USB 3.0 gives a theoretical Max. Link Rate: 1000 Mbps http://www.linksys.com/gb/p/P-USB3GIG/

11

We’d like to use a Plugable USB/Ethernet dongle with a Balance 20. In the original posting, 01/26/17, the B20 is not on the list. We just tried it and found that it does not work on this device (although we have it working quite well on at least three SOHOs). There appears not to be a way to “tell” the USB port that it’s an Ethernet interface connected rather than a modem.

Shall I assume that this situation is still by intent and we’ve not misconfigured? If this is the case, is there a “work-around,” I wonder?

12

Hi Rick, this is by intent as it was never developed for the B20 platform. Our answer to this would be to just go with a Balance One Core + 5-WAN license instead.

I’m not sure if there is a hardware limitation but you could certainly post this as a feature request. Thanks!

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14

@Tim_S

I have a Plugable USB 2.0 LAN adapter and do not see the USB WAN feature enable button on my SUS-SOHO MK3 running 7.0.3. I upgraded the firmware to 7.1.0 and still do not see it. Was this feature removed?

Thanks

15

I believe this experimental feature only worked on the original SOHO hardware version and is not supported on the MK3.

If you need two Ethernet WAN connections I suggest a Balance 20 or Balance One.

Thanks

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Hey @Rick-DC does this plugable device still work with your Surf Soho MK3? (i have hw1 version)

17

Hi @geoffrothman. I know we have used the Pluggable adapters with great success on SOHO ver 1 and 2. I can’t be positive from where I sit right now, but I don’t think we ever tried one on a SOHO ver 3. I do know at one point we had a request for a HW ver 2 rather than ver 3 to we could be certain to be able to use one.

If indeed the ethernet dongles are not compatible with HW ver 3 that’s a real shame as we have had several applications where a SOHO was perfect but a Balance series router would not have been the best solution.

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18

Hello,

Are there any plans to make the Balance 30 LTE compatible with the USB Ethernet adapters?
We had hoped that FW7 would start to show larger support for this functionality.

Kr,

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19

Hi, have you guys tested with SFP-to-USB? something like this…
image

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20

Will this feature be available on Balance One in the future?

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22

I want to revisit this topic - it’s been 3 years now. Is this feature still experimental or now a permanent established feature of the above mentioned models?

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23

@Joseph_Lau

The feature is available now 。。。 Balance One is in the supported list. Possible please get the USB Ethernet Adapter as listed above. If you have problem to work on the USB WAN, please open a support ticket for support team to check

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