I’m hoping someone here can help me figure out what’s going on with the WiFi LAN on my BR1 Pro. I have a newly-minted Ubuntu machine connected to my WiFi network provided by the BR1. This machine can ping out to 1.1.1.1 consistently and reliably as you would hope and expect. I’ve given it a static IP address of 10.11.12.3.
Other machines on the WiFi network are having trouble pinging this machine reliably. I am observing the following:
For some unknown reason, an open ping to 10.11.12.3 from my Macbook Pro just stops working and the device becomes unreachable at seemingly random intervals
At the same time, my iPhone with an open ping to 10.11.12.3 also fails
Running a PING from Peplink’s web UI to 10.11.2.3 pretty much always works fine as far as I can see
This entire time, a ping OUT from 10.11.12.3 to 1.1.1.1 works fine.
Ping OUT from 10.11.12.3 to my Macbook fails (coinciding with the failure from the Macbook to 10.11.12.3)
There is clearly some sort of routing issue here impacting the local LAN but I can’t find any setting in the router to fix it… Please help!
No I’m using both, that’s what is a bit odd about this is from 10.11.12.3’s perspective it can’t ping LAN addresses (e.g. 10.11.12.75), but it can ping 10.11.12.1 and ping 1.1.1.1. This problem comes and goes, and seems to be related to the fact it keeps losing it’s wifi connection.
(The really poor Wifi signal quality is another issue that I feel like I should open another forum post about… but it’s really disappointingly bad for what I’ve paid for with this hardware. I have the BR1 and the Peplink Mobility antenna mounting on the roof of my RV… a grand total of 37’ end to end and mostly just styrofoam and thin wood for obstructions… yet I struggle to get a decent connection at the other end of the rig)
I think I tracked down the issue, which was multi-part.
Ubuntu 22.04 has WiFi bugs related to power management. Disabling power management for the WiFi adapter in the driver had a positive impact – but did not entirely address the problem
Setting up a SSID that didn’t try to auto-route between 2.4ghz and 5ghz and using that seemed to fix the rest of the problems I was having.
As for the overall poor quality WiFi coming out of the BR1 / Mobility Antenna I ended up spending $40 dollars on a WiFi extender which actually has been working really great so far (which was a surprise). I’m a bit disappointed the Peplink’s Wifi is so bad, but at least this corrects the issue.
If I am reading correctly your wifi is running through the mobility on the roof yet you are not using WiFi wan. It would not be surprising to have poor signal strength especially if the SSID is set for 2.4/5ghz combined and it gets pushed over to 5ghz which has less ability to penetrate the roof.
RV wall and roof usually don’t impact wifi signals that much (unless they are metal like an Airstream) however a roof mounted antenna will end up penetrating at a high angle to the device typically meaning it will go through a lot of material unless you are directly under it. Also roof antenna are typically tuned for signals to the sides of it and may even have an internal metal ground plane further reducing your interior signal.
I have a Max BR1 Pro 5G in my RV and do not currently have a roof mounted antenna for it, its WiFi works very well for me no issue with signal strength speeds in my 35’ RV, but its using the provided antennas and its in a wooden cabinet in the living area. It also picks up cellular well and WiFi wan works well too and I primarily use Starlink hardwired so I am not in a hurry to do a rooftop.
I had a rooftop on my last RV with a SOHO and experimented with one, two or all three wifi antennas inside and outside, as you would expect all three inside is best for LAN, all three outside best for WAN other configs in between.
The best way to do WiFi WAN and LAN is separate radios, so the BR1 would only do WAN then have say a Peplink access point inside for LAN so that both can get the best reception and work independently.
Also note if you have wifi wan turned on but not connected to anything and it says scanning it can impact lan performance, used to be much worse and seems to have gotten better over releases and from my SOHO to BR1 but the act of scanning can interrupt the radios operation for LAN duties.
That makes a lot of sense. I had perhaps incorrectly assumed the Wi-Fi antenna in the mobility antenna was tuned to provide decent coverage down and out instead of just sides and up?
I don’t have the stock Wi-Fi antennas anymore, and frankly rarely use the Wi-Fi as wan feature either. Perhaps you are right that my best option would be a separate router just for Wi-Fi LAN though, and keep the roof mounts for that rare occasion where I want to try Wi-Fi as wan
this is my first experience with peplink products, I always used ubiquity hardware in my house. is there a 12v powered Wi-Fi router that peplink makes?
There are also longer ones with more gain. Wifi wan will probably work ok most places though the RV walls, mine does so I am in no hurry to do more since good wifi wan is pretty rare anyway.
If you really want to keep rooftop for rarely used wifi wan and get an inside access point then Peplinks AP One AC Mini or AP One AX Lite are good candidate as they will run off 12v and can be controlled from the BR1
I did forget one thing you can try now is up the transmit power on the BR1’s access point if you haven’t already, its under AP → Settings → Output Power, setting to max with boost cranks it up pretty good and will improve speeds from BR1 to device (download) but not from device to br1 (upload) since thats dependent on you device (phone or laptop) transmit power which is typically pretty low.
Upping transmit power causes more interference for everyone else around you trying to use their wifi so don’t leave it higher if it does make a noticeable difference.
Yes I had already pumped up the output power without much effect – probably because as you said in part the device itself doesn’t have a great transmission power.
I decided for now to start with a pair of 8dbi antennas for $10 bucks, see how that works, and if necessary I can always upgrade to a proper internal router/ap if I find myself needing that.