FYI Upgrading to the pepwave pro 5g recap

[sheridany]

I recently upgraded from the pepwave transit duo to the pro 5g Router and in the course of setting it up I reached out to @Neal about some questions I had through private messaging. @Neal suggested putting it out to the public view so we can all learn from our experience so here is the recap of dialogue that took place and in particular the suggestions how to about putting an antenna up on the roof so that I can get better speeds. All references to anything related to pineapples have been removed. Thank you to Neal for sharing your wisdom.

Saturday at 3:42 PM
one last question...what happens if I leave the setting on both sims. will it choose the sim that has best signal response or you still have to manually do it..

Sheridan
Orinda, CA
2017 Prevost Marathon #1250 2015 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk | AF1 and Roadmaster Nighthawk
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[IMG alt="Neal"]https://rvforums.com/data/avatars/m/0/2.jpg?1665174732[/IMG]

Neal​

RVF Administrator
JoinedJul 27, 2019Messages9,202LocationMidlothian, VARV Year2017RV MakeNewmarRV ModelVentana 4037RV Length40' 10"ChassisFreightliner XCREngineCummins 400 HPTOW/TOAD2017 Chevy ColoradoFulltimerNo
Saturday at 6:04 PM
You'll probably want to check both and determine which carrier is best for your area. The curiosity will get ya

I'm not sure the logic in both as it will pick one likely A. We PW users typically pick A or B and control which is used.

How are the speeds looking?

You can try putting 65 in the TTL box and see if that helps if ever struggling.

Neal and Elli (Yellow Lab Copilot)
2017 Newmar Ventana 4037 on Freightliner, 1800W Solar (Victron Stack), HWH Active Air, Drainmaster Electric Gates, Boogey Lights
2017 Chevy Colorado with Blue Ox and Air Force One

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sheridany​

RVF Supporter
JoinedNov 14, 2019Messages1,434LocationOrinda, CARV Year2017RV MakePrevostRV ModelMarathon #1250RV Length45ChassisPrevostEngineVolvo D13TOW/TOAD2015 Jeep TrailhawkFulltimerNo
Sunday at 2:40 AM
The speeds are not great but bear in mind the router is in the back closet using the paddles for antennas so we are not going to get blazing speeds like you typically see. It's not horrible and not what I am used to for daily work, but I could get away with it. Marathon is here next week visiting, and I am going to ask them for a cost to put an antenna up on the roof and run the cable into the back closet. I don't think it would be too much and they would have to build me a bracket of sorts that is roof mounted, and I would think it might be most cost-effective to get better speeds. Can you advise on what antenna to get and cabling if there are different cabling requirements connect to router. Any thoughts from you is much appreciated.

DOWNLOAD_MEGABITS	UPLOAD_MEGABITS	LATENCY_MS	SERVER_NAME	DISTANCE_MILES
22.08	0.51	38	Ontario	CA
22.34	1.19	41	Ontario	CA

Sheridan
Orinda, CA
2017 Prevost Marathon #1250 2015 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk | AF1 and Roadmaster Nighthawk
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[IMG alt="Neal"]https://rvforums.com/data/avatars/m/0/2.jpg?1665174732[/IMG]

Neal​

RVF Administrator
JoinedJul 27, 2019Messages9,202LocationMidlothian, VARV Year2017RV MakeNewmarRV ModelVentana 4037RV Length40' 10"ChassisFreightliner XCREngineCummins 400 HPTOW/TOAD2017 Chevy ColoradoFulltimerNo
Sunday at 6:47 AM
What carrier are you using and what are the speeds of both? The paddle antennas typically suffice but you can try moving the pepwave up front near a window and see if location is making any difference as the less metal surroundings are better, fiberglass, etc. is good. I think your coach is a metal all around coach instead of Newmar using fiberglass? If that's the case then yes, you really do need a roof mounted antenna for cellular. I prefer my Wi-Fi is inside and I use the paddles for that.

I've been very happy with the Parsec Husky. I recommend a cellular only one (4x4 MIMO) but it can include GPS (5 in 1):

I'm not an expert on this so I suggest reaching out to 5GStore.com (call or email) and ask them for their opinions. Also reach out to Parsec and ask them and see what you can learn. Also I'm not a proponent of private conversations like this as you only get my opinion but also others can't learn from this conversation, so keep that in mind but mainly, you're only getting my biased one sided opinion based on what I use

Look at the options here:

https://parsec-t.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Husky-Data-Sheet.pdf

I'm thinking a 5 in 1 (or 4 in 1) for cellular + GPS or cellular only, respectively. Pay attention to cable length, mine has 15ft which is excessive but may be necessary in some cases. The shorter the cable the better so evaluate where it's going to go and order accordingly.

The connector type is going to be SMA which is standard, not N type as you may see listed on the sheet above.

The following options to consider, seems like 15FT cable is the norm:

• PRO5H4LG15B (cellular and gps, black - they also have white)
• PRO4H4L15B (cellular only, black)

You can google the above part numbers to see if anyone has them in stock and compare pricing.

Hope this helps...

Oh, be sure to check for firmware updates. In the Admin area go to SYSTEM at the top, Firmware on the left. There is typically an update when you get it new, and 8.3 is coming out very soon I saw them announce a webinar for. You'll get prompted to download a backup of your config file, click the link to do so, keep it as if you ever reset your Pepwave it's easy to restore your configuration from the file backup.

Neal and Elli (Yellow Lab Copilot)
2017 Newmar Ventana 4037 on Freightliner, 1800W Solar (Victron Stack), HWH Active Air, Drainmaster Electric Gates, Boogey Lights
2017 Chevy Colorado with Blue Ox and Air Force One

 

[sheridany]

I contacted the 5g store and they were really helpful and echoed @Neal suggestions. If I wanted to to have redundancy (my interpretation) amongst the chosen carriers I could go with the following antenna otherwise the recommendations are solid.

Pepwave Mobility 22G 5-in-1 Dome Antenna for LTE/WiFi/GPS - Black

The Peplink Mobility 22G (AKA Puma-221) is a 5 in 1 antenna built for mobile applications. It supports 2x2 cellular MIMO for high bandwidth and solid reliability, dual-band (2.4GHz & 5GHz) Wi-Fi and GPS. It is also 5G ready and supports a wide range of global cellular frequencies. The GPS...

5gstore.com

 

[Neal]

I used the pepwave antennas prior to the parsec and had great results with them. I still believe the Parsec Husky 5-in-1 is what I would use next time around (4 cellular + gps).

Parsec Husky PRO Antenna PRO5H4LG15B - Newegg.com

Buy Parsec Husky PRO Antenna PRO5H4LG15B with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

 

[NWIP]

Since this thread mentioned choice of sim slots I have additional question. If only using 1 slot (A) and that slot goes bad can you login to router?
I had slot A only selected and wasn’t getting internet and couldn’t login to router using the IP address. I moved sim card to slot B and was able to login and select both slots and received internet. I am thinking slot A went bad causing my issues

 

[Neal]

SIM slots have nothing to do with logging into the router and doubt it's bad, just power cycle the router if something doesn't smell right.

Your router is broadcasting Wi-Fi and most likely your device was on a different Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi wasn't on or connected to your Pepwave, this is when this typically occurs, you can't login to it. So first check that device is connected to the Pepwave via Wi-Fi.

The SIM slots are only used to bring in OUTSIDE Internet (also called WAN). Has nothing to do with internal communications such as between your device and the router.

 

[NWIP]

Will continue to trouble shoot but did several power cycles with no change. I was showing the network, but no internet. Thought SIM card might be bad, moved to MiFi device and worked perfectly. Replaced SIM card to slot B and I was no longer getting error message when logging into the router, changed to use both sim lots and everything is good. Next step is to move sim card back to slot A and see what happens.

 

[Neal]

I would not use "both sim slots setting" as you don't know what the Pepwave will choose. I'm not sure what their logic is and how this even works if there is no sim in one slot, it probably knows and handles that. My advice is choose your SIM slot manually A or B.

You reported you could not login to the router, that is different from no Internet. One is an internal connection between your device and the Pepwave (over Wi-Fi) the other is the external connection.

Glad you have it working.