Hi,
I have asked the question in the past. I attended the VoIP webinar a few weeks back and it was very informative. Once thing I got from is that there is a new feature that allows us to have the phones connected behind the Peplink and still have another firewall behind it for the IT company. We manage just phones and a lot of times the IT company will not want to swap their firewall out with ours so we run parralel. Can someone provide some insight on this set up and if there is a new guide to follow with exact steps? We use the Balance 20x in most of installations. Thanks!
So this approach is taking the Drop in Mode capability - which does two things. Lets the B20x share the existing fixed line that the customers current firewall is using, and lets you add additional connectivity (cellular or another fixed line).
That additional connectivity can be used transparently by the customers firewall if you want (so you can upsell failover connectivity / bandwidth), or you can reserve it so that it is only used by VoIP services.
One LAN port on the B20X is used to physically connect the existing customer firewall. The other ports can be used by the VoIP service (or Point of sale, or CCTV or whatever service you are selling/care about - in your case VoIP).
When it comes to the drop in mode check out Peter Wests great video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny5z_4Pjz6c
He also has another video showing B20X setup here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8wodyZcqn8
Thanks Martin. I’m familar with how drop-in mode works. I need specifics on how to set this up for the VoIP devices connected to the Peplink directly.
This is how I envision the set up-
Customer has fixed line internet with a block of 5 IPs.
1 additional static assigned to WAN 1 of the B20x. Enabled drop-in mode and pass everything to the customer’s firewall on LAN 1. SIM installed and acts a failover for the customer’s firewall because of the outbound rules.
1 additional IP on the same fixed line internet assigned to the virtual WAN on the B20x. LAN 2 of Peplink connected to same internal network switch as the computers with VLAN enabled on switch. Phones connect out virtual WAN using outbound policy and SIM as backup (Speedfusion Cloud).
Does this make sense? Did I miss anything? Also, is there a specific guide on this set up?
Drop in mode to forward current WAN1 IP transparently through to customers firewall and have cellular as backup internet connection is a good idea. Inbound routing when failed over to cellular would fail if targeting the fixed / wired WAN public IP. What services if any do you need to support inbound?
The 2nd bit where you build a VoIP VLAN is the whole point of Drop in Mode for me.
Create a VoIP VLAN on the B20X, plug the phones into it. Then setup a speedfusion vpn on the B20X between the VLAN and a FusionHub in the cloud.
That SpeedFusion VPN can use both WAN and cellular connections to give a higher level of service to VoIP, the FusionHub is in ingress /egress point for all SIP/RTP traffic so you have a single public IP and single NAT to deal with which should be fine.
This way you don’t need public IP on the cellular.
You can also add another WAN with a USB dongle or now a virtual WAN too to the B20x for more resilience (starlink) and use that connection in the VPN for VoIP too. Smashing!
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Can we use the same WAN that drop in mode is using for the voice VLAN or does it have to be separate?