MAX Br1 Mini 5g and Peplink eSim plan questions

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?

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

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.

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)

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.