I’m looking to buy a cellular Peplink router for use with my Terrgraph 60Ghz equipment, Unifi switches and APs and Starlink at outdoor events where there may or may not be an existing internet connection. I will provide wifi for event production, traders, performers and internet for bar EPOS terminals.
I plan to mostly use the Starlink with cellular failover or if the Starlink coverage is bad, use the best cellular modem with cellular failover or bonded cellular if the coverage isn’t great.
I’ve recently completed a large music festival that had up to 600 users (including EPOS) which had a 1 Gig leased line, so I intend to use this new router to provide redundancy at this event next year.
In the UK there are 4 proper cellular networks so I thought found the perfect model that ticked every box, but I got a quote for £10,364 + VAT, putting the HD4 MBX way above my budget.
I’ve now short listed the following models: (£ excluding VAT)
Balance 20X with CAT 12 £710 or CAT 18 module £?
Max Transit Duo CAT 12 £836.22
Balance 310 5G £1849
Some cons and questions:
The Balance 20X has up to 60 recommended users, Is that because of its low VPN throughput?
The Max Transit Duo doesn’t have USB WAN and only supports 400 Mbps stateful firewall throughput, would that be an issue with the 1 gig leased line if I’m using a 3rd party firewall? I’d only use failover with the leased line.
The 310 5G doesn’t support 3G on the 5G modem but is more future proof.
Is starlink portable now? Last I read it was locked to a specific location?
You need to define your use case. Is 600 users the max you will ever have? What are your actual bandwidth requirements? You will need to add them up. Are you providing priority to important clients / limiting bandwidth to lesser important clients?
Regarding the 4 cellular providers, have you reviewed plans for both data, device compatibility, and price?
You can change the Starlink service address, although not all areas are currently available, this will only improve with time.
I expect 600 users to be the maximum, unless I get lucky and get an bigger job, in which case I’ll buy a higher spec router.
I separate different SSIDs, CCTV and EPOS on to different VLANs.
With regards to bandwidth, the EPOS needed very little, no more than 30 meg up and much less down, for around 290 terminals, latency is more important to get the transactions through quickly. EPOS would have priority as that’s how the event promoters make their money. The bar company asks for 50 meg up and down but that’s way more that the data I’ve captured shows.
I capped wifi users to 10 meg each, obviously, this would saturate 1 gig but in reality, everyone isn’t using their full bandwidth allowance at the same time. I’d set the cap lower depending on the available bandwidth at each location.
I haven’t reviewed prices for cellular providers but it is what it is, I’d shop around to get the cheapest. I have looked at the supported bands and most are covered with a CAT 12 and all with a CAT 18.
I’d like to keep my budget below £2000.
Thanks
Jay.
I don’t see you building an enterprise grade system to support 600+ users and 4 cellular carriers, plus Starlink, plus potentially a hardwire 1gig line, for $2,000.
I’d research the cellular providers. You might shocked. Here in the USA, to have four cellular providers on enterprise plans with high bandwidth/data can easily be thousands of dollars per month.
You might need to ensure the hardware you are selecting is certified/able to be used with each carrier and on the plans you are looking at.
A reseller that knows your geographically might be best suited to help.
Also, do you plan to use the Peplink to handle WiFi? Or just the WANs and your LAN infrastructure will completely separate / separate budget?
I know I cant get everything I want, as I said the HD4 MBX is out of budget, I’m looking at the 3 listed routers. It seems the Balance 310 5G gets the closest but wondered if I could save some money with the 20X, the Max Transit Duo has been recommended by a Peplink dealer but it seems a bit too budget to me.
I have all the other kit already, the only missing piece is the cellular router, so I can show potential clients that I can deliver robust internet virtually anywhere.
I’m not going to bother with business plan SIM cards, I’ll buy normal consumer ones as they’ll only need to be used for a week or so at a time. I know it’s against the T&C but don’t care! They’ll never know.
We don’t do dollars in the UK.