Table of Contents


Products Covered

  • Pepwave Transit and ENT Series Devices


Summary

This is a follow-up article to our article on Monitoring Bandwidth Usage and Setting Individual Device Bandwidth Limits. If you have not read that article we strongly recommend you begin with that article which explains how to identify individual devices on your network using bandwidth as well as how to set individual device bandwidth limits. 


Base model Pepwave's like the Max Br1 MK2 and Max Mini have the ability to set bandwidth limits for each device on your network, those limits apply to all devices. If you have a Max Mini or BR1 series like the MK2 please read our article on Monitoring Bandwidth Usage and Setting Individual Device Bandwidth Limits which will explain how to setup these functions. 


If you have a Max Transit or ENT series modem you can configure additional features including the ability to setup multiple groups each with their own bandwidth limits. Taking this one step further you can set specific groups to have no limits which can come in very handy if you have power users or work computers on the network you wish to have bypass bandwidth limits set by the Pepwave.  We will explain how to configure these options in this article. 


What is a Bandwidth User Group and How Can it Be Useful?

The Pepwave has 3 user groups that are configurable to limit both upload and download limits independently. The names of the groups are  "Manager", "Staff", and "Guest" and while these names cannot be changed in the interface you can setup each group to be assigned to whatever group of devices on your network you'd like. The Staff and Guest Group are configurable to set bandwidth limits and the Manager Group is always set to unlimited as a way to setup a bypass group for full access to total bandwidth. 


The purpose of using bandwidth groups is to limit the amount of bandwidth certain devices that belong to that group can consume. This can be very useful to ensure a small group of devices do not consume all available bandwidth. It can also be very helpful in limiting the amount of bandwidth high bandwidth applications use such as streaming services. Netflix for example can consume as much as 20-30mbps however can stream at great quality with just 5mbps. By limited the bandwidth available to Netflix you can prevent 4k streaming and significantly reduce the amount of cellular bandwidth you consume while streaming cutting down on your monthly bandwidth usage and subsequent spend. 


Step 1 - Setup Bandwidth Group Limits

To begin give some thought to what you would like your bandwidth limit groups to be. Many customers set these group up in two tiers, one with moderate limits and one with more strict limits. To give you an idea of where to set your limits, a Netflix stream typically needs about 5mbps of download bandwidth. It is not recommended to set the limits below 3mbps download and 1mbps upload as limits lower than that could impact usability. 


To enable bandwidth limits navigate to your Pepwave's admin panel at http://192.168.50.1.. Then navigate to to the advanced tab of your device. Then under the QoS left menu bar navigate to Bandwidth Control. For this article we will bypass the "Group Bandwidth Reservation" but you can just as easily enable that using this KB as a guide. 


The Group Bandwidth Reservation section not covered in this article is design to allot a certain percentage of your total bandwidth to each group rather than setting specific limits per group. In testing we have found setting specific limits works better for the average user which is why that is covered in this article.

Navigate to the "Individual Bandwidth Limit" section and check the "enable" checkbox. Enter the Download and Upload limits for each group as outlined in the attached screenshot. When you are done select the "save" as shown in the screenshot below. 



Once you have clicked the save button you must apply your changes by clicking the "Apply Changes" as shown in the below screenshot. 



Step 2 - Assigning Devices to Bandwidth Groups

In this article we cover two different ways to add devices to the bandwidth groups setup in the previous step. 


Method 1: Assigning Individual Devices By IP Address

The first method is easier to setup and ideal if you want to add a few devices quickly to a bandwidth group without setting up additional networks. 


You must identify the IP address of the device you wish to add to the Bandwidth group. To do this Navigate to the Status Tab and click on Client List as shown in the below screenshot. 


Fine the device in the client list and note the IP address of the client by writing it down.  Select the "tag" icon on the right side of the client list.  This will create a DHCP Reservation for that device and IP address.  A DHCP Reservation will ensure that every time the device connects to the network it retains the same IP address. You can set a custom IP address at this point if you wish but make sure to reboot the device before testing so that it will be assigned to the new DHCP Reservation which requires a device reboot. 



Tip: If you are having trouble identifying the correct device you can begin streaming or downloading on that device. You'll then see the download column of that device climb significantly showing you the device in question.


Next you must assign the IP address you assigned above to the Bandwidth Group of your choosing. Navigate back to the Advanced Tab then the User Groups sub-tab.  


Click on Add, then enter your device's IP address from the previous step.  Select the group you wish to assign the device to based on the bandwidth limit you want set for that device. Note that selecting Manager will bypass all limits for that device as the Manager Group has no limit. See the screenshot below. 


Last make sure you hit Save and after you save you must once again hit the "Apply Changes" button.



You can do this to as many devices as you need, but keep in mind if you add all your devices there is no point in having bandwidth monitoring on at all... For me, a good balance has been adding my laptop and my wife's main device, so those have the best connection, the kids and any other device is not promoted.  If I find a need to do an update on device that is not promoted, I will either temporarily disable bandwidth monitoring or promote that device for the short term.   


Tip: You can quickly revisit the user group page above to move devices around to different groups as needed such as for large downloads or a special event


Method 2: Assigning Network VLAN Segments & Assigning WiFI Networks


You can also setup Bandwidth Management Groups for an entire network segment or VLAN. This can be helpful if you wish to create a separate wired or wireless network in which the devices that connect to that network adhere to bandwidth limitations. This is popular if customers wish to create a "kids network" for example. 


Create a New Virtual LAN

We first need to create a VLAN that will allow you to connect devices to a separate network subject to Bandwidth Groups. To do this click on the Network Tab, then New LAN as shown in the screenshot below.




New LAN Settings 

You can setup the new network with whatever settings you like however if you do not have a background in networking we recommend using the settings below. If the 192.168.53.x network is in use you may substitute 54 in place of all 53 numbers below. 

  • IP Address - 192.168.53.1
  • Name the Network (Below We Used "Manager" Pick Something That applies to your use case)
  • Assign a VLAN ID - 4
  • Verify the IP Range settings match what you see below
  • All other settings should match by default and no other changes needed. 


Last make sure you hit Save and after you save you must once again hit the "Apply Changes" button.



Assigning the VLAN to a User Group:

If you want to make an entire VLAN part of a user group follow these steps:

Go to the Advanced Tab and Select User Groups

Click Add


Instead of grouping by  IP address, select Group by Subnet:


Note when denoting a subnet, make sure it ends in 0 (otherwise you will get an error)


Create New Wireless Network & Assign to New VLAN

Now we need to create a new Wireless Network that links to the VLAN we just created.  This is what allows you to connect your device to a wifi network and have unlimited bandwidth. 

  • Name the SSID - This can be anything you'd like such as "Smith Kids"
  • Select the VLAN created in in the above step
  • Set Your Security Policy: WPA2 Personal is recommended for maximum compatibility
  • Set Shared Key: This is your WiFi Password, set something 10 characters or longer
  • Leave all other settings default. 


Last make sure you hit Save and after you save you must once again hit the "Apply Changes" button.



Test Bandwidth Group

Wait 60 seconds and the router should reboot and the new WiFi network you just created will appear. Connect devices to the new network and test. You will find the new network will adhere to the bandwidth limits you assigned. 


You may repeat the above process to create an additional network and assign that to the second bandwidth group. 


Requesting Assistance

If you feel you are not getting anywhere or there is another issue you can always reach out to our team directly by initiating a ticket here on the support portal or by emailing [email protected]


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