Peplink last week announced its updated Pepwave Surf Series of wireless bridges for metro-scale networks: The new Pepwave Surf keeps parity with Ruckus Wireless's latest CPE (customer premises equipment) bridge, intended to bring signals of large-scale networks into the home. The rebranded Pepwave Surf now offers virtual SSIDs, which allows devices in a home to connect to the bridge, while it connects to the metro-scale network. Peplink said via email that their device dynamically adjusts power to use less signal strength on the home network. Peplink uses an omnidirectional antenna as opposed to Ruckus's MIMO approach.
Peplink also added an external set of "signal bars," green LEDs that show the strength of the Internet-connected network, making it easier to move the bridge to the optimum receiving position.
On the provider side, the new Surf models can be remotely accessed and tested by tech support and management tools to check on whether the bridge is active and functioning correctly, including collecting low-level signal information.
The two model names with its "home access point" feature--virtual SSIDs--are the Surf AP 200 and Ap 400 (200 mW and 400 mW, respectively), retail for the same price as under their former names: $189 and $289.