In need of some series help concerning expired licenses and understanding what is included/not included

Product Discussion
1

I’ve been running a Max BR1 for my video streaming company. We connect a wired WAN to the venue internet and utilize LTE with bandwidth smoothing and hot failover for obvious reasons.

Recently, I purchased a balance 20X for my home as well. This would be to ensure we can always stay connected and to use speedfushion VPN.

I also purchased another BR1, as I travel regularly and need to maintain a reliable connection to both of the other routers.

Today, I’m setting up for an event tomorrow and I noticed primecare expired, as did my speed fushion connect protect plan.

What I’m really not understanding is: Now none of my devices in incontrol2 show up as connected, even ones that are still licensed (the br1 that expired is the first device I purchased). Connecting to the BR1 that expired, even with a sim card, I can’t get internet.

So is the device basically bricked until I renew PrimeCare? Or am I completly lost.

I thought Microsoft had some confusing licensing, but this is just not clear at all.

Another question I’ve had for over a year now: What’s the difference between connect and connect protect?

Hope someone can point me in the right direction as we’re expected to live stream tomorrow and I’m dead in the water currently.

2

You can utilize the BR1 locally via sim,

However, Primecare is required for the following features:

Wi-Fi as WAN, LAN port as WAN, and Automatic failover between WAN sources.
The built-in Wi-Fi radio will still function without Primecare or the feature pack, but will not act as a WAN source to allow connectivity to other Wi-Fi networks.

Speedfusion is also disabled as well as incontrol2

If you need these units up asap, instead of going through resellers that are probably closed, I would purchase the license from Peplink directly in case any issues come up Go to this link https://estore.peplink.com/ and enter the serial number and it will present you the options available for that hardware.

  • This is constructive advise and not meant to be legal advise
3

Okay, this helps quite a bit.

ended up renewing PrimeCare, with the feature pack, and getting another year of Speed Fushion Connect prior to your reply.

Was freaking out a bit there but mostly everything is working again. Still trying to get things configured and the peplink router at home is behind a firewall temporarily until it’s configured fully and pepvpn just isn’t connecting. Oh well, problem for another day I guess.

4

I wanted to drop a quick reply in here and thank you for the quick help you gave me.

I was in a bit of a rushed situation as things were failing and I wasn’t really tracking what was lost after that year.

So, now I’m trying to do a bit better here and understand my costs and needs.

For the purposes of this “conversation” here is a brief explanation of what we have, what we do, etc.

I run a small live streaming business. We primarily stream sports events locally. We have viewers all over the country and the world. We utilize peplink to ensure a reliable connection to the internet.

Currently we operate fully remote production studio. Meaning: We send out cameras, converters, and a peplink device (along with some minor audio equipment) to the venue where the sporting event takes place. The converters convert the video feed to an IP stream (SRT for those who are interested) and send it back to our office. In the office we utilize a production machine and software to do the switching between cameras, insert graphics, and package the stream for distribution (RTMP). RTMP is sent to AWS for further packaging for different device sizes and CDN dissemination.

We have 3 devices: 2 are critical 99% of the time. 1 is sometimes critical.

  • Balance 20X = is the office router which has LTE and actually has a roof mounted antenna on the building. This router is utilized for our production computers.
  • Max BR1 = is taken to the venue. It has LTE as well and is utilized to ensure a reliable connection.
  • Max BR1 (#2) = is kind of my personal router. I travel alot and sometimes I’m not in the same city/location as the events and need to remotely administer things and assist our technical director (who is at the office directing a live event). Usually this device is just connected to hotel WiFi (WiFi as WAN)

So given the above I understand that I’d need:

  • Max BR1 Feature Pack (For SFC, Wan Smoothing, Hot failover)

OR

  • Primecare/PrimeCare+

Truthfully, I’m not sure the difference other than incontrol 2.

So this leaves me with a few questions.

  1. Is the feature pack a 1 time purchase or annual renewal required?
  2. Is PrimeCare necessary with the feature pack?
  3. Is the any benefit PrimeCare has over the feature pack except the warranty and incontrol2?

I’m also making the assumption based on what I’ve seen, that if I have an SFC plan, I still need the feature pack or primecare?

Similarly, I don’t think purchasing any of the eSim options alleviates the need for purchase of the feature pack or prime care.

5

The Feature Pack is a 1-time purchase if don’t want to renew PrimeCare every year otherwise keeping the unit under primecare gives you the same features as the Feature Pack so no need to double up.

However, if you elect to go with the feature pack option you still lose the ability of incontrol2 and that’s important if you are trying to remote in and control from afar if you don’t renew primecare

6

Thanks for the reply and the help… Licensing has always been my headache to fully understand.

I think I’ve got an idea of where I’m at now. Still looking through SFC plans now to understand them fully.

7

this has some helpful info: PrimeCare - Peplink