We are pleased to announce that Firmware 8.5.2 RC 2 is now available.
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Installed RC2 on a MAX-HD2-MBX-5GH (with a PLS-24-H2G-410W connected)
Can someone post more details on the known issue â33920 [Switch Controller] Changing the port PVID may not apply properlyâ?
What exactly is the issue and when might it not apply properly?
Is there any code in the Switch Controller that changes the VLAN ID of the switch âexternal accessâ management interface?
My switch is connected to a MBX LAN Trunk, VLAN Networks: Custom (which for me is the untagged vlan, 200, 240). The switch was assigned an IP on the default untagged vlan 1 and everything worked fine.
At some point my switch âexternal accessâ interface VLAN ID was automatically changed to 200. I donât understand how that happened. I had to login to the switch web UI directly and change it back to 1.
If I have a chance I will test it again tomorrow and try to reproduce.
Thanks @Eddy_Yeung for implementing 31632.
This is a big deal folks if you use reserve for management usage and sometime have issues with the primary wan and the cellular data usage has used all itâs user data.
When all the user data was used and there was at least one âhealthyâ wan then the reserve for management use wan would be in cold standby. Now with this feature fix it will follow the standby state, remaining either in P1 online, P2 warm standby. This will allow you to still get into the unit if your internet wan, is not as healthy as it appears to be.
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Curious what changed from 8.5.0 to 8.5.2?
Just had visible+ report our Max BR Pro 5G as an authorized device after updating from 8.5.2. Been on Visible+ for 3 years now with zero issues. - Only did the firmware update - no modem update etc. So what changed in how the unit ids into the cell network ??
Credits go to our fellow developers. 
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Does reverting back to 8.5 allow it to connect?
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My question here is to understand exactly this - when we roll back to 8.5.0 are we undoing what visible+ is unhappy about or not �?
Device still connects and passes traffic at good speed on both 8.5.2 and 8.5.0
Problem is we canât tell what changed here for Visible+ to be unhappy here and send the notice. Said otherwise - since traffic still passes with 8.5.2 I canât tell if change is in 8.5.2 itself OR if 8.5.2 allowed an over the air cell modem update automatically after update to 8.5.2.
Any clear directions on checking if a modem update was done ?
I also have not updated the cell modem firmware since fixing the SMS over a year ago. However I see a lot of references in the 8.5.2 release notes about improvement in 5G connectivity which means changes were happening in the area of code where peplink modem interactions with carrier.
The modem firmware is not a part of the Peplink firmware. You can go to /support.cgi to see what the current firmware version is of the modem and if there are any updates available. This will also depend greatly based on what device you have, as most of the 8.5.2 fixes were related to the Quectel RM520N radio. There are no modem firmware upgrades that are undertaken automatically and all modem firmware upgrades require several clicks in order to start them. I also feel itâs important to note that 8.5.2 is beta and not yet released, and you had to agree to specific terms in order to use this firmware.
While I understand you want low cost cellular connectivity, Peplink devices arenât designed to undertake the modifications required to be used with systems like Visible (phone-only networks) that require âmagicâ or other alterations (TTL, custom AT commands, etc.). As someone who is using a cellular plan for a purpose other than what it is intended for, you bear the responsibility for ensuring that changes donât jeopardize that. In the event that you have done IMEI âmagicâ to your device, thatâs out of scope for this discussion and you should seek other support.
From a cellular engineering standpoint, and understanding how Verizon/Visible does detection of rogue devices, it could be simply that your device re-associated with the network upon its reboot and it was detected at that point for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, Peplink is not very likely to discuss the low level changes that happened in this software update, but Visible/Verizon look at a large number of things to detect misuse of their plans and nearly everyone is caught and cancelled at one point or another. Lastly, Peplink is certainly not going to assist in using their devices in direct violation of a carrierâs policies:
Plan Compatibility: Your wireless device must be on a compatible plan at all times; log into your Visible account to review your plan details. If you switch your SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card to a different device and your plan is incompatible with that new device (for example, switching a SIM card from a smartphone to a smartwatch or switching your SIM card to a router or other unauthorized devices), Visible reserves the right to disconnect your line(s) of service unless you change to a compatible plan.
EDIT:
My question here is to understand exactly this - when we roll back to 8.5.0 are we undoing what visible+ is unhappy about or not �?
Unfortunately, you wonât get an answer to that. A/B testing will be required by you to determine the answer to your question.
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thanks for the reply here Chris and understood well intended to be helpful
given Visible is not showing what they see the device as but we know the timing here was after update the fairly logical assumption (but still assumption) is that the new firmware is reporting something different on connection
gotcha on the cell modem firmware update being manual âŚ
For the radio type, easy way to tell which radio is in our device here ?
This will also depend greatly based on what device you have, as most of the 8.5.2 fixes were related to the Quectel RM520N radio
Also I do find it a bit ironic that would have any issues/concerns with whatever changes were done in new firmware on the radio / connection side - since clearly the work being done was to improve the cell modem - its just an unexpected bummer on the âchangeâ introduced to what is showing/reporting on the network. Given the Max BR1 Pro was one of the newer 5G units it has always been a little bouncy on 5G, although provided great service⌠so going back to whatever Pep eng did do on the firmware - would hope it is an overall improvement.
Guess the main Q would be IF we could narrow down how the unit might be showing differently to providers now; less about specific visible+ but more so to this Q ⌠Is this a variable others will need to consider then dealing with various âcannot provisionâ to plans which were thought to work before ? ⌠said otherwise - this is now a variable which comes into play when moving up to this firmware. Might be a lot of noise for nothing OR other plans could bump into this.
We canât tell you because you havenât provided the full SKU of the device youâre inquiring about 
Yes, this release focuses significantly on the improved cellular performance. However, it is an important distinction that there are two communication paths here: the Router < > Cellular Radio comms, and then the comms between the cellular radio and the RAN/Core. While this gets a bit too deep for me to have a lot of footing here, the changes here affect the comms between the router and the cellular radio. Someone from Peplink can confirm.
Thereâs no real way to understand what happened. Correlation is not causation, but the only one that can tell you is Visible. Did something change with the way that the radio talks to the network? Maybe, I donât know. The engineering time to dig in to what exactly happened is non-zero and what youâre doing is against the ToS for Visible. With Verizon, everyone eventually gets caught. You lasted three years, and thatâs awesome. But every single time your device re-associated with the network, certain checks are made and this time you failed one of those checks.
My guess knowing what I know is that your device did not establish a SIP connection and the PCRF/PCEF have no entires for your device requesting anything in the SIP environment and it flags. All phones will have this, but your Peplink does not. This is the best way to do enforcement no matter what your IMEI or TTL is. Either Verizon started checking, or the Peplink stopped sending the commands to the radio asking for those sessions (that it simply didnât require).