Can someone from Pepwave confirm if the UBR-LTE is being discontinued? After sending an RFQ to my distributor, they informed me the UBR is going EOL.
In my opinion, they are the only product Pepwave has that is the most universal for Industrial M2M & Control Panel applications. What other model has the following features that most control panel builders lean on?
All main connections and connectors out the “front” of the device for ease of wiring. This is a MAJOR one that pepwave is missing the mark on for panel builders.
Power terminals out of the “top” for hardwire. Which is perfect for control panels utilizing wire duct (see photo).
Wall wart included for bench testing & setup, OR…for non-control panel deployments so the UBR can be sat on a shelf.
Rubber feet included to supplement #3 above.
DIN mount bracket for edge mounting in cabinet (see photo).
Dual Modem for dual carrier. Being able to cover our customers in Verizon or ATT areas without needing to make any physical field changes is amazing.
WAN License/Port in case a customer already has an internet provider. We connect all our UBR’s to OpenVPN Cloud.
WIFI Built in.
A Pepwave Mobility 42G antenna worked PERFECTLY with this units.
An unbeatable price point.
We love the UBR so much, that we were hoping for a 5G version of the UBR, even if it cost twice as much! I’ve held off purchasing/testing the MAX BR1 Pro 5G since there is no way to mount it in a cabinet like a UBR (see photo).
From my research, the UBR has only been around for 2-3 years and they’re discontinuing them already? We’ve deployed dozens of them in the last few months after SixNet/Redlion discontinued the RAM/SN after 10+ years.
David - thank you for explaining this is such detail. Unfortunately, the rumor is true. This model is impacted by a component EoL. We surely did not want to be in this situation, as this model was really starting to gain momentum.
It appears that we haven’t done a good job of communicating this shortage and migration options with our partners and customers - something I am still looking into further.
In terms of product options, we have just released the UBR Plus, an upgraded take on the same dual LTE concept of the original UBR. However, I can say that this new model does not meet some of the items on your list. I will check to see what options we have for a DIN mount. Given the antenna connectors on this new model are in the back, that bracket would have to extend a bit to allow the coaxial connectors to screw on, sticking the front of the router out farther. This model is quite nice and a big upgrade, but the price is also $849 for the US dual Cat 7 version, so it is also not at the same price point as the old model.
We also have a new generation UBR in the works for 2023. This model will be much closer to the original on price. I will check to see if we have any outlook on the port orientation and if we are able to incorporate your feedback into that model.
I know this isn’t all great news, and again it seems we have some work to do on communication here. I will do some more discussing internally and hope to have more details for you tomorrow.
While price is always an issue the main benefit of the UBR is overall design, port and connector layout and mounting so it has all the connectors in view.
We sell a lot of peplink devices and think the products are fantastic. We advocate for Peplink with our customers every chance we get.
However. it does seem at times that there are too many models…almost as if peplink is trying to fill ever niche possible with 20 different models. another company that shall not be named manages to be a major player with just 5 or so models of cellular router/modem
Also… it would be nice if the website was cleaned up and products which are no longer being made were removed from the site.
My thoughts exactly. Why are there sooooo many models?
A perfect example would be:
UBR-LTE vs the MAX-BR1-PRO
They are the same chassis and almost similar features. Why even offer the Max-BR1-Pro? Is it that massive of a cost savings?
** @Travis Is the MAX-BR1-PRO going to be discontinued as well?** I would assume it has similar guts to the UBR-LTE minus the 2nd cell card and SMA bulkheads.
Hello @Travis,
The UBR-LTE form factor was a great product for the industrial M2M/IIoT.
The new UBR-PLUS is nice, though its form factor misses the advantages of the previous model. It would be great if the UBR-PLUS could be repackaged into the older UBR-LTE form factor.
Happy to Help,
Marcus
The current UBR Plus is unchanged, I just want to clarify the following items are all regarding the upcoming HW revision of the original UBR, which we are tentatively looking at mid 2023 availability.
We have two basic options:
Copy the old form factor and layout.
This version will also have USB, but it will have to be located on the top
This new HW version doesn’t fit on a single board inside this enclosure, so it will be significantly more expensive than option 2
Make a larger but extremely similar version that is able to put the USB port AND the SIM cards on the front, so only the power terminal is on the top. This version will also be DIN mountable.
What would I do with the USB port? Well, you can of course add a MAX adapter or a USB>Ethernet for additional WANs, but I think most interesting for this model is the new USB>Serial adapter support in InTouch in 8.3.0 (beta). This will let you add something like this to give you access to 8 serial ports.
Here are some mock ups to review. Please share your thoughts!
@Travis I know we’ll never use the USB port. But that’s us. To me it seems overkill to add to the UBR.
So let me ask you. Are you adding this feature because of the amount of people that have asked it to be added? Or are you adding it to just add it?
I’m not fond of the taller UBR you mocked up. Mainly because available DIN space between DUCT. I’ll refer to my photo in the OP. That DUCT space above/below the UBR is a very common height. You don’t want the UBR to be so tall that it makes panel builders abuse panel space. The UBR-LTE that you currently offer is an average height compared to other industrial devices. I can send you of photos for comparison if your like.
Will the new UBR be 5G compatible by chance?
Biggest requests we have, are faster processor, faster throughput, 5G, and an included DIN clip.
FYI - I appreciate the heck of you asking for our opinions. With 11 years experience across hundreds of control panels and thousands of projects, my engineers and I are open books full of recommendations! And when a manufacturer listens to end users, valuing input, it says a lot about the company.
Opt2 for me too.
We want this UBR to be aggressively priced and the USB connector for RS232 InSight Serial console / device management is a really powerful / valuable capability.
Hi @Travis - What’s the latest on the new UBR-LTE availability? The Plus will not work for us, we need the form factor and price point of the original UBR-LTE for integration into our system. Is there a way we could place a pre-order?
There are thousands and thousands of UBRs deployed globally and they share a firmware build with the BR1 and BR2 so I wouldn’t expect feature requests to go unheard or without action.
