- Joined
- Jul 27, 2019
- Messages
- 11,579
- Location
- Midlothian, VA
- RV Year
- 2017
- RV Make
- Newmar
- RV Model
- Ventana 4037
- RV Length
- 40' 10"
- Chassis
- Freightliner XCR
- Engine
- Cummins 400 HP
- TOW/TOAD
- 2017 Chevy Colorado
- Fulltimer
- No
Here is a quick review of my new Pepwave BR1 Pro 5G. As I learned Pepwave is doing away with WiFi chips in future products and that this unit has WiFi 6 which I've seen great things with in my house with the Netgear Orbi WiFi 6 setup, I decided to jump on this while I can get one as with chip shortages we all know how this goes. Three of us actually ordered the last 3 5GStore.com had. I reached out to them asking for their best price (for 1 then 3) and they gave me a great deal having done all my business with them in the past. I also reached out to MobileMustHave who took much longer to respond and declined any discounts other than joining their subscription plan blah blah umm NO. 5GStore.com wins for me again. Shipped immediately and got it promptly thereafter.
I like a few of the changes Peplink did. The unit is slim and now they put the WiFi and Cellular antennas on opposite sides whereas on the Max Transit CAT 18 everything is on one side. Pro's and Con's to both but I prefer the WiFi on its own side fully separated as they have done with this. Works great, max WiFi signal strength at opposite end of the coach and outdoors I'm getting good signal a good distance away off of the paddle WiFi antennas.
4 x 4 MIMO cellular is connected to Parsec Husky on roof on 15ft cables with good speeds but until I travel more with this I won't have real comparison results against my Max Transit CAT 18 which did great. As this is CAT 20 (faster processor) and also 4 x 4 MIMO I expect identical results. I did initially test with paddle antennas on cellular and then Parsec Husky got me about 2X the speeds on Verizon.
SIM slots are now nano sized which is great so you don't need adapters if switching SIMs from phone/tablet to Pepwave - thank you Peplink! But AT&T Mobley SIMs are not nano, they would need to be cut down to size which I have not done and hope not to have to do. But I hear with a SIM cutting tool it can be done which I would do if I had to.
12V power connection requires a separate purchase for the 4 pin molex adapter. I like this setup, it's much easier to wire in 12V reliably but if you do wires better than me then any prior setup is fine too. But this is an additional $20.
There are 2 x LAN ports now instead of 1 from the past units I had, and 1 x WAN port.
Unit is expensive, as of this writing the list price is $1499. To some of us we can't put a price on good Internet, we work from our RV's.
My top picks for anyone wanting Pepwave's as of today is either the Max Transit CAT 18 which will run around $750 I think is the typical list price or if WiFi 6 is important to you as it is me then you'll want the BR1 Pro 5G (there are non 5G flavors as well).
I like a few of the changes Peplink did. The unit is slim and now they put the WiFi and Cellular antennas on opposite sides whereas on the Max Transit CAT 18 everything is on one side. Pro's and Con's to both but I prefer the WiFi on its own side fully separated as they have done with this. Works great, max WiFi signal strength at opposite end of the coach and outdoors I'm getting good signal a good distance away off of the paddle WiFi antennas.
4 x 4 MIMO cellular is connected to Parsec Husky on roof on 15ft cables with good speeds but until I travel more with this I won't have real comparison results against my Max Transit CAT 18 which did great. As this is CAT 20 (faster processor) and also 4 x 4 MIMO I expect identical results. I did initially test with paddle antennas on cellular and then Parsec Husky got me about 2X the speeds on Verizon.
SIM slots are now nano sized which is great so you don't need adapters if switching SIMs from phone/tablet to Pepwave - thank you Peplink! But AT&T Mobley SIMs are not nano, they would need to be cut down to size which I have not done and hope not to have to do. But I hear with a SIM cutting tool it can be done which I would do if I had to.
12V power connection requires a separate purchase for the 4 pin molex adapter. I like this setup, it's much easier to wire in 12V reliably but if you do wires better than me then any prior setup is fine too. But this is an additional $20.
There are 2 x LAN ports now instead of 1 from the past units I had, and 1 x WAN port.
Unit is expensive, as of this writing the list price is $1499. To some of us we can't put a price on good Internet, we work from our RV's.
My top picks for anyone wanting Pepwave's as of today is either the Max Transit CAT 18 which will run around $750 I think is the typical list price or if WiFi 6 is important to you as it is me then you'll want the BR1 Pro 5G (there are non 5G flavors as well).
Pepwave MAX BR1 Pro 5G Router with Global 5G/Cat 20 LTE Modem + PrimeCare
This router includes PrimeCare for 1 year. PrimeCare includes InControl, warranty with standard RMA, FusionHub license, and SpeedFusion bonding and WAN smoothing and can be renewed after the first year. If PrimeCare is not renewed, SpeedFusion features are disabled (basic functionality of the...
5gstore.com
Peplink Pepwave Direct Wire 10 foot DC GPIO Cable
10ft Direct Wire DC Cable compatible with: MAX BR1 Classic (HW3) MAX BR1 Mini (PrimeCare Model) MAX BR1 Pro LTEA MAX BR1 Pro 5G MAX BR2 Pro MAX Transit Mini MAX Transit Core MAX Transit Pro MAX Transit Pro E
5gstore.com
