Pepwave Router

[Iggy]

I have a Pepwave Max-Mini. T-mobile will not support it any more since its 4G.

Any one have a Max-Mini? What carrier are you using? Not all of them will support Pepwave.

Thanks in advance!

 

[rslifkin]

The issue is likely not that it's 4G, but that it uses an older LTE radio that doesn't support some of the newer bands T-Mobile operates on. My Pepwave Max Transit CAT 18 works fine on T-Mobile despite being a 4G device (but it supports all of their newer bands like B71).

 

[Iggy]

Thanks! On one hand they were saying that it will not work due to there doing away with 4G. At on point they told me that my Pepwave was 3G and that was being phased out. Someone else said its not that's its 4G, we don't support that device.

It was very confusing dealing with them. Now to find another carrier!

 

[rslifkin]

Thanks! On one hand they were saying that it will not work due to there doing away with 4G. At on point they told me that my Pepwave was 3G and that was being phased out. Someone else said its not that's its 4G, we don't support that device.

It was very confusing dealing with them. Now to find another carrier!

Thinking about it, I didn't actually ever tell them what device I was using. They just provided a data-only SIM, I inserted it and away we went. That should work for yours as well, but if it doesn't support some of the bands T-Mobile (or any other carrier) uses you may not get great performance and may have no signal at all in some areas.

 

[Iggy]

I gave them my IMEI# and they said it will not work any more. They tried there hardest to sell me a pocket hotspot.

It times it does work and at times it does not. Weird!!

 

[Don G]

Starlink

After getting Starlink I tossed my Maxtransit cat12. All problems solved for half the expense of the Maxtransit not to mention antennas.
Bottom line, Starlink is the answer for phone, internet, movies and everything else.

 

[Bmarler]

I use the T-Mobile 5g home internet and it works really well in most areas. (Puget sound) I’d get starlink, but the T-Mobile is only 50 bucks.
Speed test yesterday showed 1.3 gig download. Pretty reasonable. Today I only have two bars on the connection and I still have 73 megs.

 

[socalrider]

I use the T-Mobile 5g home internet and it works really well in most areas. (Puget sound) I’d get starlink, but the T-Mobile is only 50 bucks.
Speed test yesterday showed 1.3 gig download. Pretty reasonable. Today I only have two bars on the connection and I still have 73 megs.

Do they allow you to move that service around or is it geofenced to a specific address? Unlimited bandwidth or a max MB/mo?

 

[Bmarler]

Do they allow you to move that service around or is it geofenced to a specific address? Unlimited bandwidth or a max MB/mo?

Supposed to be geofenced, but for now it works. I live aboard so it goes where I go.
Unlimited service.

 

[Don G]

We spent the summer cruising north of Desolation Sound. No cell service up there but we had our phones and very high speed internet everywhere and while under way. The wife is still working remote and without Starlink we would have been limited to areas with cell service which are few and far between. We were in Deer harbor, San Juan islands. No cell there. We couldn’t really operate a VPN connection very long when we used the max transit with the Tmobile but Starlink is completely unlimited and super high speed. $135.00 per month plus you only pay for the months you want it. The RV version is required.

 

[Iggy]

I would go with Starlink. But at $110 a month for the weekends just is not worth it. Living in Boston the boat is on the hard for the winter too. So that $40 a month is not too bad.

Another thing too is, between my phone and my wife's we have 120gigs free as a hotspot. I plug my phone using a ethernet cable into the Pepwave and I have wifi though the boat. If the phone's signal is poor than I use the cell service from the Pepwave. Past owner installed cell antennas on the mast.