Gigabit Throughput for Balance 20, 30, and One

[HydraSync]

Hello,

I would like to see if Peplink had anything on their road map to make the balance 20, 30, and One model have Gigabit throughput speeds. I ask, because as Fiber is becoming more prevalent with FTTH and Business Fiber, The ability to use these in our remote offices, while being able to use all of the available bandwidth provided would definitely increase the capabilities of what we can do in these remote offices, with out having to jump to a balance 305 in the remote offices as well.

We have been using Peplink for a while and love the reliability. Would love to see the throughput increased for the lower end models, as I think it would make Peplink the top brand if it’s able to offer this.

[nwacloud]

Definitely a must even for the lower end model SOHOs. A UniFi Dream Machine can do 850Mbps with IDS/IPS for under $400. Peplink needs to up their game with processing and memory to stay competitive in the SMB market.

[mystery]

Do any Peplinks do IDS/IPS?

[MartinLangmaid]

@nwacloud

to stay competitive in the SMB market

I understand why you want this - who wouldn’t, but Peplink is not looking to compete with Ubiquiti in the SMB market as its not something they currently target. Instead they focus on Enterprises, mobility, Specialist systems and service provider markets.

However if anyone wants a 1Gbps capable branch router in Feb 2021, the first device in the Peplink line up to look at is the Balance Two.

[Travis]

I appreciate your question here, and can say that we do certainly see greater need for well rounded products to address SMB and Prosumer connectivity. We are not abandoning this space like many others have done in recent years.

Have you considered the Balance 20X? This supports 900Mbps (gigabit really can only achieve ~940Mbps anyway) and has AC Wave 2 wifi. Very similar to Ubiquiti, we generally never discontinue a product, we just keep launching new ones and keep delivering software updates to the old ones, so you may not see the “balance 30” suddenly meet the specs you mention, but I can assure you we have models planned for this year that will fit great in this space.

Regarding IDS/IPS - I find a lot of vendors throw this term around in reference to a lot of different capabilities. Peplink supports:

DPI based QoS and Content blocking - so you can block over 200 different popular applications
DNS category based blocking - we block traffic on pre-defined categories for commonly bothersome sites
Domain blocking - list whatever domain and we’ll block it
GeoIP Filtering - if you use IC2 to build your firewall rules, you can use GeoIP to block/allow traffic to/from based on location
ID/DoS Protection - We also have a (limited) set of common attacks that we can protect against:

• Port Scan
• NMAP FIN/URG/PSH
• Xmas Tree
• Another Xmas Tree
• Null Scan
• SYN/RST
• SYN/FIN
• SYN Flood Prevention
• Ping Flood Attack Prevention

For the B20X, enabling these features will knock the throughput capacity down to around 840Mbps.

I want to be clear, we agree with your opinion here, there need to be more compelling entry level products and more software features to address SMB needs (and budgets). Please let me know more specific areas that you think we can improve on.

Some screenshots of the referenced features (taken from a Balance 20X):

[MartinLangmaid]

Oh yeah, the Balance 20X is a really good suggestion. Thanks @Travis

[nwacloud]

I hadn’t considered the 20X but since you pointed it out it is a great option. I prefer to stick with Peplink mainly due to reliability. Embedded LTE definitely puts this one above the Ubiquiti product so if you could eliminate the LTE and add some horsepower to the standard 20 or the next iteration of the SOHO, while keeping the price point in the under $300 range you’d really have a knockout product. Lots of small branch offices with just a dozen users who need VLANs, guest networks/isolation and traffic control who may not need embedded LTE would really round out the product line and put you above the competition. I’ll order a 20x and try it out. thanks for the suggestion.

[stego]

I came close to buying into the Unifi line of products. But eventually decided to go with Peplink.

I started with a SOHO and it served my needs well for about a year. My home was a little too big to cover with the SOHO wifi.

I upgraded to a B20x and 2 AP minis. I had a few hiccups with the B20x but support was great and never looked back since.

I only have 150mbps service but nice that I have the extra room should I decide to upgrade.

The admin UI on Peplink is great and pretty intuitive. Setting up vlans is a breeze. Lots of advanced features I’ll never user as a home user though.

For tech savvy home users though the B20x sits at a nice price point for what it offers.

[nwacloud]

When it comes to cost/scalability the Ubiquiti Unifi system overall is hard to beat. Having started out with Peplink as my go-to product for business customers I usually have to compromise by using Ubiquiti Switches and APs behind Peplink routers due to the better VLAN/QOS/Routing/interface and redundant WAN capability of the Peplink and the lower deployment costs of the Ubiquiti APs vs Peplink’s APs. I have dozens of these combo systems in place and for us it works great. I’d love to be able to use Peplink switches and APs with the inControl integration but the costs are just too high for most of the smaller customers we deal with.

[Travis]

I can understand your situation. Which AP models do you typically deploy? Do you have some spec and price must haves to help steer us in a better direction?

[nwacloud]

Mostly the Unifi Mesh US Std about $90, and the PRO about $175. These are the latest dual-band Mesh models and are indoor/outdoor rated and easy to deploy and remotely configurable with the Unifi Cloud Controller.

[bryn.loftus]

I find that AC Mini is well priced, but only 2x2 MIMO.

The One AX is ok price wise for AX but as other products come out that will change.

Switches however… the 48 port is twice the price of the equivalent Aruba Rapid model.