MAX Br1 Mini 5g and Peplink eSim plan questions

[ITuser]

I’m looking at getting the BR1 Mini 5g with the peplink esim plan and have a few questions:

• Can you change between Verizon/ATT/Tmobile at any time using inControl?
• Can you set it up to automatically cycle through Verizon/ATT/Tmobile and select the strongest signal? Or at a minimum a carrier with a signal?
• If you purchase the feature pack for Wifi as WAN, this license is good for life for that specific device?
• My plan is to not use InControl (Cloud) management, only local management, and without PrimeCare. I just want to confirm there are no limitations with the Peplink eSim plan.
• If I run out of the 20gb allotment, and purchase another 20gb, does the 1 year start over from the new purchase date?
• Will there eventually be a pooled NA plan (global not needed)?
• With my current devices I can text commands to the sim card to control the device (firmware upgrades, etc). Does the MAX BR1 MINI 5G support receiving SMS commands with a regular plan from Verizon/ATT/Tmobile? (I know Peplink’s own esim plan does not support SMS).
• Does the power supply and POE port act as a redundant power source?
• Are there any current plans to start charging or requiring PrimeCare for firmware upgrades?
• Can you setup automatic firmware upgrades? Without InControl?

[Jonathan_Pitts]

We are a Peplink partner and I’ll do my best to answer the questions below for you and the community.
We also would like to order the equipment and data plan for you, we also provide post sales support.
You can reach us at [email protected] or 469-257-1111

@ITuser

• Can you change between Verizon/ATT/Tmobile at any time using inControl?

Kindof, you could create a config file for each carrier and remotely apply the config file.
You select the carrier you want by manually specifying the individual plmn , or a sequence of plmn carriers to you.

• Can you set it up to automatically cycle through Verizon/ATT/Tmobile and select the strongest signal? Or at a minimum a carrier with a signal?

Yes this works out of the box this way based on the signal strength level set for the cellular.

• If you purchase the feature pack for Wifi as WAN, this license is good for life for that specific device?

Yes it’s good for life of the device.

• My plan is to not use InControl (Cloud) management, only local management, and without PrimeCare. I just want to confirm there are no limitations with the Peplink eSim plan.

You can do that, if you renew the Peplink NA & EU eSIM Data - Starter SFC-CN-S-A it will come with a feature code that you can manually apply to your device.

• If I run out of the 20gb allotment, and purchase another 20gb, does the 1 year start over from the new purchase date?

Yes

• Will there eventually be a pooled NA plan (global not needed)?

I doubt it, it’s a very low cost plan intended to be tied to a individual device.

• With my current devices I can text commands to the sim card to control the device (firmware upgrades, etc). Does the MAX BR1 MINI 5G support receiving SMS commands with a regular plan from Verizon/ATT/Tmobile? (I know Peplink’s own esim plan does not support SMS).

Using a standard carrier that issues a MTN it is possible to do a limited number of commands via SMS,the peplink esim plans do not assign a MTN, making SMS impossible.

• Does the power supply and POE port act as a redundant power source?

Yes it does.

• Are there any current plans to start charging or requiring PrimeCare for firmware upgrades?

I doubt it. In fact peplink used to require essential care for firmware upgrades, but that requirement was removed back in fw 6.x something and they also unlocked all devices previously.

• Can you setup automatic firmware upgrades? Without InControl?

Where would this come from without incontrol? To my knowledge this isn’t possible.

I will summarize and say that is a lot of a value add with primecare.

• Ability to apply group policies for outbound policies, firewall policies, AP settings, device mgmt settings.
• Incontrol2 historical reports, wan quality, connection up/down history, event logs, gps map tracking.
• Warranty.
• Pepwave remote device access.
• Intouch (The ability to remotely connect to a device ssh,telnet,rdp,vnc, behind a pepwave.)
• Speedfusion cloud data
• 1 Unlocked vwan license
• Unlocked wan license
• Unlocked wifi-as-wan license
• 5 speedfusion connections instead of 2.
• Unlimited number of active primecare devices connected to a fusionhub without counting to the license limit.

[ITuser]

Thank you for the detailed Reponses. One clarification:

• Can you setup automatic firmware upgrades? Without InControl?

Where would this come from without incontrol? To my knowledge this isn’t possible.

Basically, can I setup the device to automatically updates it’s own firmware without needing cloud based management. (like home routers or Ubquitiy devices can update themselves)

[Jonathan_Pitts]

You can login to the router and push the check for firmware button.
This can not be scheduled automatically.

IC2 doesn’t automatically update or notify on new firmware releases either.
You have to go to the org, group , or device level and schedule the releases to be applied when you read on the forum about new releases. Also generally you will receive e-mail notifications when there are major releases about the new features.