Is it possible to purchase a separate data subscription when bonding 4 LTE sim cards in one HD4 Max?
Whilst some mobile phone operator offer “Unlimited” data only SIM cards, its rare to find them with roaming unlimited data.
I am looking to install this on a yacht. We use a competitor of yours but we are able to purchase 1TB of managed data at a much more competitive price than the same amount of data through a mobile operator. We have in the past used pay as you go Sims but logistically can be difficult.
Additionally could one connect a VSAT WAN link to this device and use for aggregation or will the latency of VSAT make this too difficult?
Thanks.
Hi there!
I don’t quite understand your first question.
Could you elaborate on what you mean?
I do know that there are some competitors that optionally supply data with their solution, but Peplink doesn’t.
Regarding the VSAT WAN, if you’re looking to use the VSAT WAN in a SpeedFusion Bonding VPN tunnel, please don’t.
The latency of the VSAT WAN will slow down the whole SpeedFusion Bonding VPN tunnel.
Bonding a VSAT WAN with another VSAT WAN works fine though.
I work for a worldwide data supplier, we might interesting for you regarding the data side.
We can supply connectivity in 192 countries, on 728 networks.
We offer features such as datapools, yearly bundles, a management portal and so on.
If you’re open to talk more about the data side of things, contact me!
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Hi Joey,
Thank you for getting back to me on this.
So we use a similar product to Peplink but it only bonds and aggregates mobile SIM card data. One can install up to 4 x SIM cards at a time. The company that provides the equipment also supplies the SIM cards. In Europe we might use T-Mobile or Vodafone depending upon our location and best cellular service. Additionally the supplier also provides us with a managed data bundle and can route it through any country to provide an IP address that we can use for regional media content etc. For instance, one can purchase up to 1TB of data that will last many months. This means that we don’t have to worry about purchasing a contract in a particular country, nor worry about roaming costs or where a contract is not possible, purchasing endless Pay As You Go SIM cards. Whilst Europe has in theory dropped costly roaming charges, there is still some major limitations on usage.
We have a separate Wi-Fi antenna onboard, but to be honest it is rarely used. Few ports around the world offer reliable and fast Wi-Fi connectivity so there is little point.
I only asked about VSAT because I have seen companies in the past claim that they were able to bond & aggregate VSAT with cellular, Wi-Fi or shore internet connections. I have used VSAT for many years and I am fully aware that latency kills those claims!
So getting back to you regarding data. I’d be very interested in hearing more about it, and would like to know how you get around the roaming costs/limitations. I’d also like to receive information on costs. For instance, how much would 500GB, 750GB and 1TB of data cost, how long are the data bundles valid for, and what is the minimum contract term?
Additionally, with 4 SIMs in place, and within an area of decent cell phone reception, what sort of bandwidth is possible? Finally, given that we are ship, do you have amplifiers for the cellular signal and if not, what is the maximum distance you’d expect us to still receive optimal and usable reception?
I look forward to hearing fro you with your thoughts.
Kind regards,
Rob
Hello Rob,
Thank you for the reply.
I know the company you’re talking about.
Although I don’t have any personal experiences with their products and services, I have met their management in person before, who seem like very knowledgeable people.
When it comes to shore WiFi, we experience the same, it’s almost never useable as a reliable WAN connection.
Our main customers are in the river cruising industry, who rarely even try to connect to shore WiFi anymore.
Not just because it’s unreliable, but also because WiFi hotspots come with potential security risks.
We supply these river cruise ships with a yearly bundle based on their sailing schedule, with X amount of data and X amount of SIM-cards, that all share the same data bundle.
Since our SIM-cards can switch between operators and countries, they have the best possible experience wherever they go.
We don’t work with amplifiers, but we have had multiple cases where we still had LTE coverage 15-20 kilometers from the coast, with Pepwave routers and antennas that we supplied.
Our SIM-cards support LTE-Advanced (4G+) and so does the Peplink equipment, but the coverage and bandwidth you will get depends on many factors.
Local network coverage, available bandwidth on the cellular tower, how close the cellular tower is positioned to the shore, how high the cellular tower is positioned, your equipment, just to name a few.
Let’s talk more via e-mail regarding possibilities and pricing, you can reach me on [email protected].
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