Ubiquity Bullet M2 vs PepLink Max BR1 Mini. Wan WiFi

[bajturner]

Have you given any thought to how to mount the device?

Only some initial planning ideas. My hope is to locate it in the hardtop, but until I look more carefully once back on board, I'm not sure if that is reasonable or how I will potentially mount it. Ideally I can use the provided ears and find a spot with access to get the screws tightened down. Industrial strength Velcro is not out of the question. I noticed Sea Ray used it liberally for DVD players, TV receivers, etc.! I am a bit concerned about the amount of shock and vibration up there...jolts and movements are amplified in the arch. I definitely try to mount it such that gravity helps it stay in place rather than the opposite as it's a fairly dense unit.

I'm going to see what kind of reception I get with just the included blade antennas then decide on an antenna. There is a 4xcellular, 2xWiFi, 1xGPS Puma antenna rumored to be coming. That would be interesting. The antenna cable run will be very short regardless.

As for other wiring, I know there is some power available in the hardtop, but I would prefer to run it to a new, dedicated switch / breaker. I am still debating whether to run it off the house (port) bank of batteries or the starboard bank that includes the helm electronics. I think all power on the helm is from the starboard bank, so that would certainly be easier. There is house power on the spoiler for the dish and FM antenna, but I don't really want to combine it with anything else. Power consumption is as much as 18W. I would rather it was powered from the house bank.

I will be running an Ethernet drop or two to the mount location in the hardtop to somewhere behind the dash at the helm. There will be a small switch there and another Ethernet drop will go from there to the entertainment center where I will connect an existing switch that has the TV, DVD player, and Fusion audio attached to it.

So, I'm not much help at this point...once the snow disappears I will be in a better position to nail-down more details.

 

[b_arrington]

After fooling around for a while deciding what to get, I ordered a Peplink Max BR1 Mk2 today. I considered some other Peplinks, but decided I didn't need two radios of a Transit DUO, nor the capabilities of the Transit. I've read that the newest Transit Cat 18 has been cut off by T-Mobile, and I just don't want to fool around with that. My other consideration was a Teltonika RUTX11, but I was unhappy that it won't remember and automatically connect to shoreside Wifi stations.

I also ordered the Poynting MIMO 3-15 antenna with it. I think that fit up on an unoccupied shelf on my mast.

Consulting with a couple other owners of my model boat, there's a nice spot for the router in a cabinet on the helm deck. The Fusion radio is in the same cabinet so I should the able to pull power from the same fuse block. That just leaves snaking the antenna down from through the mast, the hardtop, and down the wire chase. Not looking forward to that TBH. Of course I'll get it all set up and tested before doing the wire pulls.

Thanks to the folks in this thread for good conversation.

 

[GnrlPatton]

I've finally got mine installed but having trouble with the cellular connection. I'm on an Ultramobile unlimited plan. I've apparently got pretty good signal, at least according to the graphical display of the bars, but it connects, gets an IP, then disconnects, and starts the cycle all over again. I've tried booting it but that didn't do it. Anyone had the same problem? It almost feels like a login issue with Ultramobile, but I didn't get any kind of login info, just the SIM card and it registered the first time I booted it up.

Here's a pic of my final setup when it was on the bench at home:



Thanks,
Kevin

 

[dtfeld]

I've finally got mine installed but having trouble with the cellular connection. I'm on an Ultramobile unlimited plan. I've apparently got pretty good signal, at least according to the graphical display of the bars, but it connects, gets an IP, then disconnects, and starts the cycle all over again. I've tried booting it but that didn't do it. Anyone had the same problem? It almost feels like a login issue with Ultramobile, but I didn't get any kind of login info, just the SIM card and it registered the first time I booted it up.

Here's a pic of my final setup when it was on the bench at home:

View attachment 100749

Thanks,
Kevin

Is the SIM activated?

 

[GnrlPatton]

Is the SIM activated?

I think so, there wasn't any info in the Ultramobile packet I got, but I did register it through their app at home when I plugged it in to the peplink.

I'm also wondering if there's a trick to getting the peplink connected to the Xfinity hotspot. I can see it on the dashboard, but it shows as open so never does prompt me to put in my credentials with Xfinity.

 

[dtfeld]

Just thinking online...Did you update to the latest firmware. I had a few issues on mine when I first booted it up, and my firmware was at least a year out of date. It seemed to me to make a big improvement on mine

 

[Skybolt]

I've finally got mine installed but having trouble with the cellular connection. I'm on an Ultramobile unlimited plan. I've apparently got pretty good signal, at least according to the graphical display of the bars, but it connects, gets an IP, then disconnects, and starts the cycle all over again. I've tried booting it but that didn't do it. Anyone had the same problem? It almost feels like a login issue with Ultramobile, but I didn't get any kind of login info, just the SIM card and it registered the first time I booted it up. ...

Kevin, The sim should just connect if there is a signal and the screen should look like this: http://clubsearay.com/index.php?thr...-br1-mini-wan-wifi.101605/page-8#post-1199887

If the sim doesn't just connect there is an issue with the activation. From what your describing, it sounds like that is the case. From what I remember everything just worked when I installed the sim. I am assuming that you created an account with ultra mobile when you ordered it? That could be the issue possibly if not.

Nice build BTW.

EDIT: Post a screen grab of what the dashboard looks like.

 

[Skybolt]

... I'm also wondering if there's a trick to getting the peplink connected to the Xfinity hotspot. I can see it on the dashboard, but it shows as open so never does prompt me to put in my credentials with Xfinity.

@GnrlPatton, @ocgrant can help you with that. He went through some issues getting that to work with xfinity as well.

 

[GnrlPatton]

Ok, I got it to work, but only by doing a custom APN and putting the SIM phone number and password in. I'm now connected to LTE-A and it's not dropping. Got some pretty good upload/download speed to boot!

 

[GnrlPatton]

 

[dtfeld]

View attachment 100761

Those are great speeds!! T-Mobile is my favorite these days. They treat me right and prices are reasonable.

 

[dtfeld]

Just one thought...move your wifi WAN to a different priority than your cellular...they may be fighting each other to connect.

 

[GnrlPatton]

Just one thought...move your wifi WAN to a different priority than you cellular...they may be fighting each other to connect.

Yeah, I was thinking about that. I see Skybolt has his WiFi as priority 2, I guess that makes sense since I'm getting unlimited data through Ultramobile.

 

[Skybolt]

Awesome Kevin, Crazy that you had to create a new APN, cool that you knew to do that. As Dave mentioned you should move the Wan down to P2 or so.

 

[dtfeld]

Check your speed over WiFi as Wan. The unit can be set to pick the stronger option.

But with those speeds, I'd run Ultramobile all day everyday.

 

[ocgrant]

Ok need some help. First thing, installed Wilson antenna, happy with that. Verizon perfromance...not so much

Now here is where the issue comes in, I can't get the Peplink to see the new Cisco Meraki wireless access point we installed on the dock. When I use the app and "scan" it finds lots of other Wi-fi AP's but not the one I need. Funny thing is the Meraki is the closest only 20 feet off my stern. Any ideas how to get this thing to find my Meraki?
Here is from my phone sitting on the boat, it find the Meraki fine

Here is the Peplink page on the app

What does this mean???

When I click scan all I find is my boat "H2O Therapy" cisco router and a bunch of other wifi AP's around the area but not the Meraki... (sorry forgot to snap a screenshot)

Ideas????

 

[GnrlPatton]

Since you are so close to the access point, you may need to turn down the power in your wifi settings. From the dashboard, click the Details button on WiFi and then look for the output power. Default is Max, try turning that down, as well as make sure that boost isn't checked.

 

[ocgrant]

Since you are so close to the access point, you may need to turn down the power in your wifi settings. From the dashboard, click the Details button on WiFi and then look for the output power. Default is Max, try turning that down, as well as make sure that boost isn't checked.

View attachment 100799

Interesting.. I will have to try that next week. Can’t do that from the iPhone app correct? Have to connect the laptop.

 

[GnrlPatton]

Interesting.. I will have to try that next week. Can’t do that from the iPhone app correct? Have to connect the laptop.

Do it when you are connected to the router (or peplink directly), hit the peplink IP address and login using your admin credentials. You'll hit the dashboard once you login, and that's where you can look at the WiFi settings.

When you get a chance, is you could let me know how you get xfinity connected to your wifi wan, is really appreciate it. I've been playing around with it all day to no avail.

One other thing that is very odd, my router is configured with both 2.4 and 5 GHz. I'm getting wildly different speeds when connected to each. Like under 10Mbps on the 2.4GHz channel, vs 25+ on 5G. I've tried switching bands and wireless configs for the 2.4 side, but nothing has helped.

 

[alnav]

One other thing that is very odd, my router is configured with both 2.4 and 5 GHz. I'm getting wildly different speeds when connected to each. Like under 10Mbps on the 2.4GHz channel, vs 25+ on 5G. I've tried switching bands and wireless configs for the 2.4 side, but nothing has helped.

I'm not sure that's an unusual result. 5Ghz can be vastly faster than 2.4Ghz. I just tested my phone against my home router, getting over 400Mbps on 5Ghz and 60Mbps on 2.4Ghz. But, 5Ghz has a much shorter range.