Just Got Static IP SIMs and Now My Router is Useless

Hi everyone,

I am reaching out to the brains of the world. So here is my scenario. Prior to converting my SIM cards to static IPs, my internet was broadcasting fine. I currently have 12 Max BR1 Mini’s and 5 Max BR1 routers. Everything was working fine until I was informed by my executive team that I needed to convert the lines into static IPs. Great! So I contacted my mobile service provider to convert them and they did. Except now all my routers are offline and unable to broadcast a WiFi signal.

I was told I had to open up my APNs per device manually. My remote admin on IC2 is disabled. So I plugged in my ethernet cable to one end of my router and my PC. The default IP is set to 192.168.50.1. And I all I get is a “No Connection” default webpage. I entered the static IP I received and still the same message. I was hoping to log in to the router and tinker around in there and maybe get the APNs opened up and restore my internet connection, but I’m at a stand still.

So here’s what I need help with:

  • How do I get access to configure my APNs to the new static IP?
  • Is there another way I am suppose to approach this?

Help me, Peplink Community. You’re my only hope.

P.S. My knowledge is very limited in the Peplink realm so please explain in simple terms to avoid even further confusion. You all are great! I hope to hear from you!

Static IP SIMs always require a custom APN to be set (here is why), so you’re on the right track when you are trying to connect to the local web admin to sort this out. The default IP is 192.168.50.1 are you sure it hasn’t been changed? Have you tried https://192.168.50.1

You need to login to the web admin, edit cellular details and change the APN from auto to custom.
If you’re really stuck you can factory reset the BR1 with a paperclip in the reset button on the front.

Good luck!

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Hi Martin!

Thanks for your input! I’m sad to say that I have entered the https://192.168.50.1 in different browsers too. I did a factory reset on it as well, and I’m still not seeing anything in the browser.

OK Lets go slow.

  1. Factory reset a BR1 with a paperclip
  2. What colour is the status light 4mins after the reset?
  3. Using a patch lead connect to the port on the BR1 labelled LAN.
  4. After a factory reset you can access webui on http://192.168.50.1
  5. If you can’t get to it in a browser, check to see what your IP address is and what your gateway IP is and share that here.
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Good news, Martin! I pressed the reset button on another Pepwave and it worked! I guess the other router’s reset is not working. I was able to log in into the webui.

So I went into the Dashboard then went into “Details” Priority 1 Box. On the next screen, I went Cellular Settings then in the box title APN, I entered the static IP then pressed Save and Apply. Now the default router SSID shows up and I connected using the last 8 digits of the LAN MAC, but I receive the typical Firefox error when there is no internet connection available. Was I suppose to enter the new Static IP somewhere else or did I approach this the wrong way?

It won’t be the static IP you need to enter. Here are some example APNs. You need the right one from your mobile network operator

1 Like

Good Morning,
I am in the US and primarily use ATT and Verizon Public Static IP’s
ATT APN - i2Gold
Verizon APN - so01.vzwstatic

Are you saying instead of the “Auto” APN I should type the specific APN in?

In our experience “Auto” has worked fine.
In rare occurrences we do have to type it in.
What we do find is we need to turn off “smart check” when rolling out new SIM’s as where I am at it seems to take longer to get the routers to talk to the towers. Not scientific, but it seems to work; we enable it after the router connects.

No. Not unless you have to. In the UK where I am fixed IP APNs tend to be unique and so ‘Auto’ APN very rarely works.

Makes sense. You’ll get a delay as the cellular connection needs to pass a healthcheck before it gets used. If you are deploying routers with just cellular WANs you might as well disable healthcheck altogether.

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Its funny…I was just working on a trouble shooting guide for the Peplink BR1 Mini. We use them a lot. I am OCD so I reset a router and went through all the steps for the configuration. We typically “burn in” all our gear prior to deployment; especially since it is mounted in places requiring bucket trucks. We generally run into provisioning issues; Static IP has not really been requested and/or it takes awhile to actually connect. Generally without fail we leave the “Network Mode” on auto as the BR1 always seems to do a good job determining that (99.99%). Where we run into issues is the APN. Yes “Auto” normally works, but we have had issues where it is not the case. In those instance we manually enter the APN (and it really has been provisioned that way." Usually we will get a static IP; might take a reboot.) In cases where the client really has not provisioned them correctly (no public static), we change it back to auto; in theory when the change to static the changeover will happen automatically without us have to re touch everything and generally that works.