Cellular Firmware Upgrade / cellular modem firmware upgrade

Product Discussion Feature Requests
1

Peplink team,
Currently we are receiving several support tickets from our customers and end-users of cellular connection issues with Peplink MAX BR1 Mini. I feel the issue is mostly due to outdated cellular firmware. The gateways are deployed in the field and in remote areas where wired WAN is not available (cellular is the only connection available). Furthermore, the MAX BR1 Mini does not have a WAN port activated. The user must log into admin UI and enable the “trial license” to convert Ethernet port into WAN mode. Also, the cellular firmware upgrade is “hidden” in support.cgi page. Only advanced users are aware of this page and most users are never thinking about upgrading cellular firmware. This is a major challenge for our customers and hinderance to their business operations. They are talking about never buying Peplink cellular gateways because of the frequent cellular issues, business downtime, maintenance headaches and pains. They are going to switch to alternate vendors for cellular gateway products.

Is it possible that Peplink engineering team can enhance the cellular firmware upgrade process in the following steps?

  1. Move Cellular Firmware upgrade from support.cgi page to System tab similar to system firmware update?
  2. Make a check and upgrade option for Cellular Firmware similar to how the gateway checks for System Firmware (gateway will check what is current version vs latest version and then prompt to upgrade cellular firmware)
  3. Make the cellular firmware upgrade to work over Cellular WAN (gateway can first download firmware upgrade file over the air and then install the package). For gateway models such as BR1 Mini and BR1 Mini Core, cellular wan is the only option and not feasible or practical to get cellular firmware upgrade in the field over a wired WAN connection. With other vendor products, this is the normal and standard. Why doesn’t Peplink do this?
  4. Design cellular firmware upgrade to work using any/all available and connected wan sources (wired, Cellular, Wi-Fi WAN, USB modem, etc.) for ALL Peplink/Pepwave cellular gateways (LTE, LTE-A, Dual Cellular, Quad Cellular, etc.).
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2

Can I add an extra item on to this list?
The ability to update the factory reset firmware to a newer version, some 5G models reset to a FW that does not work on cellular connectivity, so the ability to ‘factory’ reset to a newer FW would be excellent.
Also useful for ISPs to have a uniform reset firmware level for their support purposes.

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