I’ve emailed two different Peplink vendors for sales advice and have not received a response. They don’t seem to be interested in selling a device to me I guess. I thought I’d post here before looking at different hardware altogether.
I have a dermatology clinic and for 3 years have been using Balance 20 as my router with two WANs, good Comcast connection (75Mb) and a really crappy Century Link DSL (7.5Mb) for backup (only option here other than cellular, which is even crappier). The balance 20 has been pretty awesome. I’ve been able to administer it myself all this time, including setting up an IPSec VPN to another Peplink at home.
However, as we’ve grown we are starting to experience more connectivity issues. Recently, its been our ipads “freezing”, which appears to be them experiencing timeouts when transmitting data. However, we also have found times that we’re too easily able to saturate the LAN, essentially several people copying large files and EVERY time I use Apple Remote Desktop to deploy software, phone calls will drop and even our Sonos speakers (playing pandora) stop playing.
The setup Peplink 20 connected to an 8 Port TP-LINK Gigabit POE switch that powers and connects 7 Polycom VOIP phones.
Then,there is a 48 port Netgear Gigabit switch that supports
AP One Enterprise AP
13 computers
4 printers
2 IP security cameras
Synology Network Attached Storage
Apple Time Capsule
2 Sonos Connect Amps
In addition, there are
7 more Sonos speakers on wireless
12 ipads which actually are the primary method of data input in the exam rooms and actually generate a lot of our traffic
Looking at Peplink logs, we tend to transfer about 200 Gb/month, about 40% is upload
I’m suspicious that I’m outgrowing the Balance 20. Do you think the Peplink 20 is adequate for what I’m doing? Would you suggest something else? I’ve recently found out that Century Link finally has fiber in my area and I may be able to get much better connections now. I might be able to get 500Mb to a Gig on CL and 100Mb on Comcast. It doesn’t seem that the Balance 20 can manage that kind of throughput.