How to set up simultaneous Wi-Fi as WAN and Wi-Fi AP

Knowledgebase FAQs
1

What is it?
Simultaneous Wi-Fi as WAN and Wi-Fi AP means you create a completely wireless network where your router picks up on a known Wi-Fi SSID and use that as connection input (WAN), and then broadcast another Wi-Fi signal on the LAN side for your own use.

If you’re looking to set up dual-band failover Wi-Fi as WAN, go here.
If you’re looking to set up simultaneous dual band Wi-Fi as WAN, go here.

You can enable a Wi-Fi AP that runs on 2.4GHz as well as 5GHz frequency; or separate Wi-Fi APs - ones that runs on 2.4GHz only and ones on 5GHz only.

How to setup?
Simultaneous Wi-Fi WAN and Wi-Fi AP

First, let’s define the Wi-Fi-as-WAN itself.
On your Dashboard, under WAN Connection Status, find the “Wi-Fi WAN” (or “Wi-Fi WAN on 5GHz”) connection.
By default, this is under the Disabled priority.

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Click Details.
You can rename it, or leave as is. For a bit of context, we’ll use “Campground Wi-Fi 2.4GHz” for the example. Click Save and Apply at the bottom.

Back in the WAN Connection Status tab, drag and drop the newly named Wi-Fi WAN connection into Priority 1.

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Click Wireless Networks and choose the available Wi-Fi you wish to connect to as WAN, then enter the password.

You have just created one Wi-Fi WAN connection on 2.4Ghz.

Next, we define the Wi-Fi AP.

Head to the AP tab, then click New SSID

Name the SSID, choose Security Policy type and enter the password, then click Save. Apply Changes.

By default, the newly created SSID is available on both 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz frequencies. If you wish to customize these details, then from the AP tab, click Settings on the left hand menu.

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Under AP Settings, choose the desired frequencies for the defined SSIDs. Click Save at the bottom, then Apply Changes at the top right.

Resulting setup:

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2

Hi,

I installed a MAX BR1 on a boat with two external antennas. One for Wi Fi WAN and other for Cellular.
The Wi Fi WAN Antenna is for connecting to Wi Fi AP of the Marina. But the device are using the internal Wi Fi to search the Wi Fi WAN instead of the external antenna.

How can I change this?

I need the device use the external Wi Fi antenna to connect to the Marina AP and the internal Wi-Fi to create the boat network for the crew.

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3

Hi,

Can I ask which connections you have used on the BR1 for the 2 antenna? Ideally, you should have 2 Cellular antenna connected to the cellular Main / AUX and then a third antenna connected to the WiFi port.

You should then be able to search for the Marina WiFi as the WAN connection, and configure the internal SSID for the crew to use. Please note though, the signal strength of the “internal” WiFi will be determined by the positioning of the external antenna. Depending on the size of the boat, the internal WiFi may not be available on all decks and additional access points may be required.

Hope this helps,

Steve

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4

Hi,

We installed two antennas at the boat’s targa. (highest point and best local with sky clear view). The antennas are connected on Cellular MAIN and the on Wi-Fi port.

The boat are 400 meters from the pier and cannot found the Marina Wi Fi AP. But, on the pier we can found the boat’s Wi-Fi (we found the crew’s SSID that we created).

I believe the device are using the external Wi Fi antenna to spread the AP signal and the internal Wi-Fi to search Wi-Fi WANs. We need the contrary.

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5

Hi,

Please could you share the manufacture / model of the WiFi antenna you are using?

Thanks,

Steve

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6

Manufacturer Digital Antenna
Model: 1285
Wideband 695 - 3000 MHz Bullet Antenna
link: http://www.digitalantenna.com/prods/cellantenna_wideband_bullet_deckmount.html

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7

Hi,

I think that may be the problem, this antenna is for the 4G / LTE. If you remove this connection and install the antenna provided with the BR1, does this resolve the problem? Assuming you can receive the Marina WiFi signal from the BR1’s location.

If so, you may need to purchase different antenna to use for the WiFi.

Thanks,

Steve

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8

This antenna are also for Wi-Fi using.

See on description:

Applications:

700, 800, 850, 900, 1500, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2500 and 2600 MHz frequency bands; 4G, 3G, AWS, LTE, CLR, DCS, IMT, ISM, PCS, WCDMA, WCS, WiFi, WiMax, Cellular

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9

Screenshot_160

The system was supposed to work like this. (but seem working in contrary)

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10

Hi,

The BR1 doesn’t have an internal and external antenna - the connection is for WAN WiFi and LAN WiFi. Therefore, the antenna you use would need to support both WAN and LAN WiFi simultaneously - I don’t think the antenna you are using is suitable for this. If you connect the WiFi antenna supplied, assuming the Marina SSID is available in the BR1’s location, you should be able to connect to the Marina WiFi as the WAN and then distribute the Crew’s SSID.

Thanks,

Steve

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11

Do you know some Marine antenna that support WAN and LAN Wi-Fi simultaneously?

Our BR1 came with two cellular antennas. No Wi Fi antenna in the box.

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12

What kind of spec I need to check to guarantee the antenna support both WAN and LAN WiFi simultaneously?

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13

Hi,

Unfortunately, I am unable to recommend a specific device - Peplink can’t promote / recommend one brand over another, etc…but perhaps if you contact a local reseller they will be able to offer assistance. Alternatively, if any of our partners are reading this and can recommend a solution, please feel free to reply.

Thanks,

Steve

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14

What kind of spec I need to check to guarantee the antenna support both WAN and LAN WiFi simultaneously?

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15

Seem you had setup the WIFI WAN and WIFI AP for BR1 and the WIFI anttena is connected to the device. Let’s us isolate the possible issue for the setup.

Can you please setup a test SSID on the boat and verify whether WIFI WAN able to see the test SSID ? This will help you to isolate whether the antenna work fine for the setup and the issue is not related to the long distance or other influences.

If the BR1 able to see the test SSID and you still fail to make the WIFI WAN see/connect to Marina Wi Fi AP, please open a support ticket here for support team to check.

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16

i am not on board now,… I back soon with the tests

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17

Hello @marcomarinha,
Antennas & RF systems is one of our teams strengths, to help you here can you post some photos and a drawing of what you have wired up (next time you are back at the boat). Importantly also add in photos of each connector (please disconnect the connector and take a photo of the connector on the cable at an angle looking into the connector)

One of the things we often see with antenna cables is mismatched connectors, there are two types of SMA connectors used on the Peplink range (and is standard with 90% of the industry). Equipment and antenna cables designed for mix bands as used for cellular connections (mobile broadband) are very different.

We would also like to recommend you contact your local specialist Peplink Partners, most Peplink Partners will have in there team of distributors a specialist in Antennas and RF.
Happy to Help,
Marcus :slight_smile:

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18

Hi. I’m trying to understand the performance of “simultaneous Wi-Fi as WAN and Wi-Fi AP” mode.

In this mode, can a band (2.4 or 5 GHz) be simultaneously used for both the WAN and AP links? If yes, is a single radio used for both WAN and AP links – so that a radio has to be shared between servicing the two links – or are there separate radios in each band for each link?

Thanks!

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19

Some more expensive Pepwave device like the HD2 Max two completely separate radios which is ideal. The less expensive devices like my SOHO or the BR1 have a single radio.

Now a single AC radio is actually two radios (one 2.4Gghz and one 5 Ghz) that can operate independently. So the less expensive devices with a single AC radio like my SOHO perform very well if WiFi wan is on one band while internal clients are on another. Typically this would be 2.4 ghz on the wan and 5 ghz on the lan.

Even on the same band sharing a radio the performance seems very good except for one problem which I will get into. The sharing seems no different than two clients sharing the band on the lan side. The big issue that the Pepwave firmware has is that if the WifI WAN goes down for any reason it will start scanning for an available wifi nework every few seconds. During the scan the radio cannot serve LAN traffic, this shows up as about 10% packet loss on the LAN, even if it has failed over to cellular. Other routers avoid this by either requiring manual reconnection or having a adjustable scan interval that’s measured in minutes rather than seconds so that the packet loss is kept to a minimum. You will not see this issue with the dual radio device or if the LAN and WAN are on different bands.

I just ran a speed test through my SOHO in my RV connected back to my House through a 5ghz link and got 40 MBps while getting 80 Mbps directly connected to house network.

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20

Thanks for the information … much appreciated!

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