I am looking at using a Max HD2 as my business’s primary internet connection. We currently have a costly, slow T1 line and have no other high speed options. We don’t use a lot of internet. Credit card processing is the only “important”, required use for the internet, but there will be some other use. Should I be worried about going this route? Would you go with 2 different cell providers if the service is reliable on one? Any special service requirements?
This is perfectly fine and the only thing to be concerned with is if you need a static IP or not. Sometimes CC processing companies require that you whitelist your IP address so definitely check with them.
The only other thing would be to watch how much data you use as it can get expensive over cellular.
I do recommend having the 2nd carrier as a back up to the first.
In the case I described, what is the benefit of a HD2 over a Transit Duo? I’m looking at AT&T unlimited (75gb throttle) + T-Mobile unlimited (50gb throttle) with the option to add a failover for each with the same provider. From what I’ve read the Transit will accomplish what I need.
The three big differences between the Transit DUO and HD2 are;
-Formfactor - Transit DUO is much smaller and only has 1 LAN and 1 WAN port (HD2 has 2 WAN ports and 4 LAN ports)
-The HD2 supports SpeedFusion Hot-Fail-Over and SpeedFusion Bonding. The Transit DUO only supports SpeedFusion Hot-Fail-Over but can be upgraded by purchasing a licence to support SpeedFusion Bonding.
-The HD2 has two cellular modems and only holds one SIM card per modem. The Transit DUO also has two cellular modems but supports two SIM cards per modem (one active, one standby)
Both routers can load balance on two cellular connections at the same time
Thanks for the reply. Since I’d be hooking this up to an existing network switch to supply internet to my location, the one lan would be fine. I also don’t plan on using speedfusion (standalone). On the redundancy, I was actually thinking of the HD2 mini so that is the same too. Sounds like I can go with whichever is cheaper (Transit Duo).
I would agree with your decision on the Transit Duo on the two points of;
-only one LAN port is required (WAN port can be changed to a LAN port if you do need an additional port on the gateway and don’t have an Ethernet WAN)
-SpeedFusion is not needed (if you do need Bonding in the future, you will only need to purchase a licence which will cost the same as the price difference between the Transit DUO and you can test it for free for one month)
You might find SpeedFusion useful for your payment processing so you have a single static public IP address regardless of what internet connection you are using. It’s also possible to have just your POS system using the SpeedFusion
One last question before pulling the trigger. The LTE version of the Transit is reported as supported by AT&T + T-Mobile. The LTE-A version doesn’t, but it does have the proper bands. I’ve seen comments of people using LTE-A Transit in the United States, so I guess there is some history.
If using AT&T + T-Mobile, is it recommended to use LTE-A over LTE? If not, I’d save a couple hundred and just get the LTE version. I am not looking to rival a cable or fiber service with this device.
Hello @ryanswift,
Around the world most countries over the past ten years have been turning of the Analogue TV broadcast service as well as shuffling other RF services around to optimise RF spectrum space. This is where the newer LTEA chip sets work and come into there own and take advantage of the various carriers new infrastructure that has been actively rolled out.
In Australia we have chosen to only supply devices that are LTEA compatible, this has been a positive decision for our customers and although Peplink does have LTE equipment still, the service benefits of using LTEA with all of the carrier networks here is spot on in looking after the needs of the customer.
Of the few Pepwave Models left on LTE, we now run these as MOQ (Minimum Order Quantities) so to have them purpose built for our market here in Australia, if your Approved Peplink Partner already has the LTEA chip set available to you in the model you want, then we highly recommend going for the LTEA over the LTE and spending the extra.
