Pepwave MAX HD2 IP67 slow 3G connection

Hi,

I have installed 2 pepwave MAX HD2 IP67 (3G version with wifi built in) units on a large boat.
We use 2 sim cards in each device, it takes a long time for the 3G connection to be established aprox. 15 minutes.

De 3G WAN interface keeps switching from connecting to disconnecting to no device installed to connecting again and so on.
And then after aprox. 15 minutes the connection is there.
When the connection is finally established the download speed of the 3G WAN interface is terrible, around 1Mbit.
It’s not the carrier, when i put the sim cards in a 3G Huawei router we reach 13 / 15Mbit.

Not sure what to do anymore, can anyone give me some advice?

Thanx…

What kind of signal strength are you getting? (Huawei & Pepwave)
Are the connections to the antennas sound and the antennas fit for the purpose?
Are you using the same antennas for the Huawei router?

signal strength is about 3 / 4 bars
the antenna’s we used: http://www.ead-ltd.com/antennas/external-antennas/LMO7270-4G-LTE-Multiband-MIMO-omni-antenna

The Huawei router has different connecters so i could not connect this antenna to the Huawei router.

signal strength is -104 dBm

What is the signal strength for the Huawei?
I would recommend checking your antennas and connections. Maybe try a different antenna?
-104 dBm is a bit low, it should work but would be slow

I also hear from the antenna supplier that the length of the cable going from the antenna to the pepwave device should not be to long.
The cable which is placed in between now is 8 meters long.
What is the recommended cable length for something like this?

also got the event log here:

Thu, Jan 15 14:01:50 System Device is online
Thu, Jan 15 13:58:52 System Time synchronization successful
Thu, Jan 15 13:55:31 WAN Cellular 1 connected to Vodafone (10.180.21.132)
Thu, Jan 15 13:54:40 WAN Cellular 1 is roaming, switching to SIM B for local data connection
Thu, Jan 15 13:54:10 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM A
Thu, Jan 15 13:53:44 System Time synchronization fail
Thu, Jan 15 13:52:31 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM B
Thu, Jan 15 13:50:52 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM A
Thu, Jan 15 13:49:12 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM B
Thu, Jan 15 13:48:44 System Time synchronization fail
Thu, Jan 15 13:47:33 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM A
Thu, Jan 15 13:45:48 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM B
Thu, Jan 15 13:44:08 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM A
Thu, Jan 15 13:43:43 System Time synchronization fail
Thu, Jan 15 13:42:29 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM B
Thu, Jan 15 13:40:52 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM A
Thu, Jan 15 13:39:08 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM B
Thu, Jan 15 13:38:43 System Time synchronization fail
Thu, Jan 15 13:37:28 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM A
Thu, Jan 15 13:35:47 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM B
Thu, Jan 15 13:34:08 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM A
Thu, Jan 15 13:32:27 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM B
Thu, Jan 15 13:30:47 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM A
Thu, Jan 15 13:29:08 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM B
Thu, Jan 15 13:27:27 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM A
Thu, Jan 15 13:25:48 WAN Cellular 1 cannot connect, switching to SIM B
Thu, Jan 15 13:24:08 WAN Cellular 1 health check failed, switching to SIM A
Thu, Jan 15 13:24:03 WAN Cellular 1 disconnected (WAN failed SmartCheck)

The screenshot above is from a yacht which as a cable length of around 20m. 8m should not be a problem.
Is it a single cable run or are there a few joins along the way?
Do you have any way of testing the antenna?

Try disabling “SIM B” and then reboot the device

Ok wil try that tomorrow unit is off for now and cant reach the ship from here.
The antenna has 2 connectors it seems show on the image.
We connected one cable to the pepwave unit.
also tried connecting another cable to the other port on the antenna to another antenna port on the pepwave, same result.


Hi Xplo-IT,

Do you know what is the frequency band there? Please try to fix the Band Selection to confirm this will help on establish time.

  • Click Details of Cellular interface (on Dashboard) > Click “?” on LTE/3G > Click “here” > Fix the band.

As per GNO-2014, please try another antenna and cable also.

Did you get it working?
If you look at the specs of the Antenna, you will see the following

Antenna Element 1
Frequency Peak Gain
700-800 MHz 1.4 dBi
800-960 MHz 2.0 dBi
1710-2170 MHz 3.0 dBi
2500-2700 MHz 3.3 dBi

Antenna Element 2
Frequency Peak Gain
700-800 MHz 2.8 dBi
800-960 MHz 3.0 dBi
1710-2170 MHz 3.9 dBi
2500-2700 MHz 3.9 dBi

So one SMA tail is better in the lower frequency and the other, in the higher frequencies.

As you said your devices are non-wifi, do you have 2 or 4 N-Type connectors?
I would like verification from Peplink on this- Does the HD2 IP67 handle the multiple antenna connection like the HD4 & HD2 with the Primary and Auxiliary? http://www.peplink.com/knowledgebase/function-of-primary-and-aux-sma-connectors-on-lte-enabled-devices/
If it does, you should be attaching both SMA tails to the HD2 although this would only slightly improve results, I don’t think this is you current issue!

Let us know how you are getting on