Max BR1 user experiences with 4G/LTE providers

I am the proud owner of a new Max BR1 that will be used as 4G/LTE modem. It will be the backup Internet provider for a Balance 20. Just starting looking for a 4G provider in the US. Tons to choose from and really no way to be sure how any of them will deal with the BR1. So I wondering if anyone would please offer their experiences with US based 4G data providers in a Max BR1. The good and the bad. Thanks in advance.

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Hello @Michael234,
Have a chat with @Tim_S, or contact the local US Peplink/Pepwave distributors, they should be able to share some experiences with you on the US market place for LTE cellular services (or at least guide you to someone suitable).
Happy to Help,
Marcus :slight_smile:

Hi @Michael234, hope you are well my friend!

IMHO, I would lean towards Verizon if I had to pick a single carrier. This is based on how they invested in the overall 4G LTE infrastructure from the get go. For example, for several years now the entire state of North Dakota has been blanketed with LTE coverage.

On the other hand, if you are in a very urban area you might find better deals with the other carriers, especially if it is 4,000+ new connections.

At the end of the day it really depends on your own personal situation. Happy to discuss it further if you want to call me direct or PM me.

Thanks -Tim

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The choice of carrier is really a matter of your particular use cases. E.g., we employ primarily Verizon since they provide the best coverage in the hinterland of California where we deploy some of our projects :-).
FWIW: The plans landscape is changing rapidly, thus be particularly sensitive to your monthly allocation needs and how they play (and note that “unlimited” in most cases really isn’t, when it comes to data).

Cheers,

Z

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Hi Michael. I agree with what the others have written. Essentially, we advise something like “use the lowest cost carrier that meets your needs.” In some cases, it’s Sprint’s “all you can eat for $54.06” plan. While Sprint is limited in coverage it’s extremely cost-effective in certain environments. If you are going to be mobile with the BR1 outside of main thoroughfares and cities you probably want VZW or AT&T. But TMO has some good offerings also – and it’s our first choice for M2M (< $4/month) – coverage permitting.

All of the carriers have maps on their web sites which purport to depict coverage. But, take those illustrations with a grain of salt. In some cares we’re pretty well convinced they were created by marketing departments rather than RF engineers.

So, “it all depends.” :blush:

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Thanks to everyone who replied. I was, however, not clear in my question.

Coverage is not an issue, the BR1 will be in one location and in a big city. My question was really about cellular providers in the US that are able to support a router. Already found that Mint Mobile and US Mobile do not support routers. TextNow does not seem to know what to do with a router either. My data needs are small as the BR1 will only be the emergency backup WAN access.

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@Michael234: All carriers have plans that will support routers. Well, I don’t know about the MVNOs, I guess. But the four major carriers in the USA – Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint – certainly do. Indeed, we’ve used them all.

I’ll send you a PM.

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FYI for other BR1 owners in US.
Consumer Cellular works, but …

  1. Be sure to ask them to enable tethering. Was about to give up until their tech support remembered this needs to be done on their end.
  2. The APN must be set to “wholesale”

Don’t expect much in the way of tech support from Consumer Cellular. The only thing their support person could see about the BR1 was its IMEI number. He could not even see the public IP address that was assigned to it. Their system also mis-reports to their techies the make/model of the router too. Still, it works.

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