Really, the best option would just be an upgraded next generation SOHO router, which @Cassy_Mak said Peplink is developing (Peplink | Pepwave - Forum). The Balance 20X is missing features desirable in for the SOHO market (like WiFi-as-WAN unless an additional fairly pricey fee is paid to get feature along with other unnecessary features like Hot Failover and WAN Smoothing) and has expensive hardware features (cellular modem) that are unnecessary.
Basically, what I want is a faster SOHO router that has:
Same features as existing Surf SOHO MK3
Wi-Fi-as-WAN
USB supporting everything the Surf SOHO does (including ethernet adapter)
I guess weāll have to wait and see what peplink want to do, but I highly doubt that model would be viable.
its got a smaller target market than the b20x, an even lower target price and its not suff differentiated from the b20x imo.
every distinct model has a development and support cost. Personally i doubt peplink will bring out anything lower than the b20x- its not expensive and its based on the flexibility (flexmodule, usb etc) its clearly designed to be a ājack of all tradesā at the lower end, a job it does fantastically.
Iām not an expert in this space, and maybe my experience is not representative. But I have worked with a lot of small businesses and work-from-home professionals who want a reliable, āsmall business gradeā router with features along the line I listed. As far as I know, none of the small businesses I have worked with feel the need to have a router with built-in cellular capabilities. So buying the Balance 20X means paying for a fairly expensive feature (a cellular modem) that the customer will never us and not having features the customer would actually use all the time (such as better Wi-Fi).
The Balance 20X has allmost all these features already since FW 8.3.0 the throughput is upgraded to 1Gbps. You just need to have an active PrimeCare subscription for some features. It is the cheapest device and cheapest PrimeCare device in their lineup already. We have lotās of them deployed on 1Gbps connections and didnāt have problems before to reach the 925-930Mbps (which is about the limit you can get from a physical 1Gbps connection).
Only Wifi 6 is not in there, as itās not in the SoC used. 4x4 Wifi 6 is a whole different market segment and whole different price level. Thereās no logical reason to have 4x4 Wifi 6 inside their base router. It would increase the price a lot. Also 4x4 Wifi 6 is not really something present in any ābaseā tier router from any brand.