I use T-Mobile as my primary cellular service. I would like to add a small volume (say 20 GB +/-) strictly back-up from another carrier that is: Prepaid (so I can deactivate/reactivate it) and has Canada roaming. The only possibility I have found so far is Cricket Wireless “20GB Simply Data”. Does anyone have experience whether its SIM will work in the Pepwave router? Or an alternative?
Well, assuming you are in the USA [via your reference to Cricket], I can tell you we have test SIMs from TMO and AT&T, both pre-paid, as here:
T-Mobile: Prepaid Data Plans for Hotspots & Tablets | T-Mobile Prepaid
AT&T: Data Only, Hotspot & Tablet Data Plans | AT&T Prepaid
I can say that we’ve not found any Peplink cellular router in which these two plans did not work. We have not tested any of these in Canada.
- Rick
Thanks.
I already use T-Mobile which is fine and does have Canada roaming included. I would add ATT as the back-up except that it does not include service in Canada, and I could not even find an ATT add-on for that service.
I boat out of Anacortes and am often up in Canada. That is the most likely place for me to need a back-up, thus my desire for Canada service. I also looked at the Canadian Carriers, but their prepaid plans don’t include the US.
Cricket appears to meet my needs, but I don’t know if it works with Pepwave.
Sorry for the bandwidth. I attempted to answer this question :
I haven’t tried Cricket, but all that I have tried work great, including Visible, Ultra Mobile, Red Pocket GSMA, Red Pocket GSMT, Boost Mobile on AT&T network, and Boost Mobile on T-Mobile network. All work with default settings, except both of my AT&T MVNOs needed the APN to be configured to be ERESELLER. Also, configuring Enforced TTL = 64 makes data coming from the Peplink router count as data used on the primary device, not a mobile hotspot.
I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a Cricket sim. It should work fine with the APN and Enforced TTL set properly.
I have decided to try Cricket. Checks by the agent indicate that the modem is compatible. I let the forum know how it works.
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I have now tried the Cricket Simply-Data plan with two Peplink routers:
First with the MAX BR1 Mk2 with the Sierra Wireless MC7455 modem - the modem passes the Cricket compatibility checker - initially it would not connect. Changing APN to “ndo” solved that and it worked very similar to my T-Mobile Sim, including on a trip up into Canada.
However, I have now upgraded to a MAX BR1 Mini with a Sierra Wireless EM7411 modem - the modem does not pass the compatibility checker - After switching the APN to “ndo” it does appear to connect, including getting an ip address, but then promptly disconnects with a health check failure. I am using DNS Lookup with Host 1 = 8.8.8.8 and Host 2 = 8.8.4.4.
I am wondering if there is a better health check setup for Cricket? I have tried Smart Check with the same results.
Do you think the Enforced TTL = 64 would help? I am confused about this setting since it would also apply to my T-Mobile Sim.
Hi Frank. First thing I’d recommend: In general, in a single WAN environment (e.g., cellular with no ethernet WAN) turn the health checks off. Reason: While this feature is very important when one has two or more WANs with a single WAN they serve no real purpose. So, if you take that action is to helpful? I’ll mention that we probably have the best success using “ping” as the method. If you do this I’d recommend setting targets of two different providers (we commonly use 8.8.4.4 and 1.1.1.1, for example.)
But perhaps more importantly, if the IMEI does not pass the carrier’s compatibility checker that may be the issue. While the Peplink product is – no doubt – compatible if the carrier thinks or says it isn’t that may lead to great frustration. I think generally such a result will mean you’ll never get an IP address, but I can think of at least one case where an address was assigned but “went nowhere.”
There are reasons why one may want to “enforce” a TTL, as been suggested elsewhere, but I do not think that will likely solve your problem here. But, I can also say it probably will not hurt to try the number you suggested or 65. Changing the TTL can sometimes “fool” the carrier as to whether data is being used on-device vs tethered but if the IMEI is not associated with the type of device for which the SIM is intended (example: tablet plan SIM used in a router) changing the TTL will likely not resolve the situation.
As an example of the previous: One of the test SIMs in our possession is a “tablet plan” of one of the major USA carriers. It works well in the Mini HW1 but does not work at all in the Mini HW3 or Pro 5G.
Let us know how this is resolved.
Thanks! Food for thought and stuff to try.
With Cricket the Peplink default APN is Broadband and I get no ip assigned (not even the Cricket phone number). With “ndo” as APN an ip is assigned with either router. With the Mk2 everything then worked. With the Mini it fails the health check and disconnects.
I do have Marina Wi-Fi as a back up WAN. Is it still okay to try without the Heath Check, or should I disable the Wi-Fi WAN?
I’d suggest this “general rule”: If you have =>2 WANs connected I would use health checks. If not, not.
Fine, I’ll disable the Wi-Fi WAN.
What about two Sims in the Cellular WAN. One as Priority 1 and one as 2? Is it okay with no health check in this config? I’d like to be able to test the Cricket remotely, but still have a standby.
Sure. You have two slots but will be using only one WAN/SIM at a time.
I guess I’d have to say it might be easier to find another provider or another plan with the same provider rather than keep thrashing around with this one. ;<)
I have tried all the above possibilities, in order, to try and get my Cricket Sim working with no success. The last was to disable my Wi-Fi WAN and turn off health check on my cellular WAN. I set this in Remote Web Admin via InControl2 with Cricket as priority 1 and T-Mobile as priority 2. Not sure if this reconfiguration took place. For last several days IC2 has shown Cellular WAN disconnected and Wi-Fi WAN disconnected. Remote Web Admin is not available.
The odd thing about the disconnects in IC2 is that my FloatHub monitoring device, which is a client on the Peplink AP, has continued to work, sending regular updates to my phone app and pc via internet. This includes NEMA Data from a second client on the AP. It doesn’t seem like I am really disconnected, but why does IC2 say so?
@FRANK_SILKWOOD Some of my devices pass Cricket’s IMEI check and some don’t. I’ve spent many hours trying to persuade them to add devices but always failed. You may have more luck!
Here’s a link to their IMEI checker
If the device has passed the IMEI check then you MUST have a data device plan and set ndo as the custom APN. FYI, the APN of Broadband is the default handed out by the AT&T tower but won’t pass data etc to a Cricket SIM.
Kibitz … I just checked four Peplink devices to which I had immediate access. All failed the Cricket IMEI check. These devices were:
- Adapter, 5G
- Balance 310X, CAT12
- Balance 20X, CAT4
- Transit, CAT18
I have great confidence all of these would work fine on the Cricket network – but not if disallowed. It would seem that a really good move by Peplink would be to get next to the folks at Cricket and work hard on this.
I have certainly used the Cricket Compatibility Checker. My original MAX BR1 Mk2 passed the checker and worked after the APN was changed to ndo. My current device is a MAX BR1 Mini HW3. It has a different modem (Cat 7) and does not pass the checker. But the Peplink device is approved on the ATT network. I have not given up that it can be made to work. Peplink recognizes the Cricket Sim and an ip address is obtained, but then it fails the health check.
Frank: Just curious – what happens when you disable health checks on your cellular WAN? Any change?
@FRANK_SILKWOOD I wish you the best of luck having given up on a similar problem with Cricket SIMs working in a Max Adapter (Cat 6) but not working in other devices such as a Transit Duo Pro or a Balance 310X.
Thanks. I know about the Cricket compatibility checker. My MAX BR1 Mk2 passed. My new MAX BR1 Mini did not. different modems. Go figure.
Yes. As described in my 24 October post. When I remotely disabled Health Check, the device completely disconnected and I was not able to give any further changes. When I got to the boat nothing worked including Web Admin via ethernet. I had to do a manual hardware reset and renew all settings. As part of this I removed the Cricket Sim. I give up on it, unfortunately. T-Mobile is working fine.